We had decided to take the scenic route to Sydney so we could fit in the Great Ocean Road, one of the most famous drives in Australia, while the other car took the more direct route straight across the country. The first stop on our journey was Mount Gambier where we had decided to spend the night. As always getting there was not without its problems as Keo had decided after nearly a week of sitting on the driveway being forgotten about she wasn't going to start! Luckily we checked the day before we planned to set off so were able to recharge the batteries using Chantell's dad's battery charger! Then about 15 minutes into the journey, we had to go up a fairly steep hill and noticed just in the nick if time that the engine temperature gauge had crept up to almost the red zone so we had to pull over and let it cool off! The 3rd thing, which we should have really been expecting, was that as we pulled into Mount Gambier, we heard the familiar sound of sirens behind us as a police car pulled us over and informed us we were going 60 in a 50 zone!!! Another $220 speeding ticket, this time with Gareth's name on, to add to the collection!! As we'd got nearer to Mount Gambier and the night had drawn in we noticed the temperature had dropped quite a lot, even to the extent that we had to put the heating on in the van for the first time. As we arrived at the campsite it was dark and freezing. With none of us having any warm clothing and not fancying standing outside cooking we all agreed we had earned ourselves our first taste of a Hungry Jacks burger (basically Burger King but due to a fall out over licensing it goes by that name!). A quick drive straight back off the site and down the road we found the nearest one! Just as we warmed up inside and eyed the menu, we were told they had just had a power cut so couldn't sell most of the menu as they couldn't guarantee it was cooked properly with all the friers being shut off. By now we had it in our heads we were having something naughty and with McDonalds just around the corner, we opted for that! Eventually we pulled into the caravan park and set ourselves up for the night, this was a quick crash back to reality as we already missed the comfort of Chantell's house and a proper bed! We didn't know what the temperature was but you know it's cold when even Matt went to bed with socks and a T-shirt on!

The next morning we were up and out pretty early . Much to our dismay it was still freezing! So we were all wrapped up in our warmest clothes: I had resorted to trousers for the first time in weeks & Matt was seriously contemplating buying a jumper as by now he had a vest and 2 T-shirts on! Nevertheless, the van heaters went on and we set off in the hunt for the Blue Lake. We had read in our guide books that it is special because from April to October the water is a normal dull grey colour but between November & March it mysteriously turns an intense blue colour and with it being December we thought we had to check it out!

It was stunning!!!! All 3 of us were mesmerised by the beautiful deep blue colour of the water and were really frustrated when our photos just didn't do it justice! Especially as it was pretty cloudy and you needed the sun on it to really show it's colour. We followed one of the walking trails around the area to take in the lake from a variety of viewpoints trying to catch the perfect photo! Eventually it started to rain so we retreated to the van!

We continued on our journey to the start point of the Great Ocean Road: Port Fairy . We had assumed that we were going to wake up and within minutes be on the Great Ocean Road, Oh no it turned out it was 2 hours away still. Once at Port Fairy, we would then follow the tourist drive through Warnambool, past some lookouts which took you to views of interesting rock formations, Peterborough where we saw the formation called 'The Grotto', Port Campbell, through a very winding national park and past Loch Ard Gorge where there is a shipwreck. We stopped for a while at the Twelve Apostles where we followed the walking track to a few different lookouts and photo opportunities, before driving through Lorne and lots of other lovely seaside towns. Somewhere we had heard that the whole Great Ocean Road only took an hour and a half to drive, turns out it actually takes 4 and a half hours driving with the added time of stopping and looking at things. Not sure how we'd got this so wrong but we had. So with this added to our 2 hours to get here and an hour to now get to Geelong to camp it equalled a rather long day in the van again .

All in all we were a little disappointed with the Great Ocean Road and didn't feel it really lived up to all the hype surrounding it! Maybe we have been spoilt by all the amazing scenery we have already seen during our travels and we have certainly seen a lot more than your average tourist but it seemed strange that for the first half of the drive we were on an inland road so couldn't actually see the ocean?! This definitely wasn't what we were expecting! Admittedly, there were a lot more interesting places and views as we got closer to Melbourne and, for the last section, you were right by the water's edge so maybe that's the bit people talk about?! It probably didn't help that we drove it on quite a dull, overcast day so we didn't get to fully appreciate the sights we did see. I'm really glad we did it though and can say we have been there but another time I think I'd skip the Great Ocean Road and take the direct route from Adelaide to Sydney!!