Rutledge Creek

Today was our first day of driving on the actual Great Ocean Road. We had a jam packed day of sightseeing which we kicked off at Warrnambool. After a very early breakfast (Blake got up very early this morning) we headed to Logan's Beach and Blue Hole River Pool for an early morning stroll. Despite being there by 9am, there were actually quite a few people on the beach walking their dogs. After our stroll, we drove round to the Pavilion Cafe that looked out over Lady Bay for a coffee on the terrace in the sun.

Coffee finished we were back on the road, twisting and turning around the coast line on our way to our first stop on the Great Ocean Road, The Bay of Islands. It is kind of like a mini Twelve Apostles, with towering limestone stacks that sit out in the glistening turquoise ocean. With the sunshine and fabulous blue skies, the view was breathtaking. We also drove around to the Bay of Martyrs, which gave us a different view of the rocks.

Our next stop was The Grotto. Here we had to walk down some steps which led us down to a hollowed out cave like rock formation where the waves looked like they crashed in during high tide. It's kind of hard to explain but it was very pretty.

Next up was London Bridge. This awesome rock formation once resembled the double arched bridge however due to the elements the middle bit collapsed in 1990, leaving two tourists stranded on Australia's newest island. They were eventually rescued by helicopter a few hours later. London Bridge well and truly did fall down.

Just when we were thinking the views couldn't get any more incredible, we pulled up to Loch Ard Gorge, named after the two young survivors of the wrecked ship 'Loch Ard' made it to shore. There were lots of different walks so we spent a good hour here exploring. One of the paths took us down to a secluded little cove which was really beautiful.

Not far from Loch Ard Gorge was the piece de resistance, the Twelve Apostles. You really wouldn't think that a bunch of rocks could be so spectacular but they really are. Before we braved the tourist packed boardwalks to see the Twelve Apostles, we walked down the Gibson Steps which were a 30-45 minute return walk. Literally hacked into the cliffs, these steps led us to the beach for a different view (tide permitting) of the Twelve Apostles. Unfortunately high tide meant that we couldn't quite make it around however the view along the cliffs was nice. We then fought our way out along the boardwalk to see the Twelve Apostles. Despite the crowds (they don't put that in the guide book) we managed to get some good snaps however we didn't stick around too long.

After an action packed day we decided to drive to the next campsite as it was a little off the main road (you have to take a bit of a detour to find the free spots). Unfortunately, just as we were about to arrive the road was suddenly closed off. This was because they were harvesting the site so we had to detour to another site even further inland. A very long and winding 45 minutes later we made it to the campsite, feeling pretty pooped. We rustled up some lamb burgers and cous cous and were in bed by 9pm.Read more