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Animal spotting
So far we've seen: emus, koalas, birds, snakes, penguins and dead kangaroos.
The road trip on the Great Ocean Road was worth driving. We started the journey in Sorrento by taking a ferry and crossing the water. We didn't proceed much during the first hours as we stopped in Torquay, The Surf Town. I visited a surf museum. I was impressed of an exhibition of Big Wave Surfing. Great photos and incredible stories of these crazy surfers who just wait for the greatest wave to come. Otherwise the museum was bit messy, as I suppose the whole surfing culture is. As a souvenier I bought me some summer-surfer clothing.
The way down to Apollo Bay was nice. The sea was blue and shimmering in the sun. Apollo Bay is a small fishing town on the coast. It's popular among tourists as the summer comes. No wonder cause the place was very pretty and I suppose the sea is good for families to take a swim during the hot summer months. We stayed the night over in Apollo Bay.
On Monday we continued the journey on the Great Ocean Road. But after Apollo Bay the road goes little bit to the inland and into a national park. We drove all the way to Cape Otway to see Australian's oldest light house...but we decided it to be too expensive for our budget and ended up buying only a couple of postcards. But the trip was worth it cause on the way back we saw indians...who had spotted koala bears on the trees. Lovely creatures sitting on eucalyptus trees.
On the coast we went to see enourmous Twelve Apostles. Monday there was a stromy wind and it really gave us the idea how the Apostles and wind tunnels were formed. Twelve (actually six and a half nowadays) Apostles are limestone stacks and 45 metres tall. Check pictures later here on our blog.
The way back to Melbourne was hilly inland area. There were lots of cows every where. Big, muscled cows who couldn't take more than two steps at a time. Those kind of fields we got to see more when we had a trip yesterday, which was Wednesday. We headed to the southern most part of Australia if you don't count Tasmania. We drove three hours to Wilsons Promontory National Park. Normally you need to pay fees to get in but at the gate there was a sign "Out for lunch, pay in Tidal River, 30km ahead. I think we were on that Tidal River place but in the end we didn't pay anything. Bad us....
The first thing on the national park was to go to Squeaky beach. The white quartz sand under yor feet really makes this 'singing' noise under the feet. The wind was blowing cold from the south but the sun was shining from the clear blue sky. The ocean water was very clean and clear but so chilly, icy almost.
We had a few kilometres walk to the top of Mount Oberon. Not far from the parking lot Ben spotted a brown, one metre long snake bathing in the sun. So far we had had a nice, relaxed walk but the snake changed everything. Especially Tiia who is not always so one with the nature wanted to get up to the top quickly. (And getting down happened wuite quickly also). Inspite of the snake, cold wind or climbing it was worth to walk up - the view was magnificent. We weren't so up high, 700m above the sea level but the view: ocean in front of you, hills behind you and the river beneath you.
After having those nice moments at the national park we drove two hours more to Phillip Island. Island famou for its' tiny penguins. Penguin Parade started right after the sun went down and the sea turned darker. We were waiting for the penguins outdoors as the cold wind was making us feel bit cold. But the waiting was worth it. Suddenly they started arriving after spending a day in the ocean hunting fish. The small 35cm creatures wandered in small groups, heading to the grass and to the nests. You couldn't see them so well when they were walking on the beach but on the area there is a Promenade where you can spot them from close by. Nice nice experience. You need to pay an entrance fee 10euros. 'The show' is very popular. People were many! I just wonder how many more the people will be when it gets summer and school holidays in December...
All in all we drove yesterday 500 kilometres. We had packed clothes and towels with us but in the end Ben was willing to drive back to Melbourne after the penguins. The Great Ocean Road trip was also some 500km. So in a couple of days we drove more than 1000km. It feels that we haven't gone anywhere so far from Melbourne but still we've seen a lot.
Tomorrow a footie game. It is rugby kind of football but popular only here in Victoria. I'll tell you more about Melbourne on Saturday.
Erika
p.s. I didn't tell you about the emus we saw. We were in the national park and saw a emu warning sign. Yea right, as if you would see any emus there. And at the same moment two huge emus came from the bushes in front of our car and didn't seem to be in any hurry crossing the road. They ran a bit but we needed to slow down for them. Unfortunately the camera wasn't nearby... But I have a picture of a snake that was also crossing the road when we were leaving from the nat.park.
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