the great ocean road & werribee zoo.

After the Christmas holiday had come and gone, we found ourselves with some free time up until New Year’s Eve and no real idea for how to spend it.  Many of my coworkers had recommended that over the holiday we “hire a car” (because nobody “rents” anything here) and take a trip down the Great Ocean Road.  I did a bit of research into the trip, which looked amazing, and explored different options from car share companies, to car rentals, to guided tours.  As everything is booked up during this holiday season, the best option was for us to book a 1 day tour.  So I made us a reservation for the Monday after Christmas, and we got up early to set off on our grand adventure.

The Great Ocean Road is incredible.  It is a winding, picturesque 2-lane road that begins in the small town of Torquay and runs for 243 km along the southeastern coast of Australia.  I won’t go into all the history of the road, but the short story is that it was built over 13 years by soldiers returning home to Australia after WWI.  The purpose of the road was to connect all the small towns along that stretch of coastline, and upon completion it was dedicated as a war memorial to all the soldiers who lost their lives in WWI, as well as those soldiers who lost their lives in the construction of the road.  It is the longest war memorial in the world.

morning tea.

Along our tour of the Great Ocean Road we stopped for morning tea at Surf Coast, the area’s largest surfing destination, and traversed many small beach towns before arriving at Kennett River, an area that contains one of the few species of Eucalypt that koalas eat.  Candice and I managed to spot 3 koalas during our short time there, as well as a beautiful species of parrot that some of the other tourists were attempting to feed.  Shortly after Kennett River the road leaves the beach behind and climbs into a temperate rainforest within Great Otway National Park.  We went for a short rainforest walk and learned about the history of some of the largest trees in Australia, the Mountain Ash, which can reach a height of up to 100 meters (which for reference is only about 4 meters short of the tallest redwood).  We also saw a giant species of fern tree that can grow up to 15 meters high, and were disgusted to learn about a giant species of carnivorous snail that resides in the rainforest.  Fortunately we didn’t see one of those.

koala-razzi

After our beautiful walk through the forest, we headed back down to the beach and finally arrived at the main attraction – the Twelve Apostles.  As you can see from the photos, the Twelve Apostles are a series of limestone stacks located within Port Campbell National Park.  I could go into a long geological discussion of how they formed and why limestone might be the coolest rock ever (it is responsible for much of the world’s cave formations and the great arches of Utah after all), but I’ll just say that it is breathtaking.  As for the number of stacks, there are only 8 today, and were 9 originally when the area was named.  It was originally named just The Apostles, but became known as the Twelve Apostles after locals started calling it that as they assumed that Apostles was a reference to the twelve apostles in the bible.  Of course as the area is continuing to erode more and more stacks will be formed through time, and someday there may indeed by twelve.

we were not alone.

Our final stop for the day was at London Bridge, which used to be a set of two rock arches that resembled its namesake.  In 1990 one of the arches collapsed and stranded two tourists who were eventually rescued, and now the official listing of the formation is the London Arch (though all the locals and our guide still refer to it as London Bridge).  It was another spectacular view, and a perfect way to end our journey on the Great Ocean Road.  We can’t wait to get back again and spend more time exploring the area, as well as taking a walk down to the beach to get up close to the Apostles, which is one of the things we weren’t able to do on our tour.

After New Year’s, we decided to take advantage of our Zoo membership and take a trip to the Werribee Open Range Zoo.  The main attraction of the zoo is a safari tour, so we headed there first and hopped on a bus for our guided tour through the open savannah.  Throughout the tour we were able to get up close to rhinos, giraffes, zebras, ostriches, bison, antelope, camels, and wild horses.  It was my first time on a safari tour, and was nice to be so close to the animals and see them in a setting that is similar to their natural environment.

After our tour, we made the rounds of the other animals in the zoo (they only have about 10 other animals outside the safari tour), then made our way to the Serval cat presentation.  Candice and I both love cats, and as this was the only way to see the Servals as they aren’t on display, we made sure to get there early and grab a seat.  The presentation consisted of a zoo vet telling us all about the Serval and having it jump and climb to get pieces of meat she would place around the enclosure.  The Serval is the largest of the small cats, is found throughout Africa, and has a very distinct striping pattern on its ears that makes it look like it has eyes on the back of its head.  The show was really intimate as there was nothing separating us from the Serval (except all the small children that it would likely attack first), and we got to see it make some impressive leaps and bounds from tree to tree.

Sadly, I am nearing the end of my 2 week long holiday, and it’s going to be hard to go back to work on Monday.  Most of my time off has been spent relaxing with Candice and making our home together, and it feels so wonderful to be settled in our place after living out of suitcases for so long.  Through Candice’s heartfelt decorating, our collective cooking adventures, and our touching gifts from family, we have made this apartment a home that we love to spend time in.  I know for many people the idea of relaxing and spending much of a 2 week vacation around the house would be torture, but for me it was just what I needed after working so hard over the past year, and especially for the month after we arrived in Melbourne.  Now with the comforts of home, a Zelda game to play, and episodes of Smallville to watch, I feel settled in my life and can truly look forward to this new year and the many adventures it will bring us.

BK