Victoria - Melbourne
[edited: Too add in more photos]
Day 3 of our vacation, we followed a tour to the Great Ocean Road (GOR). Main highlights along the Great Ocean Road are Torquay (surfers paradise), Apollo Bay (where we stopped for lunch), Twelve Apostles, Loch Arc Gorge, Port Campbell and the London Bridge/London Arch. The journey was a tiring one. 4 hours to reach the stunning Twelve Apostles.
And it was indeed a good wait. The Twelve Apostles was a majestic sight! Some may say it's a waste of time to travel so far just to see a few rocks. But if you are actually standing there and lay your eyes on the beautiful view, words really can't describe the feeling. I was on top of the world.
As you can see, there are no 12 apostles. Left about 7 only.
We were so awed by the view that we didn't wanna leave.
So, the bus left us.
Really. THE BUS LEFT US.
It was our fault. We were given 45 minutes for that stop. However, we lost track of time coz we were sooo busy taking (over and over again) snap shots and videos of the apostles.
Then again, we were only 2 minutes late. *&@%# Why are they so punctual?
Darling ran all the way to the meeting place and the bus just went passed him though he was waving frantically.
We panicked as the place was soo isolated and it was 4 hours away from Melbourne City. How on earth can we get my cousin to come all the way here? I'd be embarrassed to call him though I know it's the only way. So, there we were, strolling along the car park, thinking of the next step to take when a driver from another bus approached us, asking whether the bus had left us. We nodded and he told us not to worry, that we can follow his bus and we can catch up with our bus in the next stop. How relieved we were. But we got to wait another 30 minutes before the bus depart to the next stop and we were concerned about not being able to catch up with our tour.
A couple of minutes later, came another driver from another tour bus, signalling to us to come nearer while talking on his mobile. He asked whether we are from the GreyLine tour. We said 'yeah' and he told the guy on the line " Mike. I found them". I felt so relieved that our driver noticed our disappearance. Thank God!
Our driver came about 10 minutes later to pick us. I was already planning to say "sorry" to everyone on the bus but luckily, there were no other passengers when he came back for us. They were all at the other stop. Yay! Save my embarrassment. They probably didn't even noticed we were gone. But we were wrong. When we caught with them, the lady from India who were sitting next to us the whole journey, talked to us. She told us she saw darling running and waving and she informed the bus driver. So sweet. Another couple from Perth started talking to us. It seems that our misfortune had brought us new found friends. For the next few stops, I made sure we get back to the bus on time.
Other fantastic views of the GOR:
Apollo Bay
The beach at the Appollo Bay and the famous anchor
London Bridge/Arch
London Arch was previously known as the London Bridge coz it originally has a double arch which resemble the actual bridge. The guide mentioned that the name was changed to London Arch after the first arch collapsed, leaving two tourists stranded on the other side. The tourists were rescued by helicopter. Luckily, nobody was injured. Scawee..
Shipwreck area at the Loch Ard Gorge:
From left to right: Tale of the two survivors of the 'Loch Arc' ship wreck, me and the elephant Rock
The beach where the two survivors were swept to
The caves where the two survivors sheltered themselves
Port Campbell:
Chiling out. Clean water, fresh air and lotsa sea gulls. Posted at 16:31 by arielkmk
