Great Ocean Road

Some parts of Australia are truly iconic and the General Ocean Road falls into that bracket. Like the Sydney Opera House, the Great Barrier Reef and the MCG, this was etched on my hypothetical 2012 to-do list in block capitals - and the luxury of a long weekend afforded us the perfect opportunity to hit the trail.

Make no mistake, it was cold. Those monstrous waves were crashing for a reason, the wintry wind was up and it was a day to don jackets and jumpers every time we stepped out of the car. The coarse weather only served to paint a more spectacular picture, though, as we drove along.

It's not an easy route by any means. The twists and turns give you great views but they require real concentration and sensible driving. As we turned one particularly sharp corner, we suddenly realised the Ocean Road had claimed its latest victims - a group of Japanese tourists who clearly hadn't heeded the speed warnings. Their car was intertwined with a road sign after shooting off the bitumen and coming to rest on the hillside.

All those hours behind the wheel seemed but a second, however, when we were rewarded with the simply unmatchable landscape of the Twelve Apostles. These giant stacks - actually seven in number - would serve as one of the world's best geography field trips, such is their vivid illustration of how land has been eaten away over thousands of years by the incessant pounding swell of the sea. Camera lenses pointed all around us and red tourist helicopters buzzed overhead. Yet, with pedestrian access limited to the clifftops, this magnificent spectacle remains untouched by human hands. That's one small mercy for the Apostles, who get smashed by a wave every 14 seconds. One for the stattos there.

Similar stacks stand further along the Shipwreck Coast - and you can see just why it earned that name. Tales are told of English sailors sighting land here after three months at sea, only for their ships to be broken up on these fearsome rocks. Talk about threading the eye of a needle. But that was a risk they were willing to take in order to make the journey to Australia. How fortunate we are to be able to fly the same distance in less than 24 hours.

We reached London Bridge (above) and decided our Great Ocean Road trip was complete. As we looked out from the platform, I kept thinking of the two tourists stranded on the right-hand end of the bridge when the centre crumbled into the sea in January 1990. One day, all of this will be washed away. All the more reason to capture it on camera, even more so with Nathan at our side.

Back in Melbourne the sun shone. I bang on about this city every time we're here but I just think it's magic. We rode on jam-packed rattling trams from one sparkling shopping district to the next and drank coffee on the Yarra River's Southbank. A rower glided under the bridge. Food smells from around the world wafted out of the food court. Television screens blinked at us from behind the counters and the distinct colours of footy scarves began to appear around the necks of patrons as day shuffled into evening.

Two of those necks belonged to Bean Bell and I. Bean is the daughter of our favourite Melburnians - Rob and Jan Bell - and she also happens to barrack for St Kilda, who were playing 'our' Geelong Cats that very night. Tickets had been purchased; after all, Nathan couldn't fly home without experiencing the AFL.


The game was played under the roof at Etihad Stadium.

Geelong led for most of the game and, despite a horribly wobbly third quarter, they got home by 42 points. The Cats are expected to play finals footy in September, St Kilda aren't. But regardless of the result, the code, or even which hemisphere you're in, the buzz of the big game remains as intoxicating as ever.

This is Big Brother (in-law)

We've got company. Rachel's brother Nathan is spending a couple of weeks Down Under with us and his infectious laugh has brought big smiles to our faces (along with the blocks of Cadbury's chocolate stowed in his suitcase). An international visitor merits a break from the weekly routine and we've been suitably busy.

In honour of Nathan's stay in Albury - and because we hadn't got around to doing it previously - we hosted 'afternoon tea' for the teachers of Albury North and their families. Our normally quiet house came alive with chatter and the clinking of crockery.

Sharing our home with so many people who have made us feel welcome in this town was a great feeling. As the champers flowed and the fire roared, it seemed hard to believe we were complete strangers here just seven months earlier.


It has to be said I've spent much more time working than entertaining my brother-in-law since he landed on these shores. After months of intermittent factory shifts, I have joined the Albury North staff as a part-time teacher aid and my hours in the classroom are being off-set by regular sports writing work for an English newspaper.

For the 'middle weekend' of Nathan's stay, we decided to visit Taronga Zoo in Sydney. This involved reacquainting ourselves with the north-eastern stretch of the Hume Highway and compiling both a picnic and playlist to see us through the journey of more than five hours.

Some pretty mucky weather the following morning had kept many people indoors. As such, we had almost a free run of the zoo, which exceeded our expectations. With military precision we consulted the fold-out map and planned our day around keeper talks and the seal show (above), which is always a must-see.

The gorillas were better value than the wind-shy chimpanzees and this silverback was the daddy in every sense. With the strength of 10 men, he not only commanded respect in the enclosure, but he would have smashed the Olympic weightlifting.

It was almost feeding time for the tigers. No messin'.

 This is the best view in Sydney. It's from the giraffe's back yard...

...and they're living there rent-free.

The king of the zoo, like his big cat cousins, only had eyes - and ears - for the keepers and their bins full of lunchtime steaks. It was awesome to see the lions so alert, at such close quarters.

We also saw koalas fighting and bears pacing before taking our leave. By now, catching a ferry to Circular Quay is pretty familiar territory for Rachel and I, but sweeping past the Harbour Bridge with Nathan for company was a moment worth savouring. Life's short and these are the sort of pictures you're unlikely to take twice.

Huge thanks must go to our hosts for the weekend, Margaret and Dave Wilson (pictured above). The parents of Rachel's friend Michelle - who now lives in the United States - accomodated us at very short notice and made us feel incredibly welcome. Hospitality like theirs is something you can't put a price on and, in black and white terms, they made the whole trip possible.