Highway Robbery a.k.a. Gold, Bushrangers and Dairy Farmers

Before I start on the next adventure, Mom thought it would be a good idea to put dates on these posts because she's afraid that people will think that I wasn't able to get rid of them at all and that they are still in Australia. I think most of you who read this are smarter than that, but for those couple who may not be.... this part of our whirlwind trip around Australia took from January 19th to January 25th.

We left Melbourne early, but had to make a not so quick stop at USA Foods on our way out. The reason behind the stop was to get some Clamato juice so that we could make some Caesars. It was very exciting. If only they would have had pyrogies. (I'm still waiting on that one). After picking up these all important supplies, it was time to head towards the Great Ocean Road.

After about an hour of driving we arrived in Torquay which the beginning of the Great Ocean Road and the centre of surf culture in Australia. Torquay is the home of the head offices of Billabong, Rip Curl and Quicksilver/Roxy. This also means that there are awesome surg outlet shops.  I made good use of my time there by not only getting some deals on clothes, but also losing Mom and Dad in the process.  Unfortunately, Ma and Pa were smart enough to be waiting at the car when I was done shopping. We piled back into the car and turned the car west. There was one more stop to make before the great drive down the coast. Last time I was down this direction, my friend Kelsi and I had stopped at Bells Beach because we were told it had some of the best surfing waves in Australia. This is where they hold an Pro Surf event every April. When Kels and I drove up, all we saw was flat. I decided that Bells got one more chance and then I was going to write it off. This time when we pulled up, the waves were massive. I wouldn't want to surf in that. Anyways, it had redeemed itself and it was time to actually get on the Great Ocean Road to see the gorgeous shoreline.

Our first stop was at Split Point Lighthouse. We walked up to the lighthouse, then down to the beach for a little bit of a walk. The sand was soft and the water was blue. The walk back up the hill was thigh burning and not without a fair bit of whinging from Dad. Luckily because of this, it was easy to convince him to stop for a drink and a scone. It was fabulous.

The landforms that are created by the Southern Ocean hitting the coast also began to appear. Below is a picture of Mom and Dad in front of one of those landforms. I don't know which is though. Sorry.

Mom and Dad realizing that they should be
driving on the left.

We also made a stop at the Great Ocean Road Archway for the photo op and to read a little bit of history. The Great Ocean Road was built as a make work project for the soldiers returning from WWI. It stretches 250 km along the southern coast of Victoria and is considered one of the most beautiful drives in the world. On the one side, gorgeous ocean views and on the other either rolling farmland or lush eucalypt forest. Prime time for koala viewing, but more on that later. With the sun quickly making it known that it was time to find accomodation, we made our way to Apollo Bay. Apollo Bay is a little bit of a  resort town, but is also just outside Great Otway National Park. With some time to still kill before supper time, we decided to make our way to the lighthouse at the point of Cape Otway.

The lighthouse at Otway is the oldest lighthouse in Australia and dates to 1848. More importantly, the drive to the point may as well be called Spot the Koala Road. When Kelsi and I were here last time, this is where we saw the only wild koala in our entire month here. As Mom, Dad and I drove in, I was excited to spot one almost immediately in a small tree on the side of the road. We got out to take our 100 photos, and then continue to the point. As we started back to the car, a very nice couple in an SUV let us know that there were a bunch more koalas about 1 km up the road. We kept our eyes in the trees, though I managed to keep one on the road, and spotted about 6 more in the next kilometre. That was just the beginnings though. It got to the point that everytime we stopped for one koala we spoted we saw about 10 more in the trees surrounding it. It was insane. In the picture above and to the left, there are about 6 koalas, see if you can find them. In the picture below and to the right there are about 6 or 7 as well. This was definitely one of the cooler moments on our trip.
By the time we had taken millions of photos and finally got to the lighthouse, it was closed and we weren't even able to see it. We had to march ourselves down a path that gave us a view of the lighthouse from a distance. Oh well, the koalas were cooler anyways.

On our way out, and back to Apollo Bay, we found one more koala that was just a baby. It was very very cute. I wanted to take it for a pet.

After a great meal, and then a mouthwatering Caesar, it was time for bed.

The next day ended our time on the Great Ocean Road, but it was also included the most stops. The frist stop was at Gibson's steps. We made our way down the steps where we had a good view of the first of the famed 12 Apostles. Dad especially like the stairs. He thought they were a great way to get exercise and a great start to his day.

The net stop was the actual 12 Apostles (pictured above and to the left). They have been created by the waves pounding the shoreline until they were seperated from the headland. There are actually only about 6 left as storms and erosion have knocked others down. There is nothing like the oranges and reds of the land next to the bright blue of the ocean. It is a very Australian view.

The next stop was Loch Ard Gorge. This Gorge is named after a ship that sank here in 1878. This part of the coastline was notorious for it's difficulty in navigating, and many a ship making their way from Europe to Melbourne were shipwrecked along this coast. Hence, it is called the shipwreck coast. Again , the layers in the limestone cliffs and the blue water with white crashing waves are beautiful, even though they did cause much misery in the last century. There is also a graveyard for the bodies that were recovered from the Loch Ard and and memorial for those that weren't. The various lookouts also provided chances to use of the Gorilla Tripod, too.

Loch Ard

The next few stops were close together. We stopped at the Arch, the London Bridge and the Grotto. All these places were created by the waves once again. London Bridge did once used to have a bridge from the headland to the 'bridge' but a storm in 1990 knocked the bridge down actually stranding a couple of tourists for a few hours until they could be rescued by helicopter. So glad it wasn't me caught up there.

