Today we tackled the Great Ocean Road proper.

“The Great Ocean Road is an Australian National Heritage listed 243-kilometre (151 mi) stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Allansford. Built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932 and dedicated to soldiers killed during World War I, the road is the world’s largest war memorial.” — Wikipedia.

It was a perfect driving day. 18 degrees Celcius with a thick spatula of sun shuffled cumulus clouds. The slow hairpin turns and jawdropping views (Ian! Keep your eyes on the road for cripes sakes!) made the whole drive a joy.

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Between stopping for roadworks and stopping to let the inevitable backlog of traffic pass, and stopping for photos and stopping for no other reason than to watch the wild windswept surf smashing in…. we stopped a lot.

All that stopping proved exhausting, so we stopped for a slow coffee (Rated: 2/5) and toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches at Wye River.

In Apollo Bay we pulled up next to a sports oval and not 50 metres away an air ambulance helicopter was loading an intubated patient. Listening to the chatter and oxylog alarms as they packaged up ready for flight brought back all the good memories.

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Tonight we have snagged a sweet overnight camp at the Apollo Bay Recreational Reserve. We are right beside a small stream which is awesome, and only slightly tempered by the density of duck shit on the grass. A situation Juno is simply dying to exploit to roll and back-wriggle in ecstasy until all his white bits are brown.

Tomorrow’s forcast: rain, high winds and hail. What could possibly go wrong?