April 1st, 2005 Surfing Down "The Great Ocean Road", Australia

We have spent the past several days driving down the Great Ocean Road. For those of you who are not familiar, it runs along the Southern Coast of Australia a few hours southwest of Melbourne. Our first stop was the infamous Bells Beach, but unfortunately it was very flat. Feeling a bit disappointed we continued west in search of waves. This coast line is stunningly beautiful with dramatic raw beauty. About 3 hours west up the Great Ocean Road we found some clean, uncrowded surf at Castle Cove & Gibson steps. Surfing Gibson's Steps was a bit of a surreal experience because of how the wave comes in right next to the 12 Apostles.... taking in the scene as you wait for waves is a mind blowing experience....so visceral and overwhelmingly beautiful. We surfed some great waves at Gibson Steps with no one out. Besides the uncrowded surf, there are also very scenic sites up and down this coastline. You will see some pictures of the 12 Apostles which are basically a series of 12 rock formations jutting high out of the ocean about 50 yards off the coastline. We caught an amazing sunset filling the sky with fire-like colors at a place called Bay Of Islands.

One of the highlights of traveling is the people you meet on the road. We came across three Germans (Nici, Yvi, & Connie) who we must say made our trip along the Great Ocean Road. These three girls have been working and traveling throughout Australia for some time. They were full of spirit and had us laughing the entire time. Like us, they were also traveling and living out of a van, reminding us of how incredible the travel experience can be with just the basic necessities...

Oh, and if you 3 girls (Nici, Yvi, & Connie) read this, travel safe and good luck! P.S. Hope the van makes it to Adelaide.

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Flat Bells Beach..all but deserted	Beginning of the Great Ocean Road	Scenic lookout	taking in the view	Castle Cove Line Up	Castle Cove Line Up
Johanna Beach Surf Check	Gibson's Steps	12 Apostles Sunset	12 Apostles Sunset	12 Apostles Sunset	Gibson's Steps Line Up view from 12 Apostles
Nici, comparing Vans	Where we camped	Yvi & Tony	View from where we camped	View from where we camped	Tony scared of heights
Breakfast at the beach	Port Campbell Beach	Chillin at the beach	Tony & Connie soaking in the view	London Bridge	Nici & Connie
Spectacular Sunset, Bay of Islands	Spectacular Sunset, Bay of Islands	Spectacular Sunset, Bay of Islands	Nici & Connie	Spectacular Sunset, Bay of Islands	Spectacular Sunset, Bay of Islands
Spectacular Sunset, Bay of Islands	Spectacular Sunset, Bay of Islands	DSC_1229	Gibson Steps	Gibson Steps	Surf Travelers from California
Tony at 12 Apostles	Yvi & Nici, showcasing their van	Stealing Water	Camp	Yvi cooking it up	Yvi & Connie
Breakfast at the beach	Farewell Girls	Coastline View	Gibson Steps	Got Surf?	Going for a surf
View from camp	View from camp	Walking to the ledge	Yvi, Nici, & Eddie, top of the world	Sick View	Chillin at the beach
Bay Of Islands	Incredible Rock Formations	Self Portrait	At the lookout	Nici Soaking it in!	Fellow Californians
Gibson Steps	Gibson Steps	Eddie in thought	Port Campbell	Nici & Yvi, just crazy	Breakfast with the locals