My first trip across the Equator - "The Ocean and the Road"

(...Contd. from - "The Beginning")

Okay, so we had a wonderful night's sleep, and the morning saw us raring to go - after all, we had a date with the Great Ocean Road today!

We had packed and had gone over the day's itinerary the previous night, not leaving anything to chance. However, a look at the met department's website had put worry lines on all our foreheads - the weather gods did not seem very interested in playing good hosts to us. There was a lot of rain and thunder predicted, and apparently the met department had the (dis)reputation of being (annoyingly) spot-on all the time!

Oh! How I wished they were wrong this once, and the bright and sunny morning would indeed show the day!!

(And that they had secretly outsourced the weather forecasting process to our charmingly unreliable "Abahawa Daftar", back in Kolkata.)

Anyways, with the threat of foul weather looming large, 8 of us started off in 2 cars - setting up multiple "converging points" where we'd meet, take pics and re-embark on the journey.

However, the "converging" did not really happen - as the Great Ocean Road stretched out in its full glory, unscheduled stops and multiple photo-ops were inevitable, and the best we could do was meet at our destination for the day, a lovely little place called Lorne. :)

The dazzling beauty of GOR:

However, by that time, the weather was playing out the met dept's prophecy - sure enough, there were ominous dark clouds in the sky, and the brilliant blue of the sea had turned into a depressing leaden gray. :(

Our original plan of taking a short break at Lorne, and heading on towards Port Campbell to catch the sunset at the majestic 12 Apostles did not look very likely. We did go on till the very charming Apollo Bay, but by then the rain was coming down in sheets, and the sky had melted into the sea in a dull, dreary haze. Conceding defeat to Mother Nature, we sought consolation in the next best thing - what else could that be, but food?!

A lavish dinner restored the smiles on our faces and the vigour to our voices, and even though it kept pouring well into the night, we retired happy people, thinking "..tomorrow is another day"!! :) :)

I woke up the next day to the husband's cheerful face, and it took me a second to realize that was just how the day was too! Flooded with sunshine, Lorne looked lovelier - and once again, I dared to hope the met office would go wrong. We all got ready and started for our onward journey in record time - and the roads kept winding along the coastline, springing breathtaking views at each bend!

However, it wasn't long before we spotted the dark corner in the distant horizon - and next thing we knew, we were once again driving through rain. By the time we reached the 12 Apostles and managed to scurry into the visitors' center from the parking, the wind was chilling, the rain relentless, and we were drenched (our umbrellas, a weak joke).

But by then, we could no longer be bothered. So out into the bone numbing rain we marched, and as the massive limestone stacks made their first appearance, all we felt was wide eyed wonder!

We now knew why people travelled half way across the world for a glimpse of these rocks, and could only wonder how much more majestic the apostles would look against a placid sea and a bright blue sky!

So my trip to the Great Ocean Road did have its share of dampeners (quite literally!!), but throw in a fun loving group of 8, some good food, good music and a chatterbox or two - and it did not really feel any less than just purrrfect!

Up next: "Sydney Stories"