Great Ocean Road Experience

There is so much to tell. First off this is not the tour I had planned but all the tour groups leaving on Monday were booked so I ended up leaving on Groovy Grape on Tuesday... Lucky for me. I hopped in the front seat immediately and sat next to the Driver Daniel (Danny). She was hilarious. Then right behind her were the two Dutch boys, I wanted to adopt them both. They made me very aware (while making fun) of my constant use of y'all, and by the end had nicknamed me Sexy Texy. They made the trip totally worthwhile although it put me in Melbourne a day later than I had planned. The first part of the drive was extremely long. We did hit a few spots but day one was a lot of driving. We would stop for a meal or a few photo opportunities along the way until we ended up in the Grampaign National Park. We checked into a hostel which was more like a cabin in the NP and cooked on the barbie. We grilled up all sorts of meats, made a salad and I ate Kangaroo meat for the very first time... it tastes pretty much like any other wild game. We then played a game similar to trivial pursuit that asked questions abou the Olympics. Let me tell you people from other countries really know their Olympic information. I was starting to feel more and more sick by the second and although someone gave me some sudafed (which you have to buy at a pharmacy) I kept coughing... so I slept on the couch in the common area so that I didn't wake anybody up. The next day we woke up early and went on a hike. I surprised even myself by making it to the top, it wasn't terribly long only a couple of hours but it was very worth it. At this point people were staring to feel a lot more comfortable with each other. People were beginning to find out stories about eachother and plan on meeting up in the future. Next we were on to the great ocean road. We visited some of the famous sights and then checked into our next hostel which was a very cool house that we took over. The Groovy Grape takes the entire place because it only sleeps 22 people. After unloading our stuff and prepping the food we would cook for dinner we raced to the 12 Apostles to watch the sun set. Danny encouraged us to bring something to drink and our cameras. It was here that we took the only group photo of the entire trip. I drank some wine that I had purchased along the way and most other people took beer, mostly a local brew Coopers. We then returned home and I put my iPod in the cradle that I have and we played music, cooked dinner and sat out on our porch across from the ocean. Later that night I hit the pub with all the Dutch people on the tour. I never knew the dutchies could be so fun. I then went for a walk with Joyce, Jorik and Philippe along the pier. Jorik and I did a wonderful version of the Klompen dancing I had seen at the Tulip time festival in Holland Michigan. The next morning we were tired from staying out so late but we were able to pull ourselves together and then headed back to the 12 Apostles to take helicopter rides over the coast line. This was really fun. I rode with my now adopted Dutch boyfriends. I didn't realize that it would be so quiet with the headphones on. I can't even remember how long the trip lasted but before we knew it we were back on the ground. We then headed on our way making it to Bells Beach home of Quicksilver Surfing in the afternoon for the Ripcurl International Surfing competition. The rest of the day while we made the final drive into Melbourne we shared more stories and we laughed and laughed especially when Jorik told stories. After everyone settled into their hostels in Melbourne we headed to a pub around the corner and enjoyed pizza and pints. It was a bit bittersweet because the group had lost a few of the important players and I think only about half of the people on the trip showed up. A small group of us went to a club to go dancing. I finally had my crazy Oz experience and since I had been in bed relatively early every night I decided to stay out dancing with the Frenchman Oliver, Italian farmer Tobias and the Dutch crew. I slept in late this morning which is fine because nothing is open here on Good Friday. I walked along the river and picked up my tickets to the Cirque show that I am planning on seeing tonight. I am supposed to have dinner with the hilarious Italian Farm Boy this evening and possibly meet up with the Dutch group if they e-mail me in time. If not I should be seeing Philippe and Urich in Sydney, and the French guy said he would e-mail me about when he is getting to Christchurch. That would be nice to see these friends again. So in conclusion, I never thought I would like a tour but in fact I loved it and I am missing all the friends that I met. Strange how 3 days with a random group of people and you meet so many wonderful people with so many stories. Everyone is traveling and many people have left jobs and decided they want to see the world, I guess my only regret is that I came on this trip while still having to return to work. If I could I would stay here longer. I feel like I have only seen the tip of the iceberg.