A Few Days Away

It can take quite a while for an expat to feel at home in their new country. In fact, many expats never feel at home. My home in Melbourne is ever fresh for me, and I love exploring the suburbs, meeting people and experiencing new places. But sometimes its good to get away from it all completely, and last week I went to the Otways for a couple of days with my wife, Caroline. Caroline’s a pretty good photographer, and after spending some time with someone who is looking at life through a lens, you get to see things in a different light.

The glamour business of photography!!

The Great Ocean Road is high up on the Victorian Tourist Trail, and the seascapes are absolutely amazing. Although we stayed in the Otways, we took a little trip further down the coast to Port Campbell (above) and at this time of the year, the area wasn’t inundated with tourists. There was plenty of refreshing walks on beaches and around the forest trails of the Otways. And we finished off things with a trip to our favourite beach, Johanna which is on the Ocean Road about 10km east of Laver’s Hill.

An expansive view on a quiet beach. A great place to clear the head.

And the sunsets can be fantastic 🙂

When you travel finding good places to eat can be a bit hit-and-miss. We were lucky in Apollo Bay to walk into a great little cafe/restaurant. I’m getting somewhat fussier about my coffee, but the long black here was more than acceptable.In fact, with the new by-pass cutting a long time out of the Geelong part of the trip, it now only takes 2-3 hours to get to the Otways so its even possible to day trip to these places. And however ‘touristy’ it may be, it can still be breathtaking…..here’s a couple more shots of the amazing shipwreck coast.