I set off today on my first adventure outside of Melbourne. My overall plan is to get to all the major Australian cities. When I looked at booking something though I realized I could only be gone for what is basically a long weekend since there are a ton of meetings I need to attend on Wednesday morning (and by morning I mean 3am-6am). Again, I also don’t know what, if anything, is going down in Melbourne that I might be mad I missed. So with the idea that I’d be gone four days total I looked at airfare. With a limited amount of time it eliminates the bigger Brisbane/Gold Coast/Cairns trip, and to go to Perth they wanted $600. As much as I love a good adventure, that price seemed a bit steep. So I set my sites on something I never got the chance to do the last couple of times I was in town - the Great Ocean Road.
The morning got off to a bit of a false start. I was up relatively early, at 9am after having awoken first at 3am to slack messages and then at 6am to more slack messages from work. Hearing someone come up the stairs I peeked around the corner of the wall where the couch sits inside a nook and heard, “morning lady!” I didn’t even need my glasses to know who it was since there’s only one person who ever refers to me as lass or lady. Bren started making a coffee and said that he wanted to see when I was planning on going since he didn’t want to get scared if I came in the room to get my things. For some reason I’m always scared/surprised when I don’t expect him in there. My car pick up wasn’t until 2pm, giving me time to relax in my sleeping bag a bit longer. By the time I was ready to start getting dressed I opened the door to get my things and found Bren sleeping. Odd since I thought he had work (turns out he decided to call in that morning but I missed that part of our morning exchange). Some ninja moves and I managed to get my stuff, take a shower, and drop off some other things in the room without disturbing his freight train snores. With time to spare I went to play destiny then ended up spending too much time playing and had to take an uber to pick up the car. Ended up coming back to the apartment anyway because I forgot something and got surprised by Bren’s greeting from his doorway, while I was rooting through my luggage, badly enough that I nearly smacked my head into the wall. Just as quickly as he appeared in the doorway he disappeared. Very curious.
Finally all set I hit the road. Driving on the left side of the road felt much easier this time compared to my near panic attack while doing it in New Zealand. I put on Google Maps and a podcast and was off down the M1 highway to Torquay. I picked Torquay (pronounced tor-key) because Jobin had talked about it as the best local beach. At about an hour and a half drive away I was curious to see what Jobin liked about it so much more then the much more accessible St. Kilda’s in town. I made it by 4pm no problem, checked into my hostel for the night and then set off again to go another 20min down the road to Anglesea which is the destination that both Bren and Alana recommended. Alana said that there was a great cafe there and Bren said it’s where he usually goes when doing the great ocean road.
It was another easy drive to Anglesea, but I’d say it was too easy. I nearly drove right through it without realizing. A quick u-turn into the municipal parking lot and a jog across the highway to find myself at Uber Mama Cafe. I have no idea if it is the same one Alana liked so much but I was far too hungry to bother to search much further or harder. I sat outside in the cool summer air. It actually gets quite cold at night, usually dropping to the low 60s which doesn’t feel cold until you find yourself in sandals, a sleeveless shirt and shorts. Dinner was solid. The waitress gave me the bar menu instead of the full menu which was disappointing. I got calamari and a salami pizza. The calamari was the oddest thing I had seen. It was beautifully breaded and fried but instead of being delicate rings of squid it was these fat fish stick sized slabs of squid. Not bad tasting but definitely not expected. The pizza was something I’m sure my coworker Kelly would love despite her hatred of cheese. There had to be a quarter of a pound of assorted salami on the 10” pie. The dough was very interestingly seasoned as well. Washed down with a chai latte it was definitely better then the McDonald’s that tempted me from the roadside on my drive.
Filled with salted meats I sat and thought about life for a bit. About all the things that brought me to where I am now. It is interesting the thoughts that come to mind when you sit alone and in relative silence, with just the howling wind in your ears. I of course thought of Bren and the other Collingwood roommates, wondering what they were up to. Would everyone be in the kitchen cooking? Would Bren be out with his new found freedom from having me as a guest? I also began to wonder how the Great Ocean Road got its name.
The restaurant sat on the edge of the Anglesea river and that was the closest body of water to the Great Ocean Road that I had seen so far. At the edge of the river was some sand and I thought, could that be the fabled ocean? So full of salted meats I set to find out. Along the parking lot was a path leading to the mound of sand at the end of the river. When I finally got to it I took off my shoes and continued barefoot. I could see a glimpse of beautiful blue green water. Water the color of those sea foam paint swatches - not quite blue but not quite green either. I continued my trek and realized why Jobin looked at me funny when I told him the story of the six mile walk along the Jersey Shore beach. The sand here is nothing like the soft, sinking torture you find back home. The wind is so strong that all that remains is sand so hard that I thought I might kick up a rock at any moment. Even when it did get soft and billowly (very briefly) it was nothing like the stuff back home. I made it to the water and dipped my toes into the cool water. The surf was doing this wild thing where it would break and then slowly come inland for about 30 feet before finally receding again. Beyond the small break the surf looked like something out of a surfing movie, tumultuous and violent. There were a few surfers out there and I watched them for a few minutes as the sun began to set and I said to myself I see why this one was recommended.
I eventually made my way back to the hostel after stopping to buy some water and Shapes (Shapes are flavored crackers that Bren got me into - there are so many flavors that my goal is to try them all. They apparently were a childhood favorite of all the aussies). The hostel kitchen was packed with all the Germans who are vanpacking. Vanpacking is when you rent a sleeper van and drive yourself all over the country sleeping in it and paying to park in hostels where you can use the facilities. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Germans so far from home. There are a bunch of aussies as well of course and some people who look like they’ve been living here for a while. I found a spot on one of the couches and got to writing, stopping only to make note of the very tall gentleman who came in with a pizza box and sat down to eat it, all while wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with little pizza emojis.
I’m looking forward to an early bed time and seeing a bit more of Torquay in the morning before headed to my final stop along the Great Ocean Road, Port Campbell.
Location:Surf Coast Highway,Torquay,Australia
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