Great Ocean Road Trip | Part One

As I mentioned in my last post, I worked a lot in Adelaide, and as a result was very busy and lacked time to plan my next steps. I had work lined up for the following month, but it took me a while to secure accommodation to move to and to make arrangements to get to my next city. Ideally, I wanted to drive. There’s so much to see on the coast between Adelaide and Melbourne. One day I was chatting to some people at work, and one mentioned they might be hiring a campervan with some friends and asked if I would be interested in joining them. 

So, just over a week later, bags packed and standing at the bottom of the driveway, I watched as a ginormous, 6 berth motorhome turned the corner onto the street that had been my home for the past month. Betty, she was called and referred to for the rest of the trip, Betty the Beast. 

I met two of my new roommates, and said hello again to the two in the van who I did already know, and we began our journey. We left Adelaide and drove for a while, waving goodbye to the city, chatting, and queuing music to play. We were to be a part of a convoy, and met with others in their vehicles at a small town a little ways south-east of Adelaide. I knew no one, but everyone was friendly and we chatted about our plan for the rest of the day and made a shopping list to take into the Foodland across the road. Then we got back on the road and headed towards a campsite close to Robe. 

On the way, we stopped at the iconic Big Lobster, which is exactly what it claims to be. 

We rocked up to the campsite and got ourselves situated, opening the box wine and preparing for the big group bbq we would make that night. Different teams did various parts, some of us chopping vegetables, others grilling, some running plates of food between motorhome and bbq. Then everything came together. It was dark and the temperature had dropped so we ate in the van – all fourteen of us squeezing onto seats and cramming around the tables. We spent the evening sipping wine and cans of beer and cider, playing rounds of UNO. 

We woke the next morning to a loud knocking on the side of the van. Shock and the confusion of waking combined to anxiety – was someone trying to get in? Had we hugely overslept? No, it was one of our friends, waking us up to let us know that there was a sea lion in the campsite! We tumbled out of the van in our pyjamas, stuffed our feet into shoes, and walked around the corner to see what we were promised. A huge, brown sea lion was walking along the gravel road. Other campers, and some of the campsite staff were watching on too. We asked if this was a frequent occurrence and they told us it had never happened before. One of the staff seemed to have built a good rapport with the creature, and they walked together, him shepherding the animal towards a nearby body of water. 

After admiring the sea lion for a considerable amount of time, we got ready for the day, packed up, and rolled out, heading to park up in Robe for a morning of wandering. We all split up to explore and came back together for a dip in the icy cold ocean. Then we got on the road again to continue down the coast. I was a passenger in another van that day, keeping a new friend company in hers, which was a one-bed setup. We got to know each other through road trip conversation and karaoke.

We headed inland a little, our destination the ‘little blue lake’ just outside of Mount Gambier – a body of water created by a natural sinkhole. We knew it as a swimming spot, but when we got there we were uncertain at first as the clouds came over and the water colour looked more green than blue. Many of us were still keen, though, and when the sun did come out and the water began to sparkle it was very inviting. We jumped in to find a much warmer pool of water than we’d anticipated, especially after the chilly swim at the beach that morning. I swam for a while, feeling so content and happy to be immersed in water.

Our next stop was another sinkhole actually in Mount Gambier, which had a garden growing inside it. It was lushly green and full of plants, trees and shrubs and flowers. There were huge beehives in its walls, peeking through the rock. It was so alive and fresh.

That afternoon we pitched up at a beachside campsite and later on strolled along the beach to a fish and chip shop for a takeaway dinner. We ate as the sky faded to pastel colours and the bright glimmer of the moon appeared. 

Our third day on the road began with a short stroll at a national park close to the South Australia and Victoria border. It was funny to watch our clocks change to half an hour in the future when we crossed the point. The walk was a short loop through the bush that led us to views of a wide river. The area also had caves and an information centre, but both were closed, so we were the only people around.

We stopped for lunch and a pint in Nelson where there was a beautiful river. Then we headed to the larger town of Portland to do a food shop and browse some op shops. Several of our convoy had been sleeping in tents and found themselves super chilly at night, so we found them some extra layers.

We did some decent driving that day and reached a campsite in Warrnambool, ready to officially be on the Great Ocean Road the following day. There was a swimming pool at the campsite so a few of us took a dip before an evening of drinks and dinner and planning our next steps…