The Great Ocean Road

Our time in Perth had drawn to a close. It was time to head on to Melbourne, the cultural capital of Aussie. In the Perth airport, we spotted our next monument to Movember. Pretty epic if you ask me. I think they should put these up in the US.

We have a friend here in Hong Kong named Andrew Samaratunge. He is actually from Melbourne, with his parents living in a suburb and his sister living right in the heart of the city. The sister, Frances, was nice enough to let us stay with her for a few days. Thanks Frances!

On the first day of our Melbourne jaunt, we actually took off on a road trip to drive the Great Ocean Road. It's 151 miles long and runs along the south-eastern coast of Aussie. There are fantastic views along the way, with lots of scenic stops and lookouts. Not to mention the cute coastal swim and surf towns. Overall, the drive down took about 4-5 hours, while the drive home (which was on a highway) took only 2.5. 

This was the first of many stops along the way. It was a bit chilly, with clouds and drizzle here and there, so we weren't too fussed about spending most of the time in the car. 

For those of you fashionistas, you've probably noticed by now that Drew and I seem to wear the same clothes over and over. It's true. I wore the same outfit probably 40% of the 17 days. That's because I thought it was going to be warmer in Aussie than it actually was. So we ended up packing too many shorts and tanks, and not enough long pants and jackets. Oops. 

This was the view from our lunch stop of hummus and crackers and thai olives. I was channeling my inner artist and noticed that these colors are exactly what we used to decorate our living and dining room in our home back in CO. We painted the walls a blue/green exactly the same color of the water, all of the furniture was dark espresso colored like the rocks, and all of the windows and trim have white accents like the foam. Boya. Maybe I'll print this picture out and hang it on the walls when we get home, as it will match perfectly :)

The last part of the Great Ocean Road is the finale, the Twelve Apostles. These are limestone cliffs that the Southern Ocean has gradually worn down into columns that loom out of the sea in odd shapes and sizes. Originally, there were twelve of them, hence the name. A few have since have been claimed by the sea, so Drew and I only counted 8 or 9, depending on which one of us you ask. They were very beautiful. The cliffs also, from whence they came, were also stunning, and, in my estimation, were at least 150 feet high. They are way taller than these pictures make them look.