We took another tour today, which happened to once again be 11 hours in length, but this time, it was private, with just the two of us and our guide. The tour had come highly recommended, but I'll be honest - I was nervous about us spending 11 hours in a car with a stranger, because neither of us are any good at small talk! Within two minutes of meeting Simon, any apprehension disappeared because he was so lovely and immediately put us at ease. What followed was an fantastic day of driving along the Great Ocean Road, which is similar to the Pacific Coast Highway. We've driven along PCH several times, and when we were planning this trip, we contemplated renting a car to drive the Great Ocean Road ourselves, but I'm so glad we didn't - not because of the drive, but because we would have missed out on Simon's company and the wealth of knowledge and insight he shared with us throughout the tour. He himself is a fascinating person, having lived in several countries all over the world, so in addition to everything we saw and visited today, we also talked about traveling and our experiences, and it felt like we were just chatting with a friend!
The Great Ocean Road is a popular tourist draw, particularly in summer, but even though it is currently winter, there were many tour buses, so Simon's approach was to drive to the end of the road first, and then stop at spots as we made our way back to Melbourne. Absolutely brilliant on his part, because we encountered so few other people throughout the day wherever we were, but saw tour buses traveling in the opposite direction to us, filled with people. Simon told us he's done this tour more than 2,800 times, so not only does he know the best places to stop, he shared so much information with us that we felt we were really getting to know the area and its history - something that obviously wouldn't have happened if we'd rented a car on our own.
It was a cold, very windy, and at times, rainy day, but that didn't bother us at all. The tour was spectacular, the scenery was breathtaking, and the company was stellar. Simon picked us up a little before 7 am and dropped us off just before 6 pm and those 11 hours just flew by! During our tour, we picked up some baked goods at a coffee shop, had lunch at a wonderful restaurant (which is home to many colorful birds!), and stopped for ice cream as we made our way along the southern coast of Australia. We spotted koalas, wallabies, and kangaroos out in the wild, and Simon even recommended a place for dinner near our hotel, so we took his advice and went there once we got back from the tour. Just an incredible day from start to finish!
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