On June 29 the new EastLink tollway will be open in the eastern area of Melbourne. This includes the two brand new tunnels that go under a protected wilderness area. To celebrate the opening, they had a festival at the Ringwood interchange. It included bike races, classic cars on display, and a chance to walk through the tunnels.

Cape Town, South Africa

More from the Great Ocean Road.

Just two.

...but other than that...enjoy your nature walk!

Near Erskine Falls outside of Lorne, Vic.

This past weekend was a long weekend here in Melbourne (and most of Australia). Monday was a public holiday honoring the Queen's birthday. Leslie and I used this as a chance to finally get out and see the Great Ocean Road.

For those who don't want to read the info at the link above, the Great Ocean Road is a long stretch of road along the coast of Victoria. Along the way it passes through beach towns, national parks, rainforest (but not tropical ones), and some of the most incredible scenery you'd ever witness. It's no wonder that it's considered by many to be one of the greatest scenic drives in the world.

Our trip started from home in Melbourne Saturday morning. Most of the driving the first day isn't too exciting as it is spent getting from Melbourne to the coast by way of Geelong, where the Great Ocean Road (B100) is picked up. After a quick stop at the Info center to load up on brochures and maps, we continued on to Torquay.

Our first stop here was Surf World - The World's Largest Surfing Museum. I left my camera in the car here but Leslie got some good shots. It was pretty cool to see how the surfboards have evolved over the years.

Shortly after that we stopped in Aireys Inlet to check out Split Point Lighthouse. This was the first of the scenery we expected on this trip.

We then continued down the beautiful coastline to Lorne, our base of operations for the first day. Along the way, the weather, which started kind of rainy, started to improve. We still got some rain here and there in Lorne though. After checking into our hotel and having a bite to eat for lunch at a place on the beach, we went out to explore.

Behind Lorne is the start of some of the rainforest areas that run along the coast. Hidden in the forests are a whole bunch of waterfalls. We decided to try to check out the one with the easiest walk from the nearest parking, Erskine Falls. The falls were not running too heavy, but the rainforest was amazing. And, as you'd expect, it started to rain on us when we got there so we didn't explore too much more than the hike to and from the falls.

After Erskine Falls, we went out to Teddy's Lookout to take in the scenery. All I have to say is, Teddy knows how to pick the spots!

By now it was getting a little later in the day so we drove back into town to check out some of the local shops before having some dinner and crashing for the evening.

Day 2 started as you'd expect...we drove. The stretch of road between Lorne and Apollo Bay is some of the best of the entire G.O.R. If you were to stop at every Scenic Lookout, it would take you an entire day to go around 40km. Apollo Bay looked like a great little seaside town. We decided that next time we'd stay there our first night.

After Apollo Bay the road swings inland for a while as it cuts through Otway National Park. The road winds through beautiful ferns and huge gum trees. Our next stop for the day was the Otway Fly.

The best way to describe the Otway Fly is a really tall series of catwalks suspended 25 to 45 meters above the rainforest floor. (That's 80 to 150 feet high for those not up on their metric measurements) Yes, it's that tall...and many of the trees are still taller. The views were very impressive.

When we finished there, it was time to head back to the Great Ocean Road and get back to the coast. Remember, we had been inland for a while.

When the road finally dumps you back on the coast, it does so in style. You are dropped right at the start of the Twelve Apostles...the main reason to make the journey in the first place. At one time there had been some steps to the beach so you could get a close-up view of the incredible rock formations, but they closed the steps earlier this year for safety reasons.

Instead, we had to make use of the viewing platforms that had been set up. It was ok though...the sky was clear and the views were perfect. Throw in a whale swiming around in the water and it was everything you'd expect on a drive like this.

After giving our cameras a workout at the first main viewing platform we continued down the coast. All along this area are different amazing formations that have been carved out of the cliffs by the ocean over millions of years. The best, by far, was Loch Ard Gorge. Words really can't describe it well enough, so I won't try.

After checking out a few more of the sights in the area, we were running out of sunlight...one of the downfalls of doing this trip in winter (but we'll go back in summer). We were just about done with the scenic overlooks anyway so we drove on to find our hotel in Warrnambool. After a fine dinner of some tasty Mexican food (yes...Mexican food in Australia...it can happen) we crashed for the night.

Day three was mostly reserved for just heading home. Before leaving though, we went down to the whale lookout point in Warrnambool. From June to around October groups of southern rigth whales come to the area for breeding. Unfortunately, they were not around when we were so we decided to hit the road for home...it was cold and starting to rain anyway.

We came home to Melbourne by way of the A1...a long, mostly straight road that passes through a LOT of farms with cows and sheep. Not much to see, but it didn't matter, we had a great trip.

The Twelve Apostles - Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia.

North Carolina State Fair