Day 163 : Grampians to Port Elliot

• Spent the morning doing some short walks around the Grampians - visited MacKenzie Falls, Reeds Lookout and the Balconies. Spectacular views and saw a few black wallabies and kangaroos. Cold showers and a mountain breeze made it feel very wintery.
• Continued on to Horsham and through Victoria to the state border with South Australia. Scenery is very different and constantly changing. Generally feels a lot more rural and “outbacky”.
• Stopped for coffee at Bordertown.
• Caught the chain ferry at Wellington.
• Stopped at another YHA at Port Elliot. Hostel is another good one – an old, but recently converted hotel – bags of character and well kitted out. Treated ourselves to steak dinner (that we cooked ourselves!).

Day 162 : Great Ocean Road to the Grampians

Left Apollo Bay early and did a short walk at Maits Rest where we found the rare and carnivorous Otway Black Snail whilst walking along the rainforest boardwalk. We drove to the lighthouse at Cape Otway (the oldest in Australia) but the highlight was the many koalas along the road. Further along the GOR we stopped at the 12 Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, Bay of Islands, Port Campbell, Tower Hill (a volcanic crater turned nature reserve – lots of emus, skink, lizards). Went for a swim at the beach in Port Fairy to wake ourselves up – fun bodysurfing waves but not worth hiring a surfboard.

We drove inland to Grampians, only just managing to avoid a suicidal black wallaby which jumped in front of us on the highway! Louise wants a special mention to go to the cake we had on the way – it was a yellow shortbread pastry thing with apple inside and icing on top. We’re staying at another great YHA at Halls Gap – very similar to the one at Apollo Bay. They even have chickens to provide us with free eggs in the morning :-)

We went for a glass of wine at a local bar and saw hundreds of kangaroos about – mostly munching the grass off the cricket pitch.

Day 161 : Melbourne to Apollo Bay

Left Tom and Narissa to pick up our rental car in the morning – this time a tiny Toyota Yaris. After a quick stop in Torquay we drive along the great ocean road to the famous Bells Beach; there was a tiny wave but nowhere to hire any boards so surfing not really an option. Continuing along the GOR we stopped at the Split Point Lighthouse (of “round the twist” fame), the memorial arch and Lorne and Kennett river (koala spotting).

We stopped for the night at a fantastic YHA in Apollo Bay and managed to get upgraded to a double room instead of the dorm. There’s not a whole lot in the town itself except for the beach and a few walks but we’ve got a lot of ground to cover tomorrow so don’t plan to hang around too much anyway.

Koala count: 1 walking along the side of the road, 1 barking at geese (see video), 1 eating, 1 sleeping

Day 257 to 260 : Melbourne

• Flew to Melbourne to stay with uncle Tom and Narissa
• Went out to dinner and then for cocktails in some cool pubs and bars in Northcote
• Had breakfast in a lovely cafe
• Went to the ACMI and then got arrested at old Melbourne Gaol
• Drank coffee in funky little cafes on Degraves street
• Went to the aquarium and identified lots of fish that we saw snorkelling
• Got our underwater films developed from Fiji, Whitsundays and Barrier reef
• Took the tram around town
• Walked around some of the parks and streets

Day 255 : Animals at Port Douglas

Today we went to the zoo and saw a tree kangaroo, koalas, fed some kangaroos and saw lots of cool birds.

Day 154 : Great barrier reef

• Took a day trip to the barrier reef on a luxurious boat (compared to "Spank Me"). We had delicious food, nice toilets and everything!
• Snorkelled at Agincourt, Helm's deep and Trigger fish reef. The water was so clear and there were so many fish. 
• We saw two white tipped sharks (one really big one), giant sea cucumbers, unicorn fish, clown fish, barracuda, crayfish whiskers, giant clams, parrot fish and peach cheek trigger fish guarding their nests. 
• Got 2 underwater films to develop now, hope some pics are good.

Day 153 : Port Douglas

Got a free transfer to the Port Douglas YHA. Didn't do much - it's very hot! Walked around the town, watched the hundreds of fruit bats in the evening and found a huge tree frog.