Great Ocean Road: Day 1

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Last week me and 11 of my friends from the Welcome to Travel tour went on a big road trip along the Great Ocean Road. We hired two 8-seater vans to squeeze us and all of our bags into for the 5-day trip. We did and saw so much on this trip that I wanted to share it with you day-by-day!

On the first day, we had to go and pick up the vans from the other side of the city. Four of us made our way over there and got the vans to go back and pick everyone else up. My first time driving an automatic car was really fun! It was weird not having the gear stick there but really easy.
I named my van Sylvia after my Nan and because it was silver- the other was called Barry because it was white

We all piled in the van absolutely buzzing for our adventure.
Me, Alice, Hannah, Lianna, Jess and Willow


Willow enjoyed the driving too- the big Australian roads also helped. The first drive was really long- about 3 hours- but it didn't feel like it.
Our first stop was in the Grampians, a national park that was full of rocky mountains. Despite the hot weather we embarked on a hike. I have to say I found it quite difficult, especially as I want really expecting to do such a long hike! But it was so worth it. The views were absolutely incredible, I had no idea scenes like this could be found in Australia.
Me and Lianna at the top
Me and Caroline taking in the view

The whole group couldn't resist a Photoshoot at the top!

Once we got back down, our excitement quickly faded as we looked back on our itinerary. We had been given this route by Welcome To Travel when we booked the road trip, but what (somehow) none of us realised was a small sentence at the end of the email, saying to do it in reverse. So we had accidentally done the whole thing the wrong way round! This would mean our hostels for each night would be wrong, so we spent a bit of time looking at our options and trying to figure out what we should do. In the end, we decided to take on another long drive that evening to get to the right hostel and get back on track.

But before we set off again, it was a good time to go to a lookout point and watch the sun set over the mountains. It really was a stunning view. As the sun went just below the mountains, we all sang the Circle of Life acapella with 100% accuracy if I do say so myself. Laughing and screaming at the top of our lungs was a great way to see the sun go down on our first day on the road.
Me with Alice and Hannah

But our day was far from over. We took the long drive back to our hostel, another 3 hours. I did a lot of the driving here and this is where half of our group were starving and we had to stop off to give them food- and I saw all the stars!
We finally got to the hostel at about 1.30am- exhausted but happy and excited for the rest of the trip!

Shepp x

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