Pacific – But first let's travel

Apostles, Koalas and wine – the perfect Easter.

Before we say goodbye to Australia, it’s time to check out a bit more of the country, and the Great Ocean Road is one of those trips I’ve been keen to do for ages! With five days off work, we managed to fit both 3 nights on the Great Ocean Road, and two in the Yarra Valley for some wine.

Day 1: Melbourne to Apollo Bay

Flying into Melbourne we quickly grabbed our rental car and headed for the coast. We stopped at Lorne for lunch on the beach and then passed by Bells Beach, the famous hope of the Rip Curl Pro. From there to Apollo Bay its a beautiful coastal drive with plenty of stops to try out the new camera (Panasonic Lumix GM1). A cute seaside town Apollo Bay has all you need for a night – restaurants, cafes, and a good pub.

Morning run on the beach

Day 2: Apollo Bay to Port Campbell

Heading to the Cape Otway Lightstation there is apparently a ‘almost guaranteed’ chance of seeing Koalas in the wild – and yet I was still totally surprised and ridiculously excited to see them! This is definitely where you need two people in the car – one to look up for koalas – and one not taking their eyes off the road – people stop their cars in the middle of the road to take photos.

The light-station is well worth the visit too, although you need to rug up warm.

Next stop – Apostles. Until here it hadn’t felt like there were a lot of tourists on the GOR, so I guess a lot of them do a day trip for the Apostles alone, cause it was packed! And you can see why – they are stunning. But really, one of the best things about the Great Ocean Road is how chilled out the road trip is. It’s so much more than rushing to the Aspostles, and I highly recommend taking your time if you ever get the chance to visit.

We ended the day with a few beers and a restful night in Port Campbell.

Day 3: Port Campbell to Port Fairy

Carrying on from Port Campbell the views continue, with plenty of opportunities to stop and take photos. We headed to Tower Hill State Game Reserve for some light hiking – and the chance to see some wildlife, although thankfully didn’t spot any snakes.

We continued on to Port Fairy which is gorgeous. Beautiful beaches, cute streets, many cute pubs and friendly locals – what more could you want!

Day 4 and Day 5: Our final stop, time for some wine!

A long driving day across to the other side of Melbourne, and the Yarra Valley where we relaxed at the Yarra Valley Lodge. We were lucky enough to time our arrival with the Yarra Valley markets so spent the morning wandering the many stalls with a bacon sarnie, and the afternoons tasting wine – the perfect way to spend the day.

The small island of Vava’u is about an hour’s flight from the main island of Tongatapu, reached by one of those wonderful flights where you’re not entirely sure of the safety of the aircraft but the incredible views from the skies soon take your mind off it.

There’s not a lot here, and that’s part of what makes it special.

I had wondered if this would be like the whale watching boats in Sydney -large numbers of boats all crowding round at the first sighting of a whale. Thankfully not. The whale watching in Tonga is apparently quite heavily regulated, but what’s more you get the feeling that those running the boats really care about the whales and don’t want to annoy them. And there’s far more whales than boats, so if a whale doesn’t want to ‘play’ you’re off to find another one.

I must admit to a few nerves as we jumped in the water. Hump back whale are about 15 metres long.. and although I’m a pretty decent swimmer I didn’t like my chances of getting out the way in time if a whale decided to come full speed towards me. Thankfully no harm done (although we did hear later a woman had been flipped out of the water by a whale only a week before!)

Once you’re in the water you swim furiously to follow your guide. Heart thumping and head turning, you search the blue water for some sign of movement. And there they are. A mother and her baby (still about twice my length) sitting peacefully in the water. Slowly they surface to breathe and the baby takes the chance to play.

We were lucky enough to get two great days of swimming with a number of whales – some relaxing and still, others speeding through the water, or playing. Seeing just how fast they can swim up to the surface is breath-taking.

And after all that fun it was time to relax ourselves, at the Tongan Beach Resort. Friendly staff, great cocktails and food and a beach almost to ourselves – on a few days we could even watch the whales playing whilst we chilled out on the beach.

But first let's travel

Category: Pacific

The Great Ocean Road

Tonga – Swimming with the whales