the GREAT ocean ROAD

[NOTE: This day was filled with over a hundred pictures—many of which are so beautiful and worth a few minutes of your day. Please check out my snapfish account (login: fuji@mizar.lod.com, passwd: fishywara—album: theGreatOceanRoad]

I spent a most fabulous day on this Great Ocean Road that runs along the southern coast, headed west out of Melbourne:

This was my first “tour” since my arrival in OZ…and what a stunning, fabulous and enjoyable day it was!! First of all, I wasn’t sure that I was going to make it to the tour on Thurs morning as I slept though my alarms due to a late night attendance of an Interpol concert on top of an early-morning check-out from my hostel (ie: pack my bags and leave my room!!!) and a ±20-minute public-transport back into the city. But luckily as I have been all along this trip, the tour bus was a bit late so I even managed to squeeze in a quick jaunt to a coffee-shop across the street for some breakfast before the bus arrival.

Our driver and guide “Luke” was fantabulous (props to "GO WEST")!! A “stereotyped” Aussie (it's "my" own little joke): laid-back, friendly, worldly with a great sense of humor, he was simply an encyclopedia of dates, facts and incredible details. And, he certainly managed to make the trip not only a visually stimulating but also intellectually nourishing 12 hours. We started out with a bit of aboriginal cultural enlightenment, followed by a breathtaking drive along the coast with stops at beautiful coastal outlooks (world famous Bell’s beach—surfing mecca of OZ), a national forest for koala photo shooting (they are sooooooooo incredibly cute and furry—though I am sure they “hate” us all as us-chitter-chattery tourists all point fingers and cameras, coo, sigh, ho-hum and disturb their languorous hours of peaceful “rest”):

sightings of “roos” against the rolling green hills of the countryside along with the usual Aussie cows and sheep, a walk through a rain forest, and to finish off an already full day, we were privy to the ocean sculptures known as the famous “apostles” (of which there are only 13 now or one just collapsed but there are more than twelve apparently??—I think we are all somewhat mathematically-challenged or are simply spell-bound by their magical powers, displayed so majestically before our mere human-eyes!!)--here are the "twelve apostles":

the apostles (you can see the one that just fell), at sun set: