12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road and Beyond

As part of my family’s recent driving holiday from Melbourne to Adelaide, we coasted along the Great Ocean Road from the 12 Apostles to the Limestone Coast areas (like Robe, Beachport and Kingston where our hotel was). It was quite a monumental drive in more ways than one, peppered with lots of beautiful sights, sounds (of seagulls calling and waves lapping against the shore), scents (especially of the sea), and tastes (sandwiches and burgers!). The drive was long but fortunately not too difficult as the route was pretty straightforward.

For those of you who have followed my blog for a while, you would recall that this is the second time we took the GOR. The first time in September 2007 was from Geelong to Bells Beach, Lorne all the way to Apollo Bay.  In a way, this second trip was a continuation of sorts from our previous journey.

Here’s a photographic record of our journey for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

What are these people looking at?  Its a bird, its a plane, its…

…the world famous 12 Apostles, and what luck for us to capture this fantastic sunset shot!  Just in the nick of time too.

Naturally, we can’t resist a touristy Kodak moment.

We next adjourned to nearby Port Campbell for much needed nourishment, and had some spaghetti and sandwich at one of these places.

Not before capturing another lovely sunset shot, with Ethan’s figure silhouetted against the evening sea.

We stayed at the 12 Apostles Motor Inn, which apparently was the closest inn to the attraction and located in the middle of literally nowhere.  

It was a pretty charming and cosy place though, with comfortable beds.  

In the accommodation itself, there was a “mini” farm with a goat, a pig and a horse to keep us company.

Along the way, we stopped to take some photographs of pastoral scenes like this…

…before hitting the ocean road again.  This was actually a river meandering inwards from the coast.  Can you see something happening here?

Apparently there was a Sunday market with holidaymakers pitching their tents and parking their caravans here.

The drive was scenic and picturesque, and one could take dozens of beautiful photo stops along the way.  Like this one here…

…and this one.

Fortunately the playgrounds located along the stops helped our little one to stretch those legs after sitting and snoozing in the car.

A picture taken by a lighthouse.

Another probably taken at BeachPort (if my memory doesn’t fail me), a nice coastal town which served as a marina and port of sorts.

Luscious green fields were the order of the day here, complementing the beautiful blue ocean.

Another shot of the Southern Ocean taken near the car park.

At Robe, we saw these huge tuna fishes (yes, the stuff that sushi and sashimi are made of!) on a truck, and Ethan was fascinated by them.  They were probably the same size as him!

We drove along this sandy path near one of the destinations…

And took this shot just before the sun set again.  Yes, it took an entire day’s drive from 12 apostles to Kingston where our hotel was. 

To be continued….