Day 2 in Geelong was another adventure day and a very different day! We travelled down to 'Bells Beach' near Torquay and checked out the final day of the Bells Beach Surfing World Championship. Due to poor weather conditions and a lack of suitable waves, the competition had not been finalised. Of course as it was Wednesday it meant people were back at work and the crowd wasn't that big, so we could get a pretty good look at things! And YES try to work out how the competition worked! The following is info from the internet.

The 2014 Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach Australia marks the 53rd year for the world's oldest and most prestigious surfing event. Since 1962, it has been an annual pilgrimage for the world's best surfers and surfing fans to make their way to Bells Beach during Easter. Bells Beach is renowned for booming swells and the natural amphitheatre, where red clay cliffs drop into the powerful Great Southern Ocean, making an atmosphere unmatched anywhere in the world.The iconic event and Bells Trophy is one of the most sought after titles on surfing’s ASP Worlds Championship tour and holds a proud place in surfing folklore. We watched the final of the women's competition and saw Carissa Moore from Hawaii beat Australia's Tyler Wright. Carissa is only 21 and won the event last year.  Last year she also went head to head with Tyler, who has just celebrated her 20th birthday. The two had contested the Margaret River final ealier this month and Carissa had also won that battle. The score on Wednesday was 16.23 to 15.77, so not much in it. We went down onto the beach and got closer to the action when the quarter finals of the mens compeition started. Kelly Slater was preparing to go into the water and I found out later that he is an American Professional Surfing legend!! He won the Bells Rip Curl Pro in 2006. I also realised the prestige of the winner ringing the iconic 'Bell', at the conclusion of the tournament and climbing the steps to do so.  It is quite something!   And I wore my Bondi Hat on Bells Beach. Peter hasn't thrown it away yet!  We left the competition around lunchtime as we planned to travel a little way across the Great Ocean Road. We went as far as Lorne, travelling through Anglesea, Aireys Inlet and then stopping at the Memorial Arch to queue up for a photo shoot!  The bit that we have travelled of the Great Ocean Road is certainly as scenic as we had been told it would be. We were really surprised though, that the mountains on the edge of the road have not been stabilised, as we have seen on other roads.   We discussed the fact whilst travelling home.  Once travelling on the other side of the road, we were far more conscious of the number of rocks that had actually fallen.   It was a lovely afternoon and there were plenty of tourists and lots of people surfing. At Lorne there were surfing lessons happening in the bay. We had lunch at a lovely heritage hotel on the peninsula. The 'Grand Pacific Hotel Lorne' was built in the 1870's. We all had grilled baramundi, chips and salad for lunch. Delicious it was too! On the way back we managed to get some photos of the house on the hill, that has been featured on Better Homes and Gardens. It is available to rent. I don't want to even think about how much that would be per night! We just had to stop at Anglesea and take a photo of the old Clydesdale and the wagon. It has been placed in the park.  The seaside town that was once named Swampy Creek, was a very popular spot for holidays in the mid 1800's. Visitors travelled from afar and with the ever increasing demand, a coach service by horse and cart was offered. When we got back to Torquay we visited the Surfworld Museum. Torquay is known as Australia's surfing capital and the Museum celebrates the story of surfing. The story of the development of surfing around the world is also told. There are lots of surf boards, surfing artefacts and memorabilia. The Museum commemorates Australia's surfing heritage and rich beach culture. You aren't going to believe this next bit! We were keen to know what had happened with the men's competition and whether the swell had held on long enough for the competition to be finalised. The receptionist told us that they had moved the final to 'Winkipop'! What a name for a beach! Where did that name come from? Anyway it was the bay that we thought the competition was actually being held in when we first got there. There were lots of surfers down there and we were non the wiser how it all worked! The receptionist also told us there was a theatrette at the back where we could see the final. The 2nd semi final was in progress, so we had time to have a look through the Museum before we joined a number of surfing enthusiasts, who were definitely much younger than us, to watch the final. The swell wasn't very good at all, so it wasn't that riveting really!  But having been there in the morning we were keen to see who was the winner! Plus we can categorically say "That it is extremely unlikely we will ever be at the event again"!! Two Aussies were in the final Mick Fanning and Taj Burrow. Mick won with a score of 16.83. Taj could only manage a score of 13.46. I'm pretty pleased with this photo I got of Taj on a wave in the Quarter Final. Comments on the way back to Geelong from the four of us were.. "That it had been a very different day and one that we had really enjoyed"!  You do and SEE all sorts of things when you are touring Oz!! The other thing I have just found out from a website is that it is the only time in the 53 year history of the Surfing Championship at Bells Beach, that the ringing of the Women's and Men's Iconic Bell Trophy has been on the same day. So I guess we can sorta say we were part of that historyt!  Well we were there for a little while on the final day!On the way back to the caravan Tammy tried persistently to Facetime us with no luck. Nathaniel wanted to talk with us and as yet we haven't been able to get him to use this technology and have a chat. So we quickly made the most of his desire to have a chat, once we were back.  Certainly worth another snap from the day. We sang lots of nursery rhymes together and then to top off our day, Nic sent through a photo of the other six grandies at the farm with their bonfire and toasted marshmallows!