Day 7 saw us really excited about embarking on the Great Ocean Rd so we hastily packed up the van and headed into Sorrento for some breakfast. The cafe/bar place had sparrows living inside. We loved it as did a few others, while others weren't as impressed.

We headed down to the ferry and sat in the queue . After only 2 minutes wait we were ushered into the parking area of the ferry where we locked up the van and went upstairs to the lounge, cafe and bar where we found a table with a view and watched the whole trip.

The rain fell heavily while we were between the heads but seemed to subside once we got to Queenscliff. Our curiosities got the better of us and we wanted to check out Geelong so we made the 20km detour which in the end was a bit of a waste of time as traffic and 'no right turns' made it take an hour. We loaded up with fuel and turned onto Torquay Rd consciously bypassing Point Lonsdale and Barwon Heads as they didn't appeal enough and we were getting hungry.

Torquay was nice, we were expecting a bunch of peroxide-headed, stoner surfers parked in vans all along the beach with Xavier Rudd playing, but instead we found a nice little bohemian community with nice cafes, good food and friendly folk always willing to chat. I imagine that in summer, the bogans come back but in winter it is only locals and the true diehards. It is the temporary transient population that give the place it's bad name.

After lunch and a coffee we dropped into Woolies to get some supplies then we hit the road to Bells Beach. This marked the REAL start of the Great Ocean Rd.