Night 135 - Lorne

Well the surf wasnt good enough to stay here another night so after a play at the beach this morning we packed up. It is a great spot though.







We drove into Apollo Bay at around 10am, just in time to check out the weekend markets. Of course we have to sample a few local cakes and jams! Apollo Bay is awesome, we all loved it. We drove down to the marina and saw some horses swimming and Craig checked out the fishing boats. The town has a beautiful bay on one side and huge mountains on the other side.







Back on the Great Ocean Road towards Lorne. Its breathtakingly beautiful, the road winds right along the coast. We did see a few people that had pulled over and were being sick over the edge!



Lorne is now massive compared to how we remembered it. We arrive into town to see a huge hotel that looks brand new. The town is packed due to the Anaconda Race that is being held tomorrow and we also find out that its the last night of schoolies week. Judging by the amount of teenagers here we are in for a sleepless night!!

We are staying at a nice caravan park at the end of town which is walking distance to everything. We head down to the beach and the kids spot some trampolines.....Craig and I are exhausted watching them jump in the middle of a 25 degree day!



We head down to the beach to check out the juniors races. Under 13 boys race the 4kms first followed by the under 13 girls, under 10's are next, then under 8's. So cute to watch the little ones run (or walk with their parents) the 4kms. Not 100% sure but I think the big race tomorrow is a triathlon, Ill sign Craig up....stay tuned for results!

After dinner Craig goes fishing for squid on the wharf, no luck tonight.

Night 134 - Johanna Beach

We woke up this morning to brilliant blue sky. The rush was on to pack up and get started down the Great Ocean Road as we knew the great weather wouldnt last long.

We drove into Port Fairy and then Warnambool but as we have been here a few times we didnt stay long. We picked up some cheese and biscuits from the Cheese Factory to enjoy while driving.

We started down the Great Ocean Road with a massive storm brewing behind us, we tried to keep in front of it as best we could.



First stop was The Martyrs which has some pretty spectacular cliffs and sandstone pillars.



Now this is exactly how we drove the Great Ocean Road 10 years ago.....cheese, biscuits and cool tunes. Felt exactly the same as it did all those years ago, well except for the 3 kids in the back seat!



Next stop was The Grotto, very cool as we got to walk right down to the bottom. Kai absolutely loved it and had the German tourists laughing as he kept saying 'wow mum this place is so beautiful'



Next stop was London Bridge...



On to Port Campbell which is a great Little touristy town. There were about 50 bikies that had stopped here for lunch and the boys loved checking out their bikes. This place is exactly as I remembered.



And the famous Gibson Steps...



We came to the 12 Apostles (there arent 12 anymore). There is a new cafe/kiosk here which was absolutely packed with tourists. The helicopter joyride company was making an absolute killing, the flights were $95 for 10 mins and they were flying non stop. Bailey had quite a large tanty as he really wanted to go on it but with the massive storm coming I was a little nervous at the thought of them flying with all the thunder and lightening.





We stood and watched the storm front coming over and thought we had better hit the road to our camp for the night. So the rain started coming down as we pulled out of the 12 Apostles car park, we had done pretty well to stay in front of the storm for as long as we did.

The rain got harder and harder, the wind got stronger and then all of a sudden the hail started as we pulled off the road and turned down the street towards Johanna Beach. We had a few scary moments as we couldnt see anything in front of us, not great considering the narrow winding roads. We got stopped by some cows crossing on the way to be milked, the rain didnt bother them.



Johanna Beach is great, its one of the best free camps we have been to. There is heaps of space, lots of green grass, a beautiful surfing beach and very few flies. The rain cleared again and within an hour you would have never have known it has even been raining.