Day 11: Day trippers... to Lorne, Torquay and back to Point Lonsdale...

After a quick spa to get the morning off on a warm and fuzzy note, it was the big pack up as we had sort of let ourselves explode across the whole cabin – having had 3 whole nights in one spot! If we thought the car was full before, it is certainly crammed now as we now have some additional luggage (4 snorkel sets that we were given as part of our dolphin/seal swim tour and a whole lot of chocolate!) Never mind, the good old payload master got it all aboard and we set off for our day trip back to the Great Ocean Road, with the intent of actually seeing it in daylight this time! We tried to stop in at the Ripcurl Pro at Bells Beach, Torquay but didn’t get within cooee as the event was ‘sold out’ and they had roads blocked about 2 km’s out!!!! So much for us thinking it would be easy to get in today because there should be less people on account that the Victorian school holidays finished yesterday… well, weren’t we ever so wrong! Never mind… on we went all the way to Lorne where we visited Erskine Falls and got a great view of the coast and winding road from Teddy’s Lookout before stopping for lunch at the Grand Pacific Hotel. With the weather swinging between light showers and sunshine we opted to change our original plan of driving on to Kennett River to see the koalas and instead the boys took some time to throw the footy in the park and watch a surf school in operation… this certainly gave me a new appreciation for just how tricky Learne’s job would be trying to watch and teach so many novices at once! On our way back through Torquay we drove out to Bells Beach and found that the competition had finished up at about 1pm so we were able to wander through and look at the setup, the stage etc and even got to glimpse the surfers out practising for tomorrow (not that we could discern who was who – partly because they were simply blobs on waves from the distance we were at, but also because we don’t really know any of them visually – we only know some of the names!!!!). A quick stop for coffee and round the corner to the Quicksilver and RipCurl factory outlets where we picked up a wetsuit, beanie and thongs for Khi and a beanie for me… wish I had longer, I am sure we would have found more… not so sure we would have fitted it in, but heh, that has never stopped me before!

A short drive back and we checked in to the Point Lonsdale Guesthouse. Such a lovely old building and a nice welcome change from hotel style accommodation. Khi and I joined the hosts in the dining room and chatted to them while we ate the yummiest homemade potato, corn and bacon soup (Bryn and Mark weren’t hungry so they went to play Table Tennis). Peter (the host) and his brother who was visiting, had us in stitches as they quizzed Khi about his AFL prowess and gave him tips. Sue (the other host) showed me her latest shoe purchase for an upcoming wedding and kept her husband and his brother in check… just picture the Faulty Towers dining room and service bar combined and you will have a good idea of not only the setting, but also how it all went down… most entertaining!

It was then back to our room to catch up on the blog… yeah! Tomorrow we farewell the Bellarine and catch the ferry across to the Mornington Peninsula…. Chat soon…

Lorne - Erskine Falls