After leaving Warnambull, we made an excellent discovery. In a random place along the way, Allensfield, we discovered... CHEESEWORLD! Of course we had to go in. We had a cheese tasting (mature, vintage, herb, garlic and pepper, tomato, chilli... - the first three were the best, and the tomato one was like a meal!), and one of their 'famous' milkshakes. We also checked out the Allensfield museum. All very interesting.
By this time, the car was heating up again, so we drove to Port Campbell with the heaters on. We arrived around lunch and fell out of the car, grateful for the slightly lower temperature outside. We hauled ourselves to the Visitors centre, where we collapsed on the couch with a huge number of brochures. The woman took pity of us and let us stay on the couch until our tomato faces resembled something more human... Fish and chips for lunch, touristy caps and shot glasses bought, a stint on the internet and a longing glance at the loooovely deep blue ocean that filled a cove and we were off again.
From Port Campbell, we headed to Lorne, but it took us about four hours to get there. First, we stopped at Lord Ard Gorge, where some guy had supposedly drowned (there was apparently a romantic story attached to the place, but we were to heat affected to remember it...). The beach down below was gorgeous, but the long walk around the top of the gorge worse us out, so we kept driving on to the twelve apostles. They were pretty cool, very photographic... but essentially they were just big rocks, so i'm not entirely sure what the big deal is. Also, there are only about four stone towers left - were there ever twelve? And why are they called apostles? It was all a little confusing. But hey, we've seen the picture that everyone puts on the postcards, and the weather was clear as a bell, so we were happy. From there, we drove on.
We stopped again on the road between the twelve apostles and Lavers Hill, to refill the car. It was far too hot and it just refused to cool down! I rang dad, who sympathised but really knows less about the car than me now, so was little help. We struggled in to Lavers Hill, having stopped every 10kms for the last half hour. At the general store/pub, the random guys sitting outside all put their two cents in on the state of the car. Apparently one was a mechanic. Anyway, it was the same old story - too hot, just have to wait and let it cool down, then top it up again. We had lovely, cool, raspberry red icypoles to tide us over. Yummm. The nice pub men saw us on our way.
The only way we made it to Apollo Bay was thanks to the Ottoway rainforrest. Every time we left the leafy cover, the car temperature would creep into the red. So i spent 50kms praying that the cover wouldn't give out, and that everytime it did we'd find shade again soon. By the time we imped into Apollo Bay it was late afternoon and the day was getting cooler - the car was managing. We decided to press on to Lorne. In between was the stretch of Great Ocean Road that hugs the coast and is in all of the tv commercials. It was beautiful.
We stopped at a lookout and spent ages taking photos. We tried to be crafty - balancing the camera on the car and using the timer to get a photo with the both of us - before an old couple pulled up in a WikidCamper van painted with weed and charmingly took our photo. Another van pulled up and three hot french boys piled out, which led to more photo taking. The lookout was amazing, so picturesque. We continued down the road... until the car started making clunking noises and we pulled into point desolation (ironic). We popped the hood and watched countless cars drive past before we filled dear Thomas up again and kept on. Finally, without too much more trouble, we made it into Lorne.
The YHA backpackers in Lorne was set on a hill, amongst beautiful greenery - it was so quaint. We hauled our bags up the hill and into our cabin - which was double the size of our Port Fairy hostel room, woo! Our roommates were twins who didn't speak english, so they weren't a problem. We sat down by the beach for tea (which consisted of an apple) and headed back to the hostel for shower and bed. It had been a verrrrrry long day - the heat was absolutely killer. But we made it!
Next stop? Melbourne...
No comments:
Post a Comment