Great Ocean Road - #VanLife

So, one of my pipe dreams is to get a van and do it up. Something like this

Then I can become a hippy and my family can properly denounce me. Though I know they won't because they love me too much.

Anyhow, I thought before I commit to a $40k van + do up cost, I should try to live in a van for at least couple of days to see whether I'm actually cut out for it. So, I went to https://www.shareacamper.com -  it's like an AirBnB for campervans. And we decided to hire this van to explore the Great Ocean Road over Australia Day weekend.

The van comes with a portable gas stove, but being me I was worried that we wouldn't be able to eat 'proper' food. So I prep'd as many sauces as I could - since we would be on the road for FOUR DAYS! I know right.

Here are all the foods that I prep'd for my brief #vanlife

• spicy peanut soba noodle salad - just the sauce, so we would only need to boil the soba and mix in the salad
• Fabs' famous bolognese sauce
• Breakfast burritos 
• Boiled eggs for eggs sandwich 

I also packed tuna cans, sandwich materials (cucumber, mayo, bread etc), crisps and chocolates. Fabs tried to convince me over and over that we were going to a 'touristy drive' and not a remote mountain so there was NO NEED to pack SO MUCH food. You know nothing Fabs Snow. I might turn into a hangry monster when hunger strikes! Better be prepared than sorry.

Day 1 - Torquay

The start of our #vanlife 

We got to Torquay around 9.00 p.m. On the way we passed a lot of surfing shops. Famished, we went to Señor and had a good feed and a few drinks. Full and tired, we headed to Point Danger car park and went to bed.

Day 2 - Park Rangers, Waterfall, the Apostles and Port Campbell

At 6.30 a.m. we heard a knock on the door with the greetings "Park rangers, wake up!". Barely awake, we were just staring at the ceiling of our van, palpitating, eyes wide open with our brains trying to send a "ping!" for our limbs to react. And then we heard the knock again.. So I pushed Fabs out of the bed to speak with the so called rangers. They slapped us with a $125 fine for sleeping in the car! So, state wide it is NOT illegal to sleep in your car. It is encouraged even, in case of fatigue/tiredness. Which we were. So, we are going to appeal it!

Anyhow, we left Torquay shortly after,  and my head was still pounding due to lack of sleep. We went for breakfast at 4 Kings Coffee & Food at Anglesea. Completely forgot that today was a public holiday, so 20% surcharge applied when we ordered our breakfast. It was delicious, albeit expensive!! I was still jaded, so I had another coffee when we got to Point Roadknight Beach and went back to bed whilst Fabs went for a surf. He was glad that he went, and I was glad that I had a kip. Everyone was happy.

Afterwards, we checked out the Erskine Falls - a quick walk up and down the ramp.

Quite pretty

Then we continued on along the Great Ocean Road - and it was indeed GREAT. We stopped at one of the lookouts (after we tried to go to Wye River Road Camping Area, but it was closed) and had bolognese pasta overlooking the ocean.

Our lunch spot

We passed through a sign saying 'Cape Otway Lighthouse', after (not so) much of a discussion, we decided to check it out. After driving inland for about 10 km, we found that one has to pay $19.50 to check out the self proclaimed 'Australia's most significant lighthouse'. The pain of the fine and 20% surcharge still lingered, so in unison we said "no thanks", and drove 10 km back to the main road.

Continued on to the main gig, the 12 Apostles.

And Loch Ard Gorge.

They are beautiful and magnificent. Nature is amazing.

Traumatised by the park rangers, I was determined to find a camping site. And also I wanted to be able to freely cooked my stuff. We went to Port Campbell Holiday Park but there was no vacancy. The lady recommended us to check out the Rec Park up the road. For $10 pp, we got a spot. And for $10 pp we got what we paid for. There's kitchen facilities, laundry, toilet (ran out of tissues in the morning) and bathroom.

We had a very healthy nutritious dinner (cheese and crackers with a side of wine)

It was noisy all around, all day and all night. Though, since we were so tired, we fell asleep anyway.

