The Great Ocean Road and the Grampians

I joined the cheapest backpacker tour I could find, with $10 discount because it's low season. =) The 3 day tour cost me AUD 185 excluding accommodation.

It was quite a diverse group. We had 13 people on the tour excluding our guide- Eddie. 5 of the girls/women are travelling on their own including me (others from UK, Israel, Germany). (Travelling solo is good because you can meet all these people, if you're travelling with your friends in a group, you don't have much chance to talk to these other people.) There were a Japanese couple (the Japanese woman wore leather shoes even for hiking!! No heels but still...), a Canadian couple, two Australian women, and one couple whose wife got sick along the way.

Personally I prefer to see more culture and history in my travels, so I can't imagine spending months in Australia the way many of them in the group did.

We started out early, leaving Melbourne for the Great Ocean Road. The highlight of the day, of course, was the sunset at the Twelve Apostles (there are only 10 left actually, I wonder if they're going to change the name, haha!).









And we can see penguins on the beach after sunset! Can you see them??


A close up view


The next morning we went to see the London Bridge, it has fallen down a few years ago, I think they shouldn't have named it the London Bridge in the first place... haha!!



And when it broke, two people got trapped, and after they got rescued, they were interviewed by the press, and subsequently the man and the woman got divorced, not from each other, but from their respective wife and husband. =P

Then we head over to the Grampians.

Mackenzie Fall


Jaw of Death


Does it look like I'm jumping??


We all loved the place we stayed in, it was so warm and cozy with the fire burning in the living room.


The next morning, we started our hike up to the Pinnacle.




This is the Pinnacle


Grand Canyon of the Grampians


Then we walked down to Halls Gap and had our lunch surrounded by kangaroos.


There were even kangaroo babies in the afternoon near the Brambuk Cultural Centre. So cute, both the baby and the mother bent down at the same time! =)


For more photos, click here

Great Ocean Road & the Grampians 3 day tour (Australia 2008)