Torquay and the Great Ocean Road

We took advantage of the long Labour Day weekend to see a little more of Australia. This time we were off to visit Torquay and do some traveling along the Great Ocean Road. Torquay is one of the best surf beaches anywhere. In fact the major surf brands like Billabong and RipCurl originated in this very town. Surfing had been at the top of Mady's list of things she wanted to experience during this adventure. So we took our boogie board, rented some wet suits and a board and took off for the waves. Mady and Dawson are ready to go surfing again tomorrow. Mark took the older two surfing again Monday morning before we headed home. Dawson was able to perfect his boogie board skills and Mady and Mark both got to standing on the surf board. Mady got up on the first try! Kyndal and I missed out on the wet outside activities because Kyndal was so sick.

After a busy day of surfing on Saturday we took off for a little bit of driving on Sunday. The Great Ocean Road is like the Pacific Coast Highway in California. It runs right along the coast of Australia. There are so many different things to stop and see along the way that it was hard to choose. We decided to hike through one of the national parks and do a tree-top walk way out in the bush. Dawson and Mady were convinced it was going to be a horribly boring day, but in the end we all had an amazing time. We stopped along the way to see a lighthouse up close. There were tours to go inside but Kyndal wasn't old enough to go and we would have had to wait a while for the next tour so we just looked from the outside.

After a brief stop for lunch we were off to the Cape Otway National Park. Our family took off for a walk through the rainforest environment to get an up close look at one of the many waterfalls in the park. After seeing the waterfall we just climbed around a bit. All the kids had a great time climbing from rock to rock trying not to fall in the shallow water. Dawson pretended to be rock surfing while the girls were striking modeling poses.

From the national park it was on down the road to Otway Fly Tree Top Walk. The Otway Fly is a 600 metre long 25 metre high elevated tree top walk. During the walk we were in the tree tops of an amazing forest. The trees are like the California Redwoods. There was a tower that was 45 meters up that was at the very top of the trees. The pictures don't begin to show how high it was. Kyndal was so excited when she found out she was big enough to go. She must be used to hear that she isn't big enough to do a LOT of things. Throughout the walk there was a section dedicated to different types of dinosaurs and the two younger kids thought it was fabulous to see them along the way. Their big sister was right behind them letting them know that they weren't supposed to touch or sit on those dinosaurs. That's why you won't see a pic of her with them. Mark and I weren't sure how the kids would react to all the nature activities during this trip, but it turned out to be a blast for all of us.

These times when we are able to take off and see the country it makes us more appreciative of all this experience has to offer. Simply looking back at all the different landscapes we were able to see this weekend is amazing. The beach is always beautiful, but we also got to see green rolling hills, rainforest, and wild untamed bush. Although we still miss the familiar things and people from back home, this is truly a life-changing experience for our entire family. Until next time....