THE GREAT (AND COLD) OCEAN ROAD

It’s safe to say that we were all rather unprepared for the weather that awaited us along the south coast of Australia. It was unseasonably cold due to a series of storms which had put parts of Victoria on a ‘severe’ weather warning. Our plan of camping our way along the Great Ocean Road before heading up the east coast now seemed laughable. 

But with a heightened sense of false optimism brought on by the onset of our journey, we did what any self-respecting Brit would do and kept calm and carried on. We picked up the car we would be spending the next six weeks heading up to Cairns in and set out for the furthest point on the road, Warrnambool, to start the real drive the next day. 

On arrival at our free campsite in Warrnambool however, we were faced with 50kmph winds, near freezing temperatures and torrential rain, which, incidentally, is where I draw the line. Oliver and I hot-footed it to the nearest cheap hotel and vowed to try the camping thing again tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep. 

The road itself was very beautiful but most of our time was spent in the car due to the weather.

Whenever we came across a particularly stunning vista we stopped at the lookout point, like this one called the Bay of Islands.

We managed to camp the second night and kept our spirits up with plenty of smashed avo and poached eggs on toast. You can take the girl out of Surrey...

Even while camping the smashed avo toast makes an appearance #typicalblogger #avocado #roadtrip #camping #foodstagram #foodie

A photo posted by Lily (@lilyblogslife) on Oct 12, 2016 at 4:41am PDT

The main point on the road is the Twelve Apostles, which was equally stunning, but again we had to rush through our time there due to weather. 

The wind was blowing at 70kmph while we were at the Twelve Apostles. It was very strange being able to lean forwards with all our body weight and still remain upright because of the strength of the wind!

It didn’t stop this cheeky little roo from posing for a couple of pictures though. 

After passing through Melbourne on the way back we started our journey up the coast. It was obvious that Victoria wouldn’t be producing any of the famous Australian sunshine we’d been hoping for so we headed north to New South Wales. 

The white sand beaches of Jervis Bay were a highlight for us, and we all agreed at the end of our trip that it was probably our second favourite beach in Australia, although still just a bit too cold, despite the blue skies.

Bring on Queensland!