Day 3 Beach & Port Fairy

After breakfast (the burritos, they were the BOMB 💣!) we broke camp and drove to the Port Campbell beach. It was gorgeous.

I want this life 24/7 please

We went for the Port Campbell Discovery Walk and discovered that youths nowadays smoke weed at 10 a.m! We couldn't even ask for some since it was a bit too early, no?! All hot and sweaty, we jumped into the water and it was the best feeling.

On a high (from life, not weed) and feeling ravenous, we went to Warrnambool and had the Kermond's Hamburgers. Nothing much to see here, so we went to Port Fairy. Hailed as the 'most livable community' in the WORLD 🌏 in 2012, it was a beautiful spot with massive beach and very friendly locals.

We stayed at the Gardens By East Beach Caravan Park - I was shocked that we had to pay $46, but then I realised why. It was walking distance from the beach, full of families and older people. Facilities are clean, spacious and it was nice and quiet!

So relaxing

Day 4 Beach and Home

Forecasted to be 42℃, Victoria's summer delivered. By 9.00 a.m. it was 30++℃, hot and oppressive. We had a quick dip on the beach where the water was still quite cool & very refreshing. Port Fairy beach is really gorgeous.

Blue see-through water, soft fine sands, gentle waves, it is the perfect family beach.

Unfortunately the surf was dead that day

After breakfast, we tidied up the van, packed everything up and all ready to drive back to Melbourne. I thoroughly enjoyed staying in the van. I will definitely do it again in the future, hopefully with our own van!!

First Stop - Mollymook AU

The day -2 10/03/2017

At the ripe age of 31, I am officially homeless. It’s a curious feeling, I can’t really describe it. A little bit worried but so happy at the same time. But this peculiar feeling immediately disappeared once we hit Mollymook.

Mollymook is a coastal city approximately three hours' drive south of Sydney. Supposedly, the best place to stay is at the Bannisters. There are 2 of them, The Pavilion and by The Sea. They are within close proximity with each other. We headed to the pool bar by"The Sea" as our friends had dinner reservation at “The Bannisters”. As they haven’t arrived yet; we ordered drinks, admired the view – just to realise we rocked up at the wrong Bannisters.

Travel lesson number One – getting lost may result in happiness. I am glad we were mistaken - because the view was stunning!

What a time to be alive

Dinner: Bannisters Pavilion Rooftop Bar & Grill was yum. I had prawn linguine with copious amount of garlic and chilies. My breath could be smelt all the way to Sydney $$$ 

The day -1 11/03/2017

Main reason we were in Mollymook was to attend my beloved friend's wedding. The day started promising, considering the rains had been pelting down Sydney and surrounds.

Glorious day at Mollymook beach with Baywatch BF

I went for a walk, swam and soaked as much sun as I could, since we are going to -2 ℃ soon. Then around midday, we went back to our apartment Aquarius Mollymook. It's a clean 1 bedroom apartment, about 5 minutes walk to the beach and the shops. My laptop could pick up the wifi connection, but neither my phone nor Fabs' could from our apartment. Only at the car park our phones picked up the wifi signal.

Around 2.00 pm the bus picked us up from Mollymook to transport us to the wedding venue, Cupitt’s winery.  

What a glorious day to get married!

The bride looked STUNNING, the food was yum, sun was shining, amazing scenery, overjoyed groom who couldn't believe his luck scoring such a beautiful wife. It was a really gorgeous wedding, I am so honoured and glad we were part of it. 

The day 12/03/2017 😱 

This is it. The day that we were waiting for.

• Bag's packed ✔
• Passport ✔
• Not sure where all my stuffs are ✔

We stopped at The Huskisson Hotel for a quick lunch on our way back to Sydney. Then upon realising we had time to kill before our flight, we stopped by Berry as well - a quaint little town famous for its donuts and pies. We didn't get any of them.

1.5 half hours later, we dropped off Fabs's car at his friend's place and jumped in an uber to the airport. Seoul, here we come!