The Arch

London Bridge

The Grotto

Bay of Martyrs, where we saw an echidna up close and personal.

After seeing the fantastic landscape, it was time to stop again. We found accomodation in Warrnambool and then headed to see the light show Shipwrecked at Flagstaff Hill. This show was fantastic as it told the story of the Loch Ard and it's eventual shipwreck at Loch Ard gorge. The show took place alongside a pond that was to replicate the harbor. They sent a spray of water into the air and then projected the movie onto the water spray. It was very ingenious.

The next day, we went to Flagstaff Hill to actually check out the replica village they had created to represent Warrnambool in the 1800s. It is also home to the Loch Ard peacock. This peacock was created for the World Exhibition in Melbourne and was the only porcelain animal to survive the shipwreck. It is now worth over a million dollars. Two people also survived. A young woman named Eva Carmichael and a young man named Tom Pearce. No romance story here folks. Eva soon returned to Ireland and they never saw one another again.
It was back on the highway again, but this time we were headed inland towards the gold fields.

Eureka Southern Cross

We arrived in Bllarat, the ventre of the goldfields, about mid afternoon which gave us some time to check out the sights. Mom and Dad really enjoyed this as we got to walk a few kilometres around the town on the Eureka Stockade walking tour. Ok. I just lied there. Mom and Dad still make fun of me for making me take them on this walk. Too bad, so sad. I learned alot about the famed Eureka Stockade. This was a miner rebellion in response to unfair miners' licenses and corrupt politicians. The miners eventually lost, but it is considered the first breath of democracy and removal of colonial law in Australia.

We drove our way out of Ballarat after a fantastic steak meal and through the Victory Arch (built to remeber those who fought in WWI), down the Memorial Road (lined with trees for each man in the district who fought in WWI) to our hotel. We watched Canadian Milos Raonic lose to Lleyton Hewitt and then it was bedtime.

The next day we were off to Sovereign Hill, a replica goldfield camp and village. It is fantastically laid out and is even better than Fort Edmonton. There was so much information and so much to do. We started with a tour of the mine, then we got some information about the actual gold mining in the area and how gold was discovered. At this point we even saw a "raid" for liscenses on the river. Dad and I tried to find some gold of our own, but we were unsuccessful. There was a gold pour where they melted down some gold and then made a gold ingot. I was the only one there who got to hold it. If only it fit in my pocket. It was a great day that ended with an interactive light show on the grounds that told the story of the Eureka Stockade. I highly recommend this. It was fantastic. We moved around the grounds and even ended up at a point where they recreated the entire village to tell the story. I was very impressed.

The best part of the entire evening though, was Dad's supper before we got there. He ordered a pancake with ice cream. The waitress asked if he wanted to share it as it was quite big. We all thought it was like 6 pancakes, but no. It was actually a massive pancake with half a gallon of ice cream on it . Dad couldn't even eat half of it.

The next day we were off again. This time we went through Melbourne to go visit the deBoer family on their dairy farm situated East of Melbourne. We had a great afternoon with them and Dad was excited to see the dairy operation in Australia. Mom and I had played hockey with Monica and Mom had taught the majority of their kids When they were living in Thorsby. They had moved to Australia 5 years ago and are making a pretty good go of it.

After visiting the deBoers, I wanted to head to a Polish restaurant (still on my quest for pyrogies in Australia) that is in a small town almost straight north of deBoers. Little did I know that this would take us on the adventure of our lives (or that seemed to almost take our lives). Unfortunately the restaurant was only open on weekends, so we continued to Ned Kelly country in the north of Victoria. This route took us straight through the mountains and on some of the scariest roads I have ever encountered. It was a long and twisty road up the mountain and a long and twisty gravel road down the mountain. The best part was the 1000 foot drops without guardrails. That was lots of fun. We finally made it to Benalla where we stayed the night. I wobbled my way on shaky knees to the room and thankfully slept without nightmares of flying off a cliff in my little white car.

Stringybark Creek

The next day was Ned Kelly day. Ned Kelly was a very infamous bushranger. He has become a Louis Riel like folk hero in Australia. His notorious career began around Benalla where he was arrested multiple times as a boy for horse stealing and various exploits. When he shot a policman for hitting on his sister, he took off into the nearby Wombat Ranges and hid out for 2 years, robbing banks and planning a rebellion of sorts. His end came when he tried to create an ambush for a bunch of police that backfired and led to a standoff in Glenroawn that Ned lost. He eventually hung in Melbourne. Benalla had a nice little museum that laid out the Ned Kelly story and we did a driving tour of the town to see significant sights of Ned Kelly lore. This included a drive down to Stringybark creek where Ned and his mates shot and killed a couple of police officers. The drive there was fine. The drive onto Glenrowan was much scarier. I thought the road to Benalla was bad, this was worse. Mom of course had to tell me this story about a couple that got stranded in BC just before Christmas that ended with the man disappearing and the woman almost starving to death. Thanks, Mom. Great story to tell while I am trying not to drive us to our deaths.

Our final stop of the trip was at Glenrowan to see the site of Ned Kelly's Last Stand. They have a fantastic map of the area with information about what happened at each sight. Of course there is the prerequisite Big Thing of Ned.

This was our final stop on the whirlwind tour. It was thenoff to Canberra to get ready for school. BOOOO!

But first, Australia Day!