Great Ocean Road!

I wanted to write about the Great Ocean Road while it is still fresh in my memory...

After leaving Melbourne, I made my way down the Great Ocean Road after passing Torquay Beach (home of Quiksilver and Rip Curl) and Bell's Beach (where the first ever surfing competition was held and actually where the Pro Am will be next weekend).  The Great Ocean Road is about 1 1/2 - 2 hours away from Melbourne and it was built in memory of (and by) the Australian WWI soldiers.  They originally built the road using only picks and shovels and it was actually a dirt road until the 1980's when it was widened and finally paved.  It is such a long, winding coastal road, it is hard to imagine how difficult it was for them to build.

While driving down the Great Ocean Road, I saw my first koalas in the wild and actually was able to feed a wild parrot.  The drive along "Surf Coast" is really beautiful - there is just tons of unspoiled coastline and huge waves - it surprised me how few surfers were taking advantage.

One of the main attractions of the Great Ocean Road is the 12 Apostles, and I had been told (by Dana-thanks!) that I had to do the helicopter ride over them.  This was the first time I had ever been in a helicopter, and the view was amazing!  Not only was my pilot very good looking and from New Zealand, the 12 Apostles (or really 8 now since they keep falling into the ocean) are an amazing sight to see.  Apparently, they used to be named "the Sow and Piglets" but the name was changed to attract more tourists.

  

Besides the 12 Apostles, we also saw Loch Ard Gorge, the London Bridge (also falling into the ocean), The Grotto (so pretty!), the Bay of Martyrs and the Bay of Islands (where I saw my first poisonous snake in the wild - a copperhead!)

It was such an amazing day travelling down the Great Ocean Road, and at the end I was exhausted.  I stayed for a night in a town called Warrnambool which was very quaint and near the beach.  The beach nearby was actually called Stingray Bay, and because of the way it is shaped, two sides of the ocean actually meet in the middle and the oceans crash into each other.  I had never seen anything like it, and so of course I took a ton of pictures...

During dinner that night, I talked to the other girls who were travelling with me about their work experience in Australia so far.  Three girls from Finland had worked at a garlic packing factory for 3 months in a small town called Mildura, and one of the girls from Germany had worked at a fish packing factory in New Zealand.  I have heard horror stories about low pay, hard working conditions, and long hours, so hopefully I will hear back from one of my interviews soon so that I don't have to find out for myself.  By the way, the interview in Melbourne went well, and I am hopeful :)  

While I was waiting to meet with the managing director of the agency though, I was reading a magazine in the waiting room.  I read an article about a woman who is 100 years old and had set a world record for  throwing the shot-put the furthest at her age or something (not important).  Anyway in the article, it said that she had lived for 36,500 days and I was shocked.  I mean I guess the math is easy enough to do, but I had never before thought about years in terms of days, and that number seemed really low to me.  It definitely made me appreciate the fact that since we may never get to 36,500 days ourselves, that I was spending mine doing what I am doing.