Tricky goes to the ocean

The alarms went off early this morning: 7 am. We woke up simultaneously, two minutes before the alarm actually went off, because that is our freaky way. After showering and eating, we were on our way to collect the Traveling Spaniard. He was, after all, ours for the day. Hee.

Hot Guy firmly in backseat, we made our way to the start of the Great Ocean Road. The weather looked friendly enough: some clouds but lots of blue sky and sun and all one can do is be hopeful it stays that way.

Ether the heavens were in line or the Traveling Spaniard was our good luck charm, because the entire ocean-front drive was unbelievably gorgeous. Ocean Road runs along the water for miles, twisting around the mountain feet with curves to rival any roller coaster. To the right, the mountains tower, colored with every shade of green imaginable. To the left, the bluest, clearest water crashes onto rocks and slides up onto long expanses of clean sand. Ever quarter mile or so is a look-out point, most of which we took advantage of. After all, one can never have too many pictures of Australia’s southern coast, right? Right. Not even 1 whole GB can be enough. Trust me. I know.

At one point we stopped and walked down onto the beach, where I found this Australian Blue Spotted Dwarf Octopus(?) in a rock pool. The lighting was wrong for pictures, but I got a movie instead. Lots of movies today, actually. Don’t be a stranger to Youtube, my friends. Some views are just too breath-taking for still shots.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Em4taffvOZM

Oh, and I did find more ass for Melanie, genuine Aussie Surfer dude this time:

The Road is more than just coastal front, though. After passing through Apollo Bay, we stopped for lunch in Otway Fly to walk the tree tops. We walked through some of the most dense forest I’ve ever seen, passing ferns the circumference of wading pools and looking up at 150 year-old moss-covered trees. In fact, the place looks so prehistoric, they created a ‘Prehistoric Path’ where you can look at the model dinosaurs. Tricky particularly liked the T-Rex.

The Tree Top Walk itself is not for the faint of heart. Steel gangplanks are suspended amongst the canopy, creaking and swaying with the wind and movement from the people walking it. And if you’re still not ready to piss yourself, you can climb the spiral staircase and go up into the lookout tower, XXX feet in the air. I guarantee you will be holding on to the railing while up there.

After that, we were all a little more appreciative of the solid ground as we walked back to the car and headed for our next stop: the 12 Apostles.

Now some of you might be wondering where the Traveling Spaniard was in all this. Oh, he was there, trust me. Quiet boy, he is. I asked him about his motivations for traveling around the world, and he told us about how he’d just ended a 6 year relationship and figured now was the perfect time to take this trip. Caroline and I glanced at each other: Ouch. Not what we expected. But slowly, we found out that he originated in Barcelona and has been to Thai and China and loves Australia the most. In a few months, he will be going to New Zealand and then coming to the States. He’s got a year to do all this, and will be looking for jobs that pay under the table as he goes. Monday he leaves for Perth, the western side of Australia, and when asked about his plans, he shrugs and says, ‘I don’t know yet’. A true wanderer.

Back to the Apostles. I had no idea what they were, but the Traveling Spaniard was excited to see them and I thought it sounded cool, so I was looking forward to it. So when we caught a glimpse of the ocean and a large red, free-standing rock formation, I thought, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool.’ Turns out, I had just seen one of the Twelve.

Apostles are limestone that has been worn down by waves for so long, it breaks away from the coast and eventually crumbles completely. It is quite humbling to realize nature has the power to do this sort of thing. I have to agree with the Spaniard, it was quite beautiful.

Next stop was the Loch Ard Gorge, a series of natural landmarks including Thunder Cave and Blow Hole (named as such because of how the forcefully the wind travels through it, you dirty minded people). For the brave souls, there was a cave where two survivors of a ship wreck stayed until help arrive, years ago. But the entrance was rocky and the tide was mighty high, and getting stuck inside a haunted cave is all I need. Pictures from the outside were good enough. Grin.

Dinner time had arrived, and we found Really Awesome Pizza in Port Campbell at a tiny little place called Niko’s. This was a surfing town, although at dusk boards are traded for girlfriends everyone dries off. After eating, we went back to the Apostles to watch the sun set.

The car was pretty silent for the trip home, all of us were exhausted. My Amazing Everlasting iPod battery got us the entire ride, even though it was red-lining from the start. What are these things made out of?

At close to 12:30 am, we hugged the Traveling Spaniard goodbye and headed for home. Half an hour later, we were unconscious.

Tomorrow we're going to the dog camp, so we'll be outside the internet reach for 5 days. See you then!