Travels along the Great Ocean Road

I spent this weekend travelling along the southern coast of Victoria (one of Australia's six states - the important one because it includes Melbourne - for those of you who are a bit hazy on your Australian geography) with Arcadia friends as part of an Arcadia-run excursion along the Great Ocean Road. The trip was lots of fun, mixing active and beautiful in the perfect blend.

We set off from Melbourne Saturday morning shortly after 8:30 and began with a long, peaceful drive to a small town named Forrest. Along the way, those of us who weren't sleeping played Contact, a wonderful large-group pass-lots-of-time game which involves long words and crossword-puzzle-like definitions. (Needless to say, I enjoyed it immensely.) Here and throughout, I got lots of opportunities to catch up with all my fellow Melbourne Arcadians in one place, which I loved.

Once in Forrest, we split into two 11-person groups by chosen mountain-biking intensity. My group, the higher-intensity of the two, headed off on a bike ride for the late morning. We had a great, long ride with lots of hills and a couple of windy passages along narrow (i.e. barely wider than the bike) dirt tracks. I managed to be that one who fell off (twice), but this was not a bad thing as I learned from it that 1) it does not always hurt to fall off a bike (in fact, it didn't hurt at all and I was left with only copious streaks of dirt along my leg as tell-tale proof of my momentary lapses in verticalness), 2) I'm very good at falling in slow motion (as per witness accounts of both occasions), and 3) perhaps I'd better stick to road biking as my primary form of bicycle encounter. To my credit, the first fall was along a very narrow, windy passage (when I ran into a two-foot tree trying to avoid a root) and the second involved a large rut.

Speaking of encounters, our afternoon (after lunch) was primarily occupied by lake time. Swapping with the other group, we headed to a nearby lake for a quieter activity: platypus spotting. Half of us headed out in the canoes, which were tied together like a raft, while the other half enjoyed a walking track around the lake. We did indeed find a platypus while canoeing. It was just over a foot long and swam rather like a crocodile: its head and tail were visible above the surface but the rest was hidden and it was prone to sudden dives after which it would surface half a minute later 30 or more feet away. We kept a nice distance from our platypus friend so as not to frighten it and got to watch its antics for about 20 minutes. During this time, we kept near-silent so as not to prompt it to go into hiding. Thus we spent lots of time sitting on a silent lake platypus-watching. Pretty cool.

After we'd switched groups and walked around the lake (very scenic... lots of trees), we headed back to our transport and further along the coast.

Our next stop was at the famous Twelve Apostles rock formation (of which fewer than 12 remain due to the constant pounding of waves on the rock bases). The evening light was perfect and I got to take lots of pictures, which I have never not enjoyed. It was incredibly picturesque:

After a full day, we drove to the town of Port Campbell, where we spent the night in cabins near the bay. We enjoyed a delicious barbeque dinner at the campgrounds, then turned in for some rest before an early wake-up (after taking a few minutes to wander down to the night-dark bay, of course).

Today commenced at 5:17 AM, at which (lovely) time I got up, prepared myself for the day, wandered down to the bay with friends, then headed to Lyndon's cabin (Lyndon being our fearless leader, of course) for breakfast at 6. After breakfast, we began our morning adventures with a wander along the scenic trails of Loch Ard Gorge.

The gorge lent itself to some of my favorite Australia pictures thus far. Example 1: the view from above:

Example 2: standing in the gorge:

After that amazingly pristine stop, we continued on to the Barron River. Here, we wandered along a riverside path searching for koalas in the trees. Koalas are easier to spot than platypi, since they don't move nearly as much. They spend 18 to 20 hours per day sleeping. This was my second encounter with koalas in their natural environment, my first having been the previous day as we headed down the path to go canoeing. We got to see perhaps six koalas chilling in the trees, one of whom even moved his head around a bit and stared at us across the river.

Our next stop was the seaside town of Anglesea. We had a leisurely lunch followed by a full two hours of surf instruction. Yes, I went surfing. Lots of excitement. My surfing skills were rather limited (as I would expect), but I did manage to stand up on the board twice and made it up onto my knees many more times than that. I also managed to have lots of fun being in the water and moving fast along wavetops. As an added bonus, we got to wear wetsuits.

Our trip concluded with the drive back to Melbourne, where we returned to UC (and other places of residence) for dinner and warm showers. Now, having been awake for close to 19 hours, I sleep. Sleep too will be amazing.