Alison

🚘 A Mini Road Trip to Lorne, Victoria 🚘

As Laurence and Maddy only have the weekend and evenings to spend with us I thought it would be nice to get out of Melbourne for the weekend. So we packed up the car and drove out of Melbourne towards the Great Ocean Road. Our first stop was Torquay for lunch along the seafront. We had blue sky and sun all the way.

Waiting for lunch
Torquay Beach
Catching a wave
Great Ocean Road

It was another hour’s drive from here and it was coastal all the way with fantastic views. Arriving in Lorne around 4pm, I was dismayed when I saw our accommodation! It looked like a prison block, the photographer had excelled himself with photoshop. The sheets were clean at least, but everywhere else was quite grimy. You get what you pay for, and it meant more for dinner!

We went for a short walk before dinner but it was very chilly so we didn’t stay out too long.

Lorne was founded in 1869 and is now a popular surfing and holiday spot. It gets incredibly busy during summer. There is a huge caravan and camping site almost on the beach. Cafes, restaurants and bars line the parade along with gift shops and boutiques.

Erskine River
The main street of Lorne

The white cockatoos are enormous and very tame. It’s a wonder they can still fly.

Contemplation
A rainbow over the cargo ship

We had a gastronomic gourmet dinner that evening with cocktails and wine. It was an Asian Fusion restaurant overlooking the ocean.

Tempura Bug Tails
Crying tiger lamb shoulder
with Vietnamese mint & iceberg lettuce
Golden Fried Rice

As usual I forgot to take more photos of the food.

After a fairly good night’s sleep for all of us except Maddy who was suffering from a sore throat, we found a cafe along the front for an FEB – Full English Breakfast. Next on our itinerary was a trip to the waterfalls, of which there were many in this region. The drive to the carpark was only 30 minutes and there were different trails to walk. We chose the shortest one, around a 40 minute round trip. Ankle deep mud and fallen trees made this walk quite arduous.

Laurence had crocs on with white socks, Maddy had white trainers on and Anthony had walking shoes on. Luckily for me I had waterproof boots on but not hiking boots. We came across a couple with proper boots and the mud was up over their ankles! But we pressed on regardless.

At one point, to try and avoid the mud I thought I would walk to the side holding onto the ferns. The ferns slipped out of my hands and I ended up doing a downward dog pose and couldn’t move, my face was inches from the mud. Laurence tried to grasp me around the middle and kept telling me to let go, he would pull me up. Maddy was watching and crying with laughter at this point. I will never relinquish my title of being the most accident prone person.

Won Wondah Falls, Great Otway National Park

Although the waterfall was quite underwhelming, we all enjoyed the walk apart from the mud now caked on our shoes and splattered over our legs.

We were soon back in the car and on our journey back to Melbourne. Stopping for lunch in a pub on the way home, we sat outside and enjoyed a bottle of wine, until a young boy kicked a ball right into my face! I honestly thought my nose was broken, it was such a shock. Luckily it wasn’t just very bruised. The dad made the poor boy come over and apologise, I felt quite sorry for him. Not such a great finish to a tremendous weekend!

Thanks for reading and
have a great weekend

33 comments

  4. What a weekend of pitfalls for you, poor Ali! The area looks like a beautiful place for a mini vacation. We would love to drive the Great Ocean Road. I hope you will forgive me for laughing about your mud yoga – sounds exactly like something I would do! Were those cockatoos wild or pets?

    Liked by 1 person

  9. So sorry to hear about the prison cell. That’s not fair that they photoshopped the photo. Did you give them a bad review?

    Anyway, the weather cooperated and the shots look amazing!

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  12. Ugh! The ball in the face is such a shock indeed and glad it was not worse
    Also laughing with you with the story of almost falling the mid and in the down dog !!
    –
    I often forget to get photos of food too – and we’re the big tails good??

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