Great Ocean Road

Okay... so once the manager arrived and was looking to book me into my room a group of people started talking to him about the trip they were about to take on the Great Ocean Road (which is basically a long stretch of highway along the Southern coast of Australia... with land on one side and the ocean crashing on the other side) in a few hours. Their discussion revealed that they still had room for one more person if I wanted to go along.... but I would have to make up my mind within an hour (at this point I still haven't slept). I told them that I would think about it and decided that I would have a shower before any decision... so that I could actually be semi-conscious. In addition the manager of the hostel said that since my bed wasn't ready yet anyways he wouldn't book me in yet... and if I chose to go on the trip he wouldn't charge me for the nights that I would be away (which is a rare thing for hostel owners to do). After thinking about it I decided that this trip had actually been something I planned on doing this time around in Melbourne anyways... and this way it might be a bit cheaper. Needless to say... I went on this trip... (with complete strangers - don't try this at home kids...haha). We took off at about 1pm and headed down to the coast making stops at all the scenic stops along the way (pictures will be posted soon). We decided that it would be an overnight trip (to allow for a slower pace) and so we checked into a Cabin (which was actually a box-trailer that was slightly bigger than our car... but managed to comfortably sleep all five of us... I have a picture of this too). Originally we had talked about tenting, but apparently someone read my blog because we had a mix of cold/showers for the majority of the trip (something apparently incredibly uncommon here). Aside from some of the amazing sights (the Twelve apostles (there are only 8 or 9 remaining) - which are free standing columnar rocks; the Loch Ard Gorge - a shipwreck sight) we also managed to take in some wildlife in their natural environments. I saw an achidna(sp?) digging its nose in the dirt at the Twelve Apostles, and of course we spotted several KOALAS in the trees munching on some gum leaves!!! Overall it was an unexpected twist that worked out really well. And even better than that if you do a day trip tour with a company you'll pay $90-$140, whereas, I paid under $80 and that includes my food, transportation, accommodation and a two day trip! So taking the risk saved me a good $40, and if you've seen my bank account you would be smiling like I am... haha. Anyways I am going to go and eat something... 2 days and I am on my plane to New Zealand!