Road trip

This week was pretty exciting; my 2 friends and I went on a very last-minute, impromptu road trip. It was intended to be 1 day, then 2 days and 1 night, but ended up being 3 days and 2 nights. Here's what happened..

Day 1, 7 July 2009: Daylesford & Macedon and surrounds

We were supposed to set off at about 9am but our driver KC couldn't wake up. Such a -_- moment. So we were an hour behind schedule, but that's alright because we didn't really have a tight one to stick with in the first place.

Our first stop was the Chocolate Mill at Mt Franklin just outside of Daylesford. Purported to have the "best hot chocolate in Melbourne", we stopped for a try.. And indeed the hot chocolate was thick, rich and very fragrant. But I still prefer my KokoBlack =D We also bought a few bars of their chocolate and then moved on...

Next stop, Lavendula Farm at Shepherds Flat, also just out of Daylesford. This stop was rather disappointing though, because the place charged a "gate fee" for every person coming through. We left without browsing much. I decided I didn't want to spend money there if they had to charge a cover for everyone in the first place.

Then we went back down to Daylesford, which I was kind of disappointed with. I thought it'd be more........developed and bustling with life, but I guess that was my first encounter with a "town". Oh well. Stopped at Sweet Decadence on Locantro, a dessert cafe, and bought chocolates again. Heh.

We made another stop at O'Tooles Honey at Daylesford for cheap raw honey ($4 a bottle!) and then left for Woodend. Along the way we saw a random farm selling free range eggs for $4 a dozen so we stopped and bought 2. Quite interesting to buy it straight from the farm, something I haven't experienced before.

We also did a beer sampler at the Holgate Brewhouse at Woodend, 8 samplers for $12. Pretty decent price. But KC couldn't drink much because he was driving, so Aries and I finished everything on an empty stomach. We left the place a few notches happier, and quite tipsy. Haha.

The drive back was pretty uneventful, except that the GPS took us on a convoluted route on terribly unmaintained roads they call "highway" here.. Damn that GPS.

Total distance travelled: 261.9km

Day 2, 8 July 2009: Great Ocean Road - Geelong & Drysdale, Aireys Lighthouse, Lorne, Apollo Bay, Cape Otway, Port Campbell

KC stayed over at Aries's, and BOTH OF THEM OVERSLEPT omg. Those pigs. So we left an hour behind schedule again. So anyway at Drysdale we got me my olive plant! Whee! Haha. And I got to do 120kph on some farm road :p

Aireys had a beautiful lighthouse, and Lorne was absolutely lovely, a beach township along the Great Ocean Road that reminded me of Bondi Beach, but smaller. The fish and chips weren't too impressive, but the atmosphere was great. Apollo Bay disappointed because I thought it'd be livelier, and the Cape Otway lighthouse was so far off the main road it felt like we were driving to a whole different township...

KC had to drive a portion of the GOR in the dark because the sun had already set and we weren't even near Port Campbell... But we made it, under a beautiful full moon and clear, starry night.

Wednesday night was the coldest of this week and it was quite a torture running around the township of Port Campbell trying to find a motel with vacancies. We finally checked into Portside Motel Port Campbell, and really enjoyed ourselves. The room could fit up to 5 persons, and there was heated mattresses for the beds. The full kitchenette had crockery and cutlery, a bread toaster and hot water flask, microwave, and even sponge and dishwashing liquid. Amazing, and all for $125 a night. We watched Ocean's 11 and Full Monty (terribly boring) before bed.

Total distance travelled: 341.7km

Day 3, 8 July 2009: GOR - Lord Ard Gorge, 12 Apostles, Allansford, Halls Gap & Grampians, Ararat

We were told the the arch collapsed only 3 weeks ago! Argh! So anyway we did quite a bit of hiking around the PC National Park. The 12 Apostles were impressive, but.........rocks are rocks huh. I couldn't appreciate it too much. But I enjoyed the coastline scenery.

Allansford had a "cheese world" which sounds pretty exciting huh. Total flop. It was just a shop selling cheese. I didn't even buy any. We then headed up to Halls Gap for the Grampians.

Grampians at sunset was amazing, being able to look out into the distance and still see nothing but nature and greenery. There was a lake with an island in the middle, but I have no idea what it's called.

So then we filled up on petrol, and... We were mistakenly told to put water into the engine oil drum. Sigh. We left Mobil, travelled a few kms and the engine died. Like classic road trip situation kind of DIED. Turn the ignition and the car goes into classic hick-hick-hick sputtering... And to compound the problem, the sun had set so we were in the middle of almost nowhere, in the dark.

We called for RACV, had to wait for them an hour, then we were towed to Ararat, who calls themselves a "rural city" but is essentially a freaking dead town. The mechanics couldn't work on the car that night, so we had to stay the night in Ararat. Oh the horrors. We managed to find an acceptable motel, had KFC for dinner and slept early. We were all feeling quite crappy, and to top it off KC the driver was not feeling well. Oh terrible.

Did I also mention that we ran over a kangaroo on our way to Ararat in the tow truck? Yeah. We did.

Total distance travelled: 386.4km
Day 4, 10 July 2009: Arart, Williamstown, HOME SWEET HOME

The car was fixed and we headed out of the dead town, and managed to run into more car troubles. Yes, wtf. The engine choked a few times, we had to pull over and call RACV. Again. RACV came, checked everything, but said he couldn't do anything more unless we get a mechanic to open up the engine. So we slowly made our way back to Melbourne... And thank God, everything was fine then. I deduced that the engine was choking from the leftover engine oil-water sludge mix and it took a few kms to clear it. When we saw the skyscrapers in the distance we all just felt so relieved. Home sweet home.

We did stop at Williamstown though, for the best fish and chips in Melbourne. And, really, that was the best fish and chips in Melbourne. Good, thin batter and the fish was done just right.

Total distance travelled: 213.8km

Overall distance travelled for this road trip: 1,203.8km

Pictures are up on facebook, I'm too lazy to upload them here.