With my birthday looming around the corner, I’ve been reflecting on the bestest, funnest, and awesomest (yep, grammarians, come at me,) birthday I’ve ever had. Turning 23 in Australia last February was an experience I’ll never forget!
All along, I knew that I wanted to drive the Great Ocean Road on my birthday weekend, but I wasn’t sure that we’d be able to pull it off. Car rentals were expensive, Taylor and I had a lot of work to get done, and I wasn’t feeling too confident in my last minute road trip planning abilities (especially in a foreign country!) Luckily, we’d confided our desires to drive the Great Ocean Road in two of our new traveler friends. They gave us some motivation to make it happen, and reminded us that we ought to take advantage of the fact that we were in Australia (DUH!)
We were pleasantly surprised when we learned that car rentals weren’t that pricey, even though we were those travelers (AKA, the ones who try to rent a car at the last second on a busy, touristy weekend). Once we had our vehicle, we picked up our two friends and began our exhilarating journey down the coastline.
At first, the scenery wasn’t too spectacular. Our awesome conversations compensated for the dull urban surroundings. But then, the picture quickly changed…
When we came to the first major town along the route, Tay let me stop for a frozen hot chocolate drink, which cost a whopping $7. Buying a $7 drink was kinda sorta a huge deal to me since I never do that (especially not in the presence of Taylor!) I felt special.
Upon exiting the town, the scenery changed again, and we got to enjoy this amazingness!
We stopped at a miniature zoo halfway through our drive. When we pulled up, it was clear that the zoo was closed, which was a bummer since I was looking forward to seeing cute lil animals. Something was out of place, though: a very regal looking peacock was strutting his stuff across the parking lot, looking simultaneously confused and intrigued by his unexpected visitors. We dubbed him Raymond; a fitting title for a chill peacock.
After bidding Raymond farewell (it took forever…he wanted to follow us out!), we continued our drive toward Twelve Apostles Marine National Park, the crowning jewel of the Great Ocean Road. Even though the area was teeming with foreign tourists, we managed to find some quiet spots to enjoy this spectacular ribbon of coastline.
The Great Ocean Road is easily among the top 10 coolest places that I’ve ever explored. The rock formations are unreal, and the it’s awesome to watch the ocean as it ferociously reshapes the coastline. Oh, and Australia is the bomb!! I miss it like crazy; my heart legitimately aches for it sometimes. 🙁
My plans for my upcoming bday aren’t all that grand (I’m thinking dinner+a hike and/or bowling), but I’m hoping it’ll be epic nonetheless. Thanks for stopping by!
