The great ocean road

 One thing we had heard time and time again about Australia was that we needed to take a drive down the great ocean road. We were excited to get out and explore the countryside so we set aside a few days to take the drive and had some great weather for site seeing. We started by driving to a winery outside of Melbourne called Oakdene. We had some lunch and did a tasting of a few wines and then spent some time exploring the grounds. We stayed in an upstairs room that had a bathroom built inside of an old water tank which was pretty cool.

 The next day we spent the day driving down the great ocean road which was absolutely beautiful. We stopped along the way to check out a few sites like a historic lighthouse on the coast and the 12 apostles. The 12 apostles are a group of large rock formations off the coastline and they are truly awe inspiring. After the drive we stopped at a bed and breakfast that was made out of an old church. It was a great place to stay and the owner had told us to check out a near by national park in a prehistoric volcano crater. We went for a hike and were lucky enough to see some wildlife. We first came across two koala's in a tree and then nearly ran into an emu that was walking down the path in front of us.

The next day we drove to a small town called Dunkeld to have dinner at the Royal Mail Hotel. Dinner was fantastic and ten courses long so after words we were happy to have a room to walk to instead of having to drive that full. The next morning we took a hike in the Grampians Mountains and found a pair of wallabies with a joey grazing a little way off the path.  

So, this is an awkward blog because Jeff typed part of it and I typed part of it.  I (Elizabeth) am going to write the picture captions, don't let that confuse you.  When we type without the reader knowing which of us wrote it, Jeff gets weirded out when I say things like the following captions:

 Lighthouse!!!

 Jeff!

Green slime!  

 Lagoon! 

  See that round water tank?  That was our bathroom!  Weird.

Whenever someone asks me what it is like living in Australia, I tell them it is like an alternate universe United States.  Almost the same...but not quite.  The following picture is an example.  At first glance it looks totally normal, but look again.  Sultana Bran?  Vegemite?  Muesli?  

I've decided that keeping these photos in order is an insurmountable challenge.  I present you with the 12 apostles from day two!

 Three words to describe this 1) Majestic 2) Geological 3) Apostolic

If you don't want me to climb the stairs, don't paint them in such tempting hues.  

This is a picture of our room in the refurbished church.  

 

 Probably the cutest thing ever.  This Koala graciously decided to nap near the park restroom, meaning that all the tourists could get a good look.

 I scared that emu by accident.  

We saw this wallaby on a hike in the Grampians.  They didn't mind that we were there, as long as there was lots of grass between us and them.

 This was the view from our hotel room, it was really beautiful.

end.