THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD AND GEELONG

Still managing to dodge the bad weather that was causing havoc on the east coast and through SA, we drove along the Great Ocean Road, pulling in to every lookout we could with the van. The entire length of the coastline is spectacular amd there is much more to see than just the Twelve Apostles.

The Grotto

London Bridge

These two rocks at Loch Ard Gorge used to be joined across the top to form an archway, but the middle section broke off last year and fell into the ocean.

The Twelve Apostles

We stayed in Apollo Bay that night, then drove the remainder of the Great Ocean Road (the winding, cliff-edge part) to get to Geelong the next day. Again there were some stunning views, but there was nowhere to pull up safely with the van to get photos. The good thing was we didn't have to get out of the car to see them.

We stayed two nights in Geelong. I lived there for three years when I went to uni, but haven't been back since I left Victoria in 1989. I couldn't believe how much had changed. The waterfront at Eastern Beach was still recognisable, but had many new features including figures such as these ones all along the foreshore.

It was a cold day and there were some light showers around, but the kids insisted on going to the playground - a decision I came to regret. Casey was chasing the others up the steps when he fell forward, shattering his front teeth. There was quite a lot of blood so we rushed him up to emergency at the hospital (only 600m away luckily). There was no serious damage to his mouth.

He lost about one third of one of his front teeth, and a piece off the inside of the other. It's off to the dentist on Monday. We almost completed a full lap of Australia without visiting a hospital! At least it's not serious.

We spent a quiet day in the van after the drama of the morning, then went out to have a look at Bells Beach.

The next morning we drove all the way back to Numurkah in northern Victoria, completing a full lap of Australia.

I took this photo of the kids just as we were pulling up in front of Gran and Pop's house. Needless to say, they were excited!