Heena (my wife) was quite apprehensive when I told her about my plan of going to Great Ocean Road. And I was not unaware of the reason. It was a long drive. Both Heena and Yugam (our 2.5 yrs old son) have problem of motion sickness in car. GOR was 2 days trip and has some swirls on the way. As it was a must visit place, I tried to convince her. After a long discussion of 2 hours, finally she agreed.
I made the plan, collected all the information and then booked the car to hire. Now the only issue was to get an accommodation. As it was Easter long weekend, finding accommodation was difficult or rather I should say getting accommodation in our budget was difficult. I searched all the websites to find some decent family accommodation but no luck. Then 1 of my friend referred me to a farm house cottage. It was 30 KM away from the main stream and was quite remote. As soon as my friend stopped describing it, I decided to book the cottage. It was a proper farm house. You need to cross a beach forest on the way to reach the cottage. It was cozy and best suited for people who want to relax away from city life. I was fortunate that it was available on the planned night. I instantly booked it.
It was now last working day before Easter long weekend. I was quite excited and wanted to leave office asap but had a hard luck that day. I had to deal with some unplanned issues occurred in my server. I tried hard and finally got free by 8:00 PM. Heena had already given me phone call 5 times. All said, I reached home at about 9:00 PM and then started packing my stuff.
Next morning was quite beautiful. It was sunny but not hot. We started our trip at about 9:00AM. After a drive of 30 min, we touched the highway. Our Toyota Aurion was at 100 kmpl. Yugam was playing with Heena and Sujata. I and Saurabh were on front seats acting as driver and co-driver respectively. Soon we reached to a place where road and ocean were running side by side. The view was awesome. Blue never looked more beautiful to me, I swear. Heena was also so happy and called it “must see of Melbourne”. Now all her complaints were turning into praise. We passed Lorne now with taking stops in between and taking shots of natural beauty.
We wanted to reach to our cottage before sunset. And we were aware of it that we had to pass through a forest to reach the right spot. Just before Apollo Bay, we took a turn leaving Great Ocean Road and headed towards the cottage. Soon we entered the beach forest. It was thick dark forest with hardly anybody visible. The route was curvy. Motion sickness was sure for Heena and Yugam. When Heena was restless to reach cottage, Yugam was sleeping without giving any trouble to us.
After driving 20 km in the thick forest, Saurabh and I thought that we are on some wrong way. Saurabh took GPS system and fed the address of the cottage. Initially we thought that GPS would not have map till cottage as it was quite remote but GPS proved us wrong. A sweet female voice came from it “Drive 9 km and then turn left”. GPS was smiling at us and we were smiling at the lady who was guiding us through the forest. It was getting darker and colder and speed of car was increasing with every passing moment. Yugam was still sleeping comfortably.
At about 6:30 PM, we reached the cottage. Ah, what a relief!!! Without wasting any time, we parked the car and rushed into the cottage. The owner followed us and started guiding us. The cottage was as comfortable as our own house. It had 3 big bedrooms, 1 big drawing room and a big kitchen. Being a small town boy, I was missing big houses which are difficult to find in big cities. By this time Yugam was out of his hibernation.
We lit fire in fire place enjoyed the warmth as any filthy rich foreigner would have enjoyed. After some chat, we all went to our respective rooms. Next morning we had to start early. I wake up at 7:00 AM and went for a morning walk. The scene outside the cottage was so beautiful that I never wanted to get back from there. Lush freen fields, small grassey hills, jersey cows erverything was looking damn beautiful. I enjoyed the natural beauty and the returned to the cottege. By that time Heena and Yugam were also up. All of us got ready & then left for the remaining journey.
I made the plan, collected all the information and then booked the car to hire. Now the only issue was to get an accommodation. As it was Easter long weekend, finding accommodation was difficult or rather I should say getting accommodation in our budget was difficult. I searched all the websites to find some decent family accommodation but no luck. Then 1 of my friend referred me to a farm house cottage. It was 30 KM away from the main stream and was quite remote. As soon as my friend stopped describing it, I decided to book the cottage. It was a proper farm house. You need to cross a beach forest on the way to reach the cottage. It was cozy and best suited for people who want to relax away from city life. I was fortunate that it was available on the planned night. I instantly booked it.
It was now last working day before Easter long weekend. I was quite excited and wanted to leave office asap but had a hard luck that day. I had to deal with some unplanned issues occurred in my server. I tried hard and finally got free by 8:00 PM. Heena had already given me phone call 5 times. All said, I reached home at about 9:00 PM and then started packing my stuff.
Next morning was quite beautiful. It was sunny but not hot. We started our trip at about 9:00AM. After a drive of 30 min, we touched the highway. Our Toyota Aurion was at 100 kmpl. Yugam was playing with Heena and Sujata. I and Saurabh were on front seats acting as driver and co-driver respectively. Soon we reached to a place where road and ocean were running side by side. The view was awesome. Blue never looked more beautiful to me, I swear. Heena was also so happy and called it “must see of Melbourne”. Now all her complaints were turning into praise. We passed Lorne now with taking stops in between and taking shots of natural beauty.
We wanted to reach to our cottage before sunset. And we were aware of it that we had to pass through a forest to reach the right spot. Just before Apollo Bay, we took a turn leaving Great Ocean Road and headed towards the cottage. Soon we entered the beach forest. It was thick dark forest with hardly anybody visible. The route was curvy. Motion sickness was sure for Heena and Yugam. When Heena was restless to reach cottage, Yugam was sleeping without giving any trouble to us.
After driving 20 km in the thick forest, Saurabh and I thought that we are on some wrong way. Saurabh took GPS system and fed the address of the cottage. Initially we thought that GPS would not have map till cottage as it was quite remote but GPS proved us wrong. A sweet female voice came from it “Drive 9 km and then turn left”. GPS was smiling at us and we were smiling at the lady who was guiding us through the forest. It was getting darker and colder and speed of car was increasing with every passing moment. Yugam was still sleeping comfortably.
At about 6:30 PM, we reached the cottage. Ah, what a relief!!! Without wasting any time, we parked the car and rushed into the cottage. The owner followed us and started guiding us. The cottage was as comfortable as our own house. It had 3 big bedrooms, 1 big drawing room and a big kitchen. Being a small town boy, I was missing big houses which are difficult to find in big cities. By this time Yugam was out of his hibernation.
We lit fire in fire place enjoyed the warmth as any filthy rich foreigner would have enjoyed. After some chat, we all went to our respective rooms. Next morning we had to start early. I wake up at 7:00 AM and went for a morning walk. The scene outside the cottage was so beautiful that I never wanted to get back from there. Lush freen fields, small grassey hills, jersey cows erverything was looking damn beautiful. I enjoyed the natural beauty and the returned to the cottege. By that time Heena and Yugam were also up. All of us got ready & then left for the remaining journey.
Yugam again fell asleep on the way. We reached back at 10:00 PM. Had dinner at a good resturant and returned home.
