Great Ocean Road Part II - Feb 23

Summary: Oh that's what that button does, Katrina pricing, astoundingly beautiful scenery, great value in Geelong

First off, apologies for sending those you who subscribe to the blog my random notes - I hit "enter" when the cursor was on the title. Whoops.

We took our time getting down the road - visiting most turnoffs and seeing cool things like the Blowhole, Thunder Cave, the site of a shipwreck with a good story, the Twelve Apostles(opening photo), and several towns. Somewhere along the way, my camera's batteries ran out. Then I remembered that just as my camera takes videos, my video camera takes photos. That is a good thing, because that sweet little old folksy General Store was charging $22 for 4 AA batteries. There is surely a charming Australian term for "highway robbery", but I forgot to ask them. Well, if you are taking one day on the Ocean Road and your camera doesn't work, you'll pay it.

Anyhow, it was a great drive - the rain was on and off - but it was never heavy. I spotted a wallabie on the road. The towns were very attractive and oriented to tourists. I think I scared the folks at the pizza place by putting too much chili paste on my pizza. Anyhow, not much to narrate here - just beautiful scenery to drive through. Airey's Inlet has another nice playground next to the water (last photo before the next paragraph). There is a nice video that I may be able to post down the line. Still, the pictures tell the story.

With Aneta flying in tomorrow morning, I wanted to get close to Melbourne. On the other hand, staying a week in Melbourne it makes sense to stay somewhere else. The choices were the last town on the Great Ocean Road (a good choice) or the first city off of it - Geelong. Well, G'day from Geelong (pronounced "J'long"). It is a little town that seems to have a pretty good city center (and more playgrounds).

Most towns and all cities in Australia have a tourism info center that you can go to in order to see what there is to do or book reservations. The town is pretty booked up because there is a bicycle race and some other event this weekend. The lady at the info desk here did not think a guy and his son would want to go to this motel where I am because it is a little too rough and ready - there is a pub downstairs and it is starting to get loud on a Saturday night. Well, we've stayed at a few roadhouses and a location in the center of town is a selling point to me. The Carlton Central is an inexpensive downtown hotel that caters to people whose age is exactly halfway between mine and Alex's - backpackers & college students - plus assorted savers. Well, I am an "assorted saver" even if I am checking into the Westin tomorrow. Second, my middle name is Carlton, so I am positively inclined towards anything named Carlton. And guess what? The service is great, the internet is FREE (and photos upload...and I have a few photos). I'm a block from the $250/night places and the downtown shopping centers... For less than $70? Since the manager knew I had a kid, he got us a room with two bedrooms (and our own bathroom like we've had all along). Yeah, this is value. That's why Alex is just laid back, downing some juice out front.
Next: pick up Aneta and do things around Melbourne for a week