From Melbourne to Sydney via The Great Ocean Road
Ever since Simone and I moved across the ditch, her folks have had this idea of a big family road trip. Like something out of a movie – we’d all pile into a giant camper van – all six of us – and then venture down the road into lands unknown. Guided only by our wits and GPS.
This is not the story of that trip. For the simple reason that it is yet to happen. Instead, this is our first Aussie trip with them. One of many as more and more family come to check out our new digs, I am sure. This one took us westward – out of Melbourne and onto the Great Ocean Road. Then back into Melbourne for a mini rest, and onto the long way to Sydney via Canberra. Ending with a long weekend in Sydney and a flight home on Sunday night. There has to be a more elegant way of putting this into words… Right now, I can’t think of one, so instead, heres a map!
A trip that normally takes at most three nights was stretched into 7 days. What better way to see our new home!
The plan, in theory, was simple. Driving should not take more than 3 hours a day, which translates into about 250 kilometers covered every day. Staying overnight in the many small shires dotted around the place. These overnight stops were selected based on their proximity to interesting stuff and not due to their directness to our destination.
We had just under two weeks to explore and boy were we going to use it.
Because of my work, I could only take off from Wednesday. This meant the family’s first two days in Australia would be spent exploring Melbourne. Which is great! Any excuse to be a tourist in my opinion! Simone did a fantastic job showing them our new hometown – from Queen Victoria Market to the iconic Hosier Lane, and many other sights in-between.
From Wednesday, I was released, and we were off.
First on the agenda – The Great Ocean Road!
But nothing really goes to plan. After all, how else could you have an adventure if it did?
