Great Ocean Road: Day 4 & 5

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We woke up in the oldest hostel in Australia, in Port Fairy. Our first stop was a wildlife reserve. We drove down a narrow, one-way road slowly to try and spot some wildlife. We even put on the Jurassic Park theme tune because we thought it would be funny. As if on cue, two emus stepped out of the bushes and in front of the car! It was so surreal, especially considering how dinosaur-like emus look. As they stepped across the road, we watched in awe and amusement at these incredible creatures in their natural habitat.
Not long after, we saw koalas high up in the trees above! We had to stop the car and get out for a better view. We couldn't believe everything we'd seen before we had even parked the car!
Once we did actually park, we wandered slowly around the nature reserve, spotting more koalas on the way. We also saw more emus and some kangaroos. I was surprised at how calm they were and how close to them we could get without them minding. I felt so lucky that a few days ago I had never seen a koala, and now I had seen loads in their natural habitat!

Our next stop was Mackenzie falls. We had researched it and found out that it was a big waterfall that you could swim in, but weren't really supposed to as people had unfortunately drowned in there due to the strong current. So we walked down the 193 steps to the waterfall not expecting to swim but just to get some good views.
And it really did not disappoint!

It may have been a silly decision, but it was just so hot and the water looked so lovely, that we decided to go in the water since we were all strong swimmers. So we all went in in our underwear!
After that much needed cool down, we got back in the car and had a long drive back to the Grampians.
We were at our final hostel of the trip, which was very rural- there were kangaroos and emus right outside our door!
As it was our last night together as a group, we found a nice place for dinner and had our final big family meal. It was such a lovely way to send off our trip.
The next day, we were supposed to get up early to go back to our original spot of Torquay to surf. We thought we had all day and needed to be back in Melbourne for 4pm to hand the vans back. Luckily (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) just when we got to Torquay we realised we needed to get back asap as the vans were due back at 1.30pm! We drove back as fast as we could and made it back just in time. So it was a slightly stressful end to our trip, and a shame we missed out on surfing which we were all so excited for! 

Either way, it was an incredible trip that I'll never forget. I feel like I saw the real Australia here, with some sights I'll never forget! My personal highlights were the waterfalls, Lorne and Port Campbell beaches, and seeing the stars in the sky!

Shepp x

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