The Nomadic Notebook

The famous blogger Nomadic Matt once said that “American’s have an on going love affair with the car and great open road.”

Apparently this affair is a global one, and so it was that earlier this month I found myself on the Great Ocean Road with an American at the wheel. He had convinced myself and a Dutch boy that a road trip would be fun…

Day 1:

After picking up the car from Wicked– a company that seemed to have a thing for naked people– we headed towards Lorne for lunch.

Our plans to camp there for the night and head onto Apollo Bay the following day were foiled when we discovered that the Great Ocean Road was going to be closed. So, with the sun setting faster than it should, we carried on, stopping to run to a waterfall through a field that looked to be hiding something.

After realizing that the free camping site’s we’d been led to believe were plentiful in Australia were being closed down and thus few and far between, we ended up settling for a camp site on the outskirts of Apollo Bay. We quickly discovered that the camp stove we’d been given was in disrepair, but our combined determination to eat finally got the thing working and we were set.

Day 2:

One can’t say they’ve done the Great Ocean Road without a visit to the Twelve Apostles, so we headed up to the Twelve Apostles Visitor Facility where I insisted we stick around until sunset. With a few hours to kill, we ended up chilling on the roof of the car with cheese, crackers, and cards.

Our search for free camping was once again thwarted, so we headed to the cheapest place we could find– Princetown Recreation Reserve and Camping– where yet another battle with the camping stove ensued.

Photo creds to the American

Day 3:

Opening the tent in the morning we found we had company. After packing up, with a dozen or so roos looking on, we headed to London Bridge. There we whiled away the day with various drinks and fruit accompanied by stories.

As evening came, our search for free camping, as usual, resulted in failure.

Day 4:

Continuing west, we stopped at the Petrified Forrest. It was somewhat more diminutive than expected, so we carried on to a Lake which, as can be seen by the lack of a photo, did not live up to expectations either. After our camp stove caught on fire– and not in the way it was intended to– we gave up on it and headed north in search of free camping.

We eventually found a site, tucked away next to a graveyard. We lit the infernal camp stove once more and attempted to make s’mores. Unfortunately Australia has yet to discover the graham cracker, and our attempts yielded less than stellar results. Neither of the North Americans were impressed, and the Dutchman preferred to eat squirms.

Day 5:

The majority of the day was spent driving. With nowhere noted to stop at on the way, we turned off the road at anything that sounded interesting. The majority of these sights were waterfalls.

Giving up completely on free camping, we ended up staying at a caravan park where, after the previous night, countless showers were in order.

Day 6:

An early start to the day gave us plenty of time to explore the Grampians, or, as things turned out, get lost in the Grampians. Once we’d collected ourselves we headed back to Melbourne.