The Great Ocean Road and the Apollo Bay Hospital

This past weekend was the Labour Day long weekend for us. Not wanting to waste a minute of an extra long weekend, I spend all day Friday packing up and when the kids and Scott got home from school we headed off to the Great Ocean Road. More specifically Apollo Bay as our home base for the weekend.

Most of our drive looked like this:

Saturday morning was a big day. The kids have been looking forward to this activity since we landed in January. We were going to ziplining! Along a good portion of the drive is the Otway National Park.

Full of rainforest, waterfalls, majestic 300 foot mountain ash trees, ferns and koalas, it's an amazing place.

And in the middle of it is Otway Fly. This is a place where we can zipline safely through the rainforest without damaging the environment, and the kids can go too! 

The kids though that this was the most fun ever!

This was our only day in the Otways so we managed to get in a short hike to one of the many waterfalls in the park. 

Upper section of Triplet Falls

I think we look great for having done a 5 km hike in 40 degrees!

Sunday was another busy day. First up, the Otway Lighthouse. The only remaining working lighthouse on mainlaind Australia. Great tours and activities for the kids and an amazing views for mom and dad. The drive into the lighthouse is surrounded by mountain ash trees and so we saw lots of koalas hanging out in the trees along the road. 

Cape Otway Lightstation, 1848

This pic cracks me up...looks like a creepy forest out of Harry Potter!

Then we were off again on the road to Port Campbell National Park to see the Twelve Apostles. Due to erosion of the limestone stacks there are only 8 of them left now.

The Three Sisters

Next was Loch Ard Gorge named for the the clipper ship the Loch Ard which was shipwrecked in 1878.

This is a beach we walked down to in centre of the gorge. 

Loch Ard Gorge

On Monday we packed up our cabin to head along the Great Ocean Road for home.

First we made a quick stop at the Apollo Bay hospital where I had to have my finger looked at after Hannah accidentally closed the car door on it. Luckily it's not broken, but for $7 cash I got 30 minutes of undivided attention, some meds and an ice pack.

Our first stop was Lorne. Just one of the many gorgeous seaside towns along the way.

View from the Lorne Pier

The McEwens looking cool out on the pier

Our last stop of the weekend was Torquay. The town is great. It's the home of surf city and Bells Beach where there are world class surfing competitions held every year.

If there's a beach and some ocean, Tyler can't resist!