A Week Along the Great Ocean Road No 1

i'm baaack! i have an internet connection once again! although i must say i was happy not to have one for the last week. it allows me to be completely in the moment. also, this no cell phone thing is fantastic however i now do see it as a necessity in this day and age. i'll enjoy these next few months without in the meantime.

where do i start? hmm okay, here goes...

my hosts (narelle & greg) had the pleasure of using their friends' caravan in anglesea for a week. it's a campground for permanently stationed 5th wheelers that have an annex built along one side. a five minute walk to the beach from ours.

this beach is spectacular. i've seen finer sand and bluer water but the entire effect had me lost for words. not so captivating for many who have seen this kind of coastline before but i was enthralled (clearly).

the town of anglesea mines its own coal from the area for its power plant. however they are completing a geothermal power station now to replace the coal burning one. you can actually see the coal (black) and iron (orange) deposits by looking at the layers where chunks are crumbling off these cliffs. you can actually break apart the coal in your hands and there are bright orange tidal pools from the iron leeching out (which stain your feet for days!). check out the blue detail on the top right of this pic. ha

other notes about my time there:

-caught my first boogie boarding wave.. i had no idea how long you could ride a wave without surfing it. great fun.

-lots of lazy time to read and do my fav thing: nap!

-great food all week long courtesy of our gourmet chef, greg (thank you so much)

-went fishing one afternoon from a 'jutty' along the river. unsuccessful but a great time with cold beer in the warm sun and cool breeze.

-were joined by n&g's other friends and family part way through the week. i had the pleasure of listening to aussie's get excited and speak australian. it really is another language at times.

-played a little bit of very informal cricket on the beach with the gang

-drank a lot of tea. haven't figured out of it's just what this group does or if it's an australian thing. i mean really, multiple cups of hot tea on a 35 C day?? haha

-on the drive there from melbourne (about 1.5 hours) narelle stopped the car frequently for my benefit at various look-out points

we also did a number of other things and day trips outside of anglesea which i'll post about shortly. ciao for now.