Spectacular!

We rose just after 6.00 am and were off by 7.00.Marina had kindly offered us the use of her car.....we called it 'Tizzy'.We took the M1 to Geelong and then did a detour to Barwon Heads.Barwon Heads is where they filmed the Australian TV series ' Seachange'. Will and I watched all three seasons before we came out to Australia. It is also the place that the teacher Will took over from at Warcop, when he first moved to Penrith, now lives.......spooky!It had changed a lot since the show but it was great to actually be there.We had some breakfast and then headed off to Torquay and the start of The Great Ocean Road.It soon became clear that we were not the only ones who had had the idea to travel 'The Road' today. We passed a 'Curse' (collective noun) of coaches at Anglesea....all parked up while their passengers queued for the loo.We headed on determined to get ahead of them. We followed the road along the coast heading for Apollo Bay, not stopping at any of the view points, spurred on by the 'Curse' behind us. At every beach town we passed they seemed to be holding a surf competition, where groups of young children, all dressed in the same gear were herded into the sea.......snacks for sharks if you ask me....I hope they all got home safely.Apollo Bay was finally reached but we didn't stop because it wasn't what we were expecting, something stunning. It was nice but a 'Curse' was coming so we carried on.Our first detour was to the Cape Otway Lighthouse but when we got to the car park there was absolutely nowhere to park so we turned round and headed back....it seemed like a waste of time.....but no.....on the way back to 'The Great Ocean Road' we spotted cars stopped by the roadside and the occupants were looking at........KOALAS!Yay! Koalas at last! I was most pleased to say the least.Back on 'The Road' we first stopped at Castle Cove and then on a whim at Wilson's Steps and were so glad we did. It was amazing and the sea was wild! It was down here on the beach that I suddenly felt at the edge of Australia as it towered above me and nothing but the Great Southern Ocean and Antarctica behind me.The next stop was The 12 Apostles......it was packed but it is one of the sights that you have to see if you are 'doing' Australia.Eating ice creams before we got back in 'Tizzy' I spoke to one of the car park stewards...."Is this the busiest day, or what?""Nah! You should have been here yesterday!" She said. " I can't understand it....they are just rocks and there's only about four left, so what's all the fuss?""But they are in the top ten must do things if you visiting Australia," I said.She wasn't convinced.We headed off.Next stop Loch Ard Gorge......and here the 'Curse' caught us up!There was lots to see here.....and we spent quite a long time seeing the sights......Will spent much of it soaking wet after being hit by a large wave.....we saw Thunder Cave, Mutton Bird Island, Loch Ard Gorge and the Razoredge. We discovered that the area was named after a ship 'Loch Ard' that had been wrecked there....they recovered four bodies and there were two survivors but everyone else was lost.Will was wearing an orange tee shirt and a blue hat and I was wearing a blue tee shirt and an orange hat.....a man stopped us...."You need to swap hats" he said......so we did.We headed on to Port Campbell and then The Arch and London Bridge and finished our sight seeing at The Grotto. Every day should end with a grotto!We decided to turn back to Port Campbell because if we had continued on the other way the 'The Great Ocean Road' headed inland and away from the sea and that was not really the point of it and we had 'spectacular view' overload.From Port Campbell we took the road inland back to Melbourne. We hadn't eaten since breakfast, except a few crisps and an ice cream and decided to eat at Geelong but there were no signs to the city centre so we missed it and carried on to Melbourne. We found our way, eventually, back to Richmond at about 8.00 pm, after being warned of and avoiding '60 minute delays ahead' by taking the Western Freeway.We walked into Richmond and had dinner at 'Hunky Dory'......fish and chip shop.....Will had Chargrilled Calamari and I had Salt and Pepper Calamari......how fitting that a day by the sea should end with some seafood inside us!It was a spectacular day and so worth the drive! We are a little sunburnt....ouch!Now come the pictures......I apologise now for so many.....but I have discarded some......honest!