Stuck in the Mud

We arrived in Melbourne and checked into the Langham, which was pretty similar to most of the hostels I'd stayed at.... we had an amazing view of the city over the river. That night we went to China town, which wasn't very impressive, and had dinner there. The dinner was superb with a variety of different Asian dishes. On the way we had checked out some of the famous Melbourne street art. The pieces were incredible and it was nice that they are celebrated rather than destroyed. The next day was just a chilled day by the pool. Unfortunately that night dad started feeling ill and dizzy with what seamed to be an ear infection.

A doctor checked him out the next day but he was told to just wait it out. He was really ill so unfortuneatly we couldnt do much. On the Monday we still went to Phillip island to watch the penguins come in. That was an amazing experience to be able to see the penguins naturally and be able to get so close. We were meant to watch a big bash cricket game, but due to dads health we unfortunately missed it. We had a final goodbye Japanese lunch, my last good food for a while, and went our separate ways after an emotional goodbye.

I walked across the city to check into Nomads hostel. The next 2 days I spent trying to find people to do The Great Ocean Road trip with. Eventually through Gumtree we got a group together of a 38 year old Polish man, Cezary, a 22 year old English guy, Russell and 2 English girls, Jo and Christina. I met Cezary and Russell the day before we left to buy a bbq and tent for the trip. Me and russell also checked out

the street art and actually got to see some young guys doing a new piece. I met jo at my hostel that night, where we got way too drunk on goon and she ended up being banned from Nomads. This set the scene for the crazy girl Jo was.

We all met up the next day, bought food, 20 litres of goon and hit the road. We learned quickly that Cezary wasn't exactly a good driver. He refused to use 2 hands on the wheel, bracked late and hard and continued to veer off the road while looking at a view or at one of us talking. Needless to say it made the girls uneasy which continued the whole trip. On the first day we saw some nice beaches and little towns along the way. We didn't want to pay for a campsite so decided to look for a decent spot for free. Cezary was adamant we camped on the beach in full view of the road. But not wanting to get a fine we convinced him to head into a national park. After driving 20km into the park we turned down a tiny side path and proceeded to get stuck in the mud. We all got out and pushed and after 10 minutes or so the car was out. Just round the corner we found a small spot of grass and decided that it would do. We set the tent up, got the bbq going and relaxed. Me and Jo had been slowly drinking goon since lunch and were happily tipsy. We ate our petrol burgers, chatted in the car and went to bed.

We arose nice and early to get to the beach for breakfast. Not wanting

to make a new bbq we used the free grill at the beach and had a great meal of sausages and sweetcorn. We set off seeing a lighthouse, a few more beaches and eventually the 12 apostles. They were very impressive and an amazing sight to see. We took our pictures and headed to the end of the road. However before then, near the lighthouse, we had managed to see loads and loads of wild koalas in the trees. The were so near and so cute. One of them even tried to pee on Cezary because he shook the tree.

After getting to the end of the road we got some lunch while Cezary took a nap. Then we headed north towards the Grampians. Along the way we saw a group of Emus and other wildlife. Again not wanting to pay for camping we found a campsite with only one other group and set up base. There were Kangaroos and Wallabies all over the campsite and we even got to feed them by hand. I cooked us another

meal and we sat around playing card games and getting drunk. We got up the next morning and went to the nearest village for breakfast. I visited the information office and found a 2 hour walk and waterfall we could do. We went to the waterfall first which was lovely. Unfortunately most of this was rushed as Christina had to be back that night as she had a job interview the next day. After seeing the waterfall we went to a viewpoint which was utterly breathtaking. The views went on for miles around the Grampians and there were rocks which dangled over the cliffs that you could sit on. After getting a good few pictures we headed back to do the pinacle walk. This 2 hour round trek took us to Pinacle Point which again had amazing views. The wind was fierce and standing on the edge was a bit more scary. We returned back to meet Cezary at the car park, he had decided not to trek, and made our long way back to Melbourne