Friday morning we got up early for the second half of the Great Ocean Road. We ate, packed, said goodbye to our Heath mouse friend that visited our back door every morning, and headed for the Otway treetop walk. In the rainforest there are some giant trees, about as tall as the redwoods in Muir Woods but not as big around, and they have built a walkway 150 feet above the ground amongst the tops of the trees. At one point there is a tower that goes up another 65 feet to 215 feet, and it is still not as tall as the tallest trees, which can reach 300 feet. There is not much more to say: rainforest, ferns, huge trees, streams, fungi, beautiful, amazing, breathtaking...
After the hour walk we ate lunch and hit the road. Our first stop was Gibson's Steps were we got to see our first rock formation out in the ocean. Basically the entire second part of the Great Ocean Road is these huge columns of sandstone were the land used to be, but erosion has left these islands and arches all by themselves standing in the water. The most famous group of them, the twelve apostles, was next, followed by Loch Ard Gorge.
By far the second day is more spectacular due to the high cliffs and rock column formations. The entire Great Ocean Road over the two days of driving was 150 miles.
After the Great Ocean Road we drove straight to Melbourne 3 hours, arriving about 6:30. Once again our travel agent outdid herself, with a two bedroom serviced apartment right in downtown Melbourne. I think we only paid for a one bedroom, but this is all they had available. With the F1 Grand Prix here this weekend I am guessing everyone is booked to capacity. We will go to the Grand Prix tomorrow, and I will go again on Sunday while Katka and Misa visit our friends that live here in Melbourne.
One random observation: everything in Australia is quite expensive. For example, if we go out for fast food we eat for about $30; if we go to a sit down restaurant it costs about $90; and a days worth of food from the grocery store for three meals costs about $60. For the most part we can avoid buying most things, and we do not have any bills to pay, but we have to eat. The cost of some things, like sunscreen, are way out of whack. A decent sized tube of sunscreen is $18 Australian, or $19 US, versus $10 for the same thing at home.
