What a day of phenomenal sites! It’s going to be hard to select the pictures for today’s blog.

We didn’t get a very restful sleep due to the lack of bedding and the significant temperature drop. As a result, we were up shortly after 6 a.m. and on the road by 8 a.m. Considering the number of tour buses we saw/followed yesterday out of Melbourne, we felt getting on the road early would be beneficial.

There was a brief shower before we left and the day looked dark and dreary as we drove through the Otway National Park and its rainforest. Due to the eculyptus trees, there was a wonderful scent in the car. As we exited the park, we were able to see the coastline again and the cloud cover was breaking up. The countryside varied from forest to grassland where we saw lots of cattle grazing.

Our first stop was the 12 Apostles although there only every was 9 and now they are down to 8. With the sun shining, we got unbelieveable photos of the Apostles.

Our next stop was Loch Ard Gorge so named after a shipwreck that occured there in 1858. There were only 2 survivors and 52 casualties. We were able to right down to the water and check out the caves.

After Loch Ard Gorge, we stopped at the Arch. The power of the waves that created it was on full display.

We stopped in Port Campbell for lunch at The Forage. We have been finding the food a bit pricey but in this case, it may have been due the use of organanic products. In addition, there isn’t any large city around so all food has to come quite a distance. The soup and sour dough bread was tasty and help take off some of the chill as it was quite windy on the costline.

After lunch we stopped at the Bay of Matyrs, the London Bridge and the Bay of Islands. Interesting story about the London Bridge. It use to be connected to the mainland but in 1990 that section collapsed. Two people had just crossed over the section and had to be rescued.

After the Bay of Islands, we headed to Warrnambool where we filled in gas before heading to our hotel in Halls Gap. LOTS of pasture, cows, and some sheep and not much else for 64 kms. Then the next 64 kms was in the Gampian National Park where there was nothing but trees. We keep seeing signs to watch for kangaroo but the only one we think we saw was roadkill.

The manager at the hotel has recommended a number of sites to see while at Halls Gap that sound interesting. We plan on checking out a couple this evening after dinner. I am also hoping to see some of the wildlife that comes around the hotel.

While we were eating dinner, there were at least 4 white cockatoos flying in the area. I didn’t have mt camera or I would have been able to get a photo of one who settled in a tree near our table. After dinner, I took a walk around the hotel property and came across 8 kangaroos grazing behind the hotel. When I returned to our room to tell Michael, there was at least another 6 dining in the front lawn. In all my previous trips, I have only seen 1 kangaroo in the wild. Tonight alone, I must have seen 60+.

We did go to Reed’s Lookout and the Balconies to see the sunset. It was quite a sight to see the valley.

Well that sums up our day. Looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure.

Although I woke at 3 a.m. this morning, I still got 11 hours of well-needed sleep. I managed to fall asleep for a couple more hours before starting our day. We enjoyed a good contintental breakfast offered at the hotel before hauling our luggage to the carpark. Interesting item for the day: We saw a Costco on our way out of the downtown area. We didn’t bring our Costco card or we might have checked it out.

The GPS worked well today so we were able to get out of Melbourne without any issues. The roadways are well marked and the highways well maintained. We didn’t see any wildlife but did see a cuckatoo and kangaroo crossing signs (the same way we’d see deer crossing signs).

We ended up connecting to the Great Ocean Road right at the start. It is a curvy single lane each way road way with lots of hairpin turns but the ocean vistas were wonderful. We stopped at Anglesea and walked out to the ocean. There are busloads of Japanese tourists and at Anglesea a number of them were taking surfing lessons.

There are a number of stops along the way where you can view the ocean and watch the surfers which we did.

With the curvy roads, it took us about 3 hours to get to Apollo Bay, our destination for the day. We had a wonderful seafood lunch before heading to our accomodations where we are currently relaxing/napping before heading for a walk on the beach and in town.

We had a lovely walk on the beach this evening and collected some shells. Surprisingly, it cooled off quite a bit this evening so no need for the air conditioner tonight.

I’m sitting in our hotel room crafting this latest update.

We arrived in Melbourne 1/2 hour early which was a bonus and no decontamination spray. It was 21c and partly cloudy. I was so thankful to see that our luggage had arrived considering we hadn’t seen it since Winnipeg and it was one of my worries, Getting through customs went well so you won’t see us on a episode of Austrailia Border Patrol (although there were signs up about a film crew in the airport).

We’d arrange transportation to get us to downtown Melbourne where we would pick up our car rental and get to our hotel. Fortunately both were close to the bus drop off at Southern Cross Station.

Driving on the right hand side and sitting as a passenger in what we consder the drivers seat takes some getting use to as does the streets in Downtown Melbourne where they have bike lanes and a trolley lane. Trolley take the center of the roadway yet cars can been seen in these lanes occassionally. We did a lot of “driving around the block” to get to the hotel and to find parking as it is very limited on the street. We parked the car in a recommended parkade and it will costs us $45.

By mid afternoon, it was 27c and very humid. We walked around the downtown area looking for a post office and some place to eat. By the time we found the post office, I was so tried and my ankles quite swollen from the flight, I didn’t care about eating so I went back to the hotel and fell asleep.

Since there wasn’t anything interesting to see in downtown Melbourne, today’s photos of the day were taken during the flight. I slept about 4 hours and woke about midway during the flight. I also caught the morning sunrise as we were flying near Fiji.

The day started with a good old fashion snow shovel to move the 4 foot drift blocking our exit. The street was plowed by 7 a.m. so we had no issues getting out of Oak Bluff. The trip to the airport was uneventful but slow.

Then the fun began. First, we forgot to leave our winter gloves behind so they’re coming to Oz. Second, upon checking in at the kiosk, we learnt that our flight would not be leaving at 12:35 (at the time of writing it is now 12:55). And back to the winter gloves. I tried to put them into our checked luggage but the combination on the suitcase didn’t work. The luggage is checked through to Melbourne so hopefully we can get some assistance there.

1:36 p.m. and we are finally in the air. The flight we were on started its day in Halifax. I feel sorry for any of the passengers who were remaining on the flight to Vancouver. The headphone jack on my seat arm is broken so once we are in the air, I was moved to a different seat. We arrived in Vancouver around 2:30 and caught the shuttle to the hotel by 3:00 where I was able to catch some sleep and freshen up before the next leg of the trip.

I’m currently taking advantage of the airport’s WIFI to finish today’s blog. It’s surprisingly cold in Vancouver where the temperature overnight is expected to be -8c.

Another hour before we are to start boarding. There is not a lot of people in the departure lounge yet but the plane is at the gate so I take that as a good sign.

I will now close off Day 1 of the Hopper adventure. Keep warm. The next time you hear from me, I should be in the Land Down Under.