AUSTRALIA 2015 Great Ocean Road Trip: Part I

Hi all and welcome to our blog!
We wanted to keep everyone up to date on life and more immediately, our trip to Australia, so we'd love for you to follow us by email and enjoy the updates! We've been having an awesome time here in Australia and are super excited to fill everyone in on our adventures and share the music we make!

Salt Lake City, U.S.A. - Los Angeles, U.S.A.  - Brisbane, AUS.

So Angelle dropped us of at SLC airport and we were on our way to L.A. for our 5 hour stop over.. Luckily, Nate has done a few stop overs in his travels and had us sorted.. Did you know Pizza Hut delivers to the airport?! Me neither. Now you know. Also, know this: BBQ chicken pizza is awesome! After the pizza, it was off to Brisbane, Australia.

It was a long plane ride, but we found ways of entertaining ourselves... I thought Nate spent a little too much time in the bathroom.. have a look at what he got up to..

By the time we exited the plane, we had an hour or so to wait for our luggage (which was almost the last off the plane), get through customs and immigration (but hey, we were inspected by sniffer dogs which was a first for me, so I was pretty stoked!), transfer our luggage, then get a train to a completely different terminal to board the final flight to Melbourne! Needless to say, we're good, but not that good! Unfortunately, we missed our flight and had a short delay in Brisbane, but the positive was that we had some extra time to plan the rest of the trip while we waited!

Melbourne, AUS.

Touch down in Melbourne!! Did you know that Melbourne was hosting an international car race called the  Formula One Grand Prix? Neither did we. The car companies did though and were charging ridiculous rates! Once again, Nate to the rescue! He found a deal online and the next minute, we had a great priced rental and were ready to start exploring the city's lane-ways, stop for a yummy pork dumpling dinner and then catch a beautiful sunset and walk down at Saint Kilda Beach.

After a well deserved night's rest, it was off the to United States consulate for my visa interview and then we hit the Great Ocean Road!

Great Ocean Road, AUS.

DAY ONE
Our first stop was Torquay (pronounced Tour-key) which is a little beachside town known for their surf. We stopped for some fish and chips and enjoyed it on the beautiful beach! Nate had been itching for fish and chips since he left Australia, so for lunch we had crispy battered flake (shark meat!), golden chips (steak fries) and Nate's first ever pineapple fritter! Needless to say, between the delicious food and the gorgeous view, it was a fantastic way to start our road trip!

Next stop was Split Point to check out the lighthouse. It's a beautiful light house overlooking pristine blue ocean and stunning beach, accented by rock features and cliffs. It's named for the foremost lookout that is split into two views; one of the running beach, and one of the cliffs and rock feature. Enjoy a peek into our time there!

Next stop, Lorne. We were thinking we'd just drive through and admire it from afar when we spotted a flock of wild cockatoos hangin' at the park, chatting with friends, and sitting at cafe tables discussing politics while sipping hot chocolate! (not quite...but they were chilling on the tables!) Of course we stopped and got in amongst them..

We went back and forth trying to decide whether to do the Twelve Apostles at the end of our first day or start off our second day. Ultimately, we decided that sunset would be the best time to see this awesome sight so off we went and boy was the drive stunning! We travelled the Great Ocean Road along the coastline with some of the most beautiful views we've ever seen. On one side was the deep blue ocean which stretched out endlessly and then the other was gorgeous greenery (we even drove through a rainforest!)

By early evening we reached the Twelve Apostles Marine National Park which runs for 17 kilometres (about 10.6 miles). The Twelve Apostles are eight limestone rock stacks (originally there were nine but two fell over and are underwater.) The rock formations used to be known as the Sow and Piglets, but for tourism purposes, the state of Victoria changed the name to the Twelve Apostles despite there only being nine stacks... Australians. The sunset was so beautiful and unique; overcast and almost colourless but the sun beams shining through the clouds on to the rock formations were spectacular and a perfect end to our day.

Our last stop of the day was in Port Campbell which was a small-ish town with its own little private beach! We had yummy pizza for dinner, took a stroll on the beach and called it a night. We'd love it if you joined us on our adventure by following us by email at the top right!
Great Ocean Road Trip: Part II coming soon!

Love,
Nic and Nate