Challenging day to Apollo Bay

(Three days later) 

The heat eased in the night which meant we got a better night’s sleep and Amber slept in. Then we packed quickly for our big day to the Great Ocean Road (stopping at a wonderful marine discovery centre and tide pools before we left Queenscliff).

Before long we were excitedly headed for Bells Beach, Australia’s most renowned surf beach. We passed a sign welcoming us to the Great Ocean Road which had us ‘high-fiving’ in the car.  Then, passing through Torquay, it was instantly evident we were in surfer country... passing surf shop after surf shop.

It was a hazy day, but still stunningly gorgeous... until I looked back in the rear view mirror and realised the bike rack was swaying a bit more than it should. Inspection confirmed my growing fear: the welds on my new bike rack addition were cracked and wouldn’t last much longer. We limped on for a while and i am not sure if it was my imagination, but it seemed to be getting worse on every bend so we pulled over.

I called ahead to our caravan park and discovered there’s a mobile welder in Apollo Bay (Snowy) who said he could fix it. YES! He could also come to us, so we didn’t have to risk driving any further. While we waited the expected 40 minutes, Amber and I clambered down a grassy slope to a deserted beach and explored the tide pools. Magnificent!

Snowy put our bikes in his trailer and we followed him to Apollo Bay Caravan Park. There, we set up and he started welding (tutting all the while at the bad initial job).

Finally he was done, and the work looked great. Thank you Snowy for your wonderful professionalism AND the reasonable price. We really appreciate it.

We were pretty tired by now and the day was fast disappearing. Just time for dinner and a cool in the pool before my eyes are currently closing! 

We travel for adventure and today was certainly one of those!