Day 4 – Erik drives on the left
We didn’t rush out of bed too quickly today. But today is checkout day from Melbourne and then off to Apollo Bay via the Great Ocean Road. We headed towards the QV Market to see if maybe the sausage guy was there even though we knew the market was closed today (it’s closed Mondays and Wednesdays). Unfortunately closed means everything is closed! Oh well. So we headed in the direction of the car rental place and to find some brekky.
Who put the turn signal on the right???
After some brekky we walked over to Europcar to get our car. We were asked if we wanted this or that car, but it was all meaningless because none of the model names are the same as model names in the U.S. We did ask to get upgraded from a “compact” to an “intermediate” though as we thought about spending much of the next 3 days in a “compact” would be undesirable for two guys over 190 centimeters (6 foot for you yanks 
). We got upgraded for free and also upgraded the insurance so we could totally punk the car for a cool $300 Aus and walk away (instead of the $2,300 Aus with the standard insurance).
I think the hardest part about driving here in Australia isn’t driving on the left; although being sure to look in the correct direction at an intersection requires a lot of conscious thinking and quick reaction. It’s driving on the right side of the car! So the first thing I did pulling up to our hotel to retrieve our luggage is drive up on the curb! My sense of the left side of the car with respect to my view out of the windshield was way off. I had mentally prepared myself for looking right, not left at intersections, driving on the left, but not this! Oh yeah, and to Brian’s amusement, it took several windshield wipings for me to grasp that the turn signal and the windshield wiper levers swapped places as well.
So after damaging only my pride so far, we were off and running to Apollo Bay. After much white knuckling, navigating, U-turning and dreading high speeds on the freeway, we managed to get ourselves on the M-1 out of the city and onward to the country-side.
Nope that's not a deer!
The Great Ocean Road is actually a national monument built to remember those Australians who died in World War I. It was also built during a time when the soldiers were returning home to Australia and needed employment. Originally, the government didn’t want to fund the initiative, but through organized fund raising, the project was launched with money from the people. (An amazing to hear about people vetoing their own government politicians).
The official monument and entrance to the GOR
There are too many amazing coastal pictures to show in this blog, but they’ll be in our gallery after we get home. Needless to say the coast line along the G.O.R. is diverse, interesting and beautiful. There are parts made of sandstone, limestone, volcanic rocks and calcified sandstone. There are rainforrests, wild life, small towns, great food and so many interesting stories to hear about. Nothing I’ve seen yet compares to what we saw along this drive. Of course, there were plenty of opportunities for fun photos:
I rest my case your honor
We stopped at an i symbol which are the information booths that dot the map along the GOR. I’m glad we did because each time we stopped we heard a new story about the GOR and a new list of things we should see. Each information centre usually had someone working there (or volunteering) who had a vested interest in their section of the road and their pride in the unique sites in their section showed. At the first stop in Geelong, we got the crash course overview of everything we had to see along the way. We were totally inundated with information, but we headed off trying to keep it all in our brains. Sometimes we had a map with something circled and couldn’t remember what it was we were supposed to see until we got there.
One of the stops was a walk through a beautiful section of forest with an amazing waterfall.
Amazing waterfalls and rainforrests!
In Lorne, we saw parrots of all sorts flying around and eating bugs off the ground. It was like nothing I had seen before. Outside of Grey River, we even saw Koalas hanging out in the trees! It is one thing to see them in a zoo, but a whole other experience to see them in their native habitat. This picture was taken just a few meters from someone’s home. Imagine having a Koala watching you pick up the morning paper. 
There's Koala in them thar trees!
Once we got to Apollo Bay around 5:30pm, we checked in to our hotel. A very boisterous woman with far more energy than we had at that point gave us two keys and sent us off to pick out our room. We ended up picking the room that she thought we would like best and got ready for dinner. We went to dinner at a locals type place called “Buffs Bistro”. Apparently Mrs. Buff was out for the evening but Mr. Buff was happy to invite us in. Fortunately for us, more patrons arrived about 15 minutes after we sat down because I think Mr. Buff was struggling for things to do and was starting to overextend his visit at our table. He did give us two picture books about the GOR which helped us remember and note which stops we wanted to make the next day.
After an amazing meal of pork belly and lamb shanks, we retired for the night. It’s off to Port Fairy tomorrow!! (Seriously… no… seriously.. no, seriously). 
