Great Ocean Road: Part 1 (Torquay - Lorne)

After our stay in Sydney, we flew towards the South of Australia to spend some time in Melbourne. The first thing we did is pick up our rental car at the airport and head towards the Great Ocean Road for a few days. 
The Great Ocean Road winds along the rugged coastline, and the landscape there is just stunning. It's also a surfer's paradise, with many bays that offer outstanding waves. The sports brand Rip Curl originates in Torquay, which was our first stop. I don't know how to surf myself, but my brother is really into it, so I took some photos to make him jealous, and bought him so clothes as a gesture of conciliation.

This is the official start of the road. I always forget to take touristy photos, so here is a rare one with me next to our rental.

The whole time we were driving along the ocean, it was stormy and really cold. There were spells of sunshine, but the one day I dared to wear shorts, my legs were absolutely freezing. I also slept with my socks on at night, which I normally hate. I expected Australia to be warm at the beginning of summer! Not so much. But the weather conditions made for wonderful windswept scenery and big, cloudy skies.

Make sure to drive on the left in Australia, and do not drink and take the highway to hell!

Mailboxes in Lorne. Lorne is a trendy little town right near the beach. We were famished when we arrived there, but nothing was open! It seemed like everybody here takes time during the day to spend near the ocean. There were a lot of people who looked weathered and were potentially surfers. 

After a stroll through town and peeking into enticing but locked up establishments, we fortunately found a fish & chips place that was open. We got a portion each, and our lunch companions were a band of cockatoos, hoping to scrounge some morsels.

When our strenght was restored, we went for a stroll along the beach, looking at the waves and alien-looking rock formations.

We only spent one night here (we found a Mexican restaurant that served us some dinner, yay) and headed further West the next morning.

Probably the most memorable thing on this leg of the trip was the discovery of finger buns. These are sweet rolls with icing and millions of sprinkles on top. They tasted as delicious as the looked. I had one for breakfast before we hit the road. Oh, and when I hung back taking photos at one of the lookouts, a surfer-kind dude asked me how it was going when he passed me on my way back to the car, which made me feel super-cool! Marco only thought it was funny when I told him... :o)

© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).