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The Great Ocean Road

Part II of our journey through Australia

By Aurimas Adomavicius

June 28^th, 2019

After spending four days in Sydney we were ready to break out of the metropolis and hit the road. Short flight to Melbourne later we picked up our rental Audi Q5 and set off towards the Great Ocean road, a scenic ride by the Southern ocean that is often compared to the legendary Route 1 in California.

We learned in one of our previous trips that packing and unpacking gear on a nightly basis is a pain in the ass, especially with the little dude. A base of operations would be necessary for us to explore the South coast of Victoria and a few evenings later we settled on a cabin rental called the Boomerangs.

Vacation logistics is somewhat of a contended topic between Virginija and I. Food shopping and cooking in an unfamiliar geography is a means for me to get slightly closer to the way of life of the locals. Hotels, unfortunately, often lack a proper kitchen, so the “living” experience stays pretty much identical between Ho Chi Minh city and New York. Virginija, on the other hand, likes the pampering aspect of hotels and I don’t blame her (nor resist the creature comforts when exposed to such).

The Boomerangs are a small property of just three cabins operated by a friendly, retired couple, located smack in the middle of the Great Ocean road. The grounds are pristine, saturated to the gills with mind numbing variety of flowers, ferns, and bushes; the cabins - well appointed, clean, with massive windows covering the outer bend of the boomerang shape - providing the resident with a healthy 180 degree view of the surrounding hills.

Johanna beach is just five kilometers south of the cottages with paved access and parking. Due to the vastness of the continent and the abundance of beaches it is highly likely that you will enjoy the experience in blissful solitude. On one of the evening runs I didn’t get passed by a single car, ran into a bunch of kangaroos, and went for a swim in complete isolation. Well, technically not a swim as the undercurrents are extremely strong and the waves looks outright murderous… but I did splash around like a beached tortoise.

Apollo Bay is the closest town Eastbound with a full size grocery store as well as a variety of restaurants. Lavers Hill has minimal supplies, a coffee shop, and a few local bakeries that will hook you up with some local meat and fish pies (if they don’t decide to close early, because… well, why not?). On a somewhat unrelated and surprising note, even these small establishments had gluten free options on the menu.

The coast can be driven or walked on the, queue up suspenseful music, Great Ocean Walk! Our metropolitan on short stubby legs has little affordance for mundane activities such as walking, so we mostly drove around with exploratory stops in interesting destinations. The Cape Otway Lightstation, however, was an exception even for our discerning traveler. We arrived on site too late (the drive is really beautiful and you’re going to stop every few kilometer to wig out as a tourist with your camera) and the lighthouse was already locking up.

Fortunately the aforementioned Great Ocean Walk is available 24-7 to travelers who fail to plan and look up operating hours of light houses. A short hike allows you to observe the lighthouse from a distance while enjoying the relentless beating of furious waves far below. The path is cut through dense shrubbery - almost a tunnel through organic matter. With the sun slowly sinking into the horizon we walked the “tunnel” (Ashton’s name for our path through the shrubs) and inhaled a mixture of salty air and vaporized eucalyptus. Trek finished, we arrived at our car tired, the sky taking on the hue of a post-sunset blues.

The other two destinations visited by the American-Lithuanian expeditionary force were the Loch Ard Gorge and the Twelve Apostles Marine National park. Both are evidence of how mean water can be to limestone. Specifically, Twelve Apostles are much fewer in numbers than the name may suggest these days, and will continue to dwindle. So, you know, book your tickets now.

On our way back from the Great Ocean Road we spent a single night in Melbourne and this is something I do regret. Melbourne has an incredible density of constructs that drive up quality of life… I don’t know how else to put it. We stayed in South Yarra and each block was stuffed with coffee shops, restaurants, and eateries. There were three large playgrounds within walking distance from our hotel. The city is littered with parks. It also felt much more organic than Sydney. Where Sydney was intentionally constructed, Melbourne evolved organically. To be fair, we did spend all of a single day in Melbourne, so my expert review for citizen quality of life may be somewhat skewed by all the eucalyptus I’ve been vaping during this trip. But I’d like to go back to Melbourne. It’s a warm town.