Moments in Australia: Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road is 243 km long and it’s among the world’s most scenic drives. A surfing paradise, the road is built by soldiers to commemorate fellow soldiers killed during World War I.

One can spend a week or longer, traveling from town to town if one has time and a car. The alternative is to spend two days and enjoy as much as you can.

Some describe the Great Ocean Road as terrifying: an experience for thrill-seekers with hair-raising turns. I can report that my hair was in place except when the wind had an affair with it. There are a few turns along the way but nothing alarming unless one usually gets carsick.

Bathed in sunlight or covered by thick clouds, the Great Ocean Road is as beautiful and raw.

The Great Ocean Road is a place where sea and light are in an intimate relationship, a local chocolate boutique tempts with flavors and smells and koalas hide in the trees. It’s a place where colorful parrots make you burst into laughter or scream in horror when they land on your head and shoulders. Rose bushes as big as the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree grow in the area and make you exclaim in awe. Tasmania is somewhere beyond the horizon and it teases your imagination what it’s like to be where they collect rainwater and sell it as bottled drinking water. The Great Ocean Road is a place where the sea is constantly angry and idyllic green pastures English style are in deep contrast with the sunburnt Australian landscape. It’s a place that leaves you with a heavy heart when you leave it.