Mission Australia 2013 - Day 15

Gold Coast – Melbourne 

Great Ocean Road 

An early alarm was to go up when we sprung into action to catch the Flight. Neha was surprised when she saw our pickup bus waiting outside with a young astute female driver loading our luggage one-by-one with extreme ease.

Landing into Melbourne, I once again recalled how I had felt about Sydney but Melbourne was different. The boy at the Budget desk was very helpful with the directions, the GPS & the car selection. For a moment, I was unsure whether I really wanted to take the SUV upgrade – but Camry, here I load!

Neha was very headstrong about the shopping & so I conceded to take her to the DFO. It was so difficult taking out time for this vacation & here we were wasting time for shopping. Filled with angst, I literally pushed Neha through her shopping (quickly grabbing 2 sweatshirts for us) – the GOR weather was infamous & I had to reach the Port Campbell before dark. Remember we had no booking today.

Entering the Great Ocean Road

Twelve Apostles under the Cloud

Port Campbell
Extremely Chilled

Well, the drive was a mix of high & low because the weather played a spoilsport. However, I enjoyed it thoroughly up to the brink by even making videos while on the wheel. I was living my dream here driving through B-100. I made regular stops on the way at GOR startpoint, at Lorne, at Apollo Bay and true to the advise I had been given, I grew really tired of stopping. Soon, the Twelve Apostles cut appeared but they were not so profound due to the weather. I proceeded to Port Campbell & after meeting Sue, we finally settled down at the PC Hostel where the rude Greg had replaced the humble Tony who had helped me plan my Melbourne itinerary. We had a cozy supper with the soup & pizza nearby when I called up back home to share my feelings with them.