Oz On the Road - Day Seven

AustraliaDriving Sydney to Great Ocean Roadoz road tripRoad TripTravel

11 Jun

Down the Mornington Peninsula today. Day started out clear and sunny but clouds moved in around noon and intermittent sun, clouds and rain showers through out the day. Not a problem since the mixed lighting has a nice dramatic effect in landscape shots. Stopped at a beautiful property along the way; vineyard with very luxurious accommodations and dining room. Mark said that he'd taken his team there for a strategic retreat and suggested that I overnight last night, but the rooms stared at $500 so I thought I'd give it a miss! Did pick up a couple of bottles of pinot for Mark as a house present. He'd told me that he's a huge fan so I got a couple of bottles to bring home to try as well. Picked up the noon ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff which allowed me to miss driving through Melbourne. About a 45 minute run, but nothing very interesting to shoot. Boat pictures never work; everything is too far away and there's always lots of water and little coloured dots in the distance. Didn't waste the memory card room. Off the ferry and then onto the GOR, along with half of Australia I think, as it's a long weekend here. Scenery is stunning when I can take my eyes from the road but pulled over a number of time to gaze and take some shots and ha a bit of a walk on one of the beaches to get some sea level shots.

Arrived at my destination, a little seaside town called Lorne, around 3 and immediately started looking for a bed. I still had some driving left in me but a lot of the places that I'd passed along the way had No Vacancy signs and I didn't want to take a chance of leaving it too late and sleeping on the beach. Pulling into Lorne I passed a Best Western with a vacancy sign, did a quick run up the high street to see if there was anything better but everywhere seemed to be full so rushed back to the BW and just as well since I got the last room in the place. Just as I grabbed it someone came in behind me so if I'd been 10 seconds later I'd probably still be looking. Cheapest room I've stayed in since I arrived in Oz and certainly brings back memories of my early days with Allyn and Bacon when I covered the country and stayed in every backwater prairie motel you can imagine. Felt like I'd stepped back into my past when I got to my room but its private, got a bed and its mine till tomorrow.