After a good night with Stanley, Huey and Tizzy, I wanted to get some time surfing around Bells Beach. I hired (Aussie term for rented) a board and found a good spot right around the corner from Bells Beach. There was a left working ok, and only about 10-15 people fighting for it. I laid low near the shoulder and wasn't too aggressive but after an hour or so I paddled a bit deeper and managed to pick off a few fun ones. I had a mini mal (7,8”) so it was easy to snatch em up and ride them to the inside.
That afternoon we continued our drive up the coast and stopped at Kennett river, well known Koala hang out. We got out of the car and not even 15 feet away was a koala chilling in a tree. We hiked up the dirt road for maybe 20 minutes, and started spotting lots of wild Koalas. I ended up getting quite a bit of exercise jumping, running, shuffling, anything I could to get their attention and spice up the shot. Those little guys are so cute, but they don't move much.
That evening drove to Apollo Bay to stay at a backpacker place for the night where we ended up meeting a few nice people, including a girl who had lived in Bushwick NY. The three of us had a nice night at the local bar which was supposed to be the most lively one in town... not quite what we found. The next day I tried to hire a surfboard at Apollo bay. The lady working there turned out to be a real stickler; “Well I can’t really advise you on where to go, seeing as i don't know what level you're at” - this was the most helpful thing she said. They don't seem to be big on hospitality for visiting surfers here. All I could find was a crappy beach break at Skinny beach that was the beginner spot and the only place the surfshop would let me know about. It didn't look that fun, and without any local intell, I decided to scratch surfing that day.
The lack of surfing turned me into a real sour puss, but my mood turned around once we came to the first of the 12 Apostles. The coastline through this whole region was stunning. The erosion on the coastline works at around 2 cm a year. The surf in this area looks really heavy. Its normally double the size of what you would find at Bells, being a more exposed stretch of beach. I talked with one surf shop owner who told me that its also the coldest spot, even more so than Tassie because the current here come straight off the antarctic. She said you really have to know what you're doing, and I imagine those who surf here get some pretty big bombs.
From the 12 Apostles we drove up to Mt. Gambier and stayed for the night. It was a nice place run by a nice old couple who served a free breakfast in bed, except for their communist russian style control of the internet. There was a big sign in the room that said websites including: social media, music, videos, and adult content , are banned and visiting such sites will disable the internet for EVERYONE. What else is there to do on the internet? From Mt. Gambier we made the final journey towards Adelaide. The Great Ocean Road was travelled in a bit of a haste for us, and there seems like lots of great stuff to see, if only we had more time.
-James
