Guest story

Wave Riders, Roos and Rugged Rocks

Almost immediately on being picked up from the Crown Promenade, the two boys of the family, both in their early 20’s and both keen surfers, were buzzing with excitement and anticipation of seeing Bells Beach and hopefully later swimming in the Pacific Ocean.

Turns out it was one of the boys birthday, so I made a point of remembering that piece of information to somehow surprise him later.

The first stop was the Bells beach viewing platform, though only a handful of surfers were enjoying the relatively small sets of waves it gave them a sense of the place

and as I painted the picture of the Rip Curl Classic in their minds, they could see the energy of it all and were imaging Portugal surfer ‘Tiago Pires’ ripping up a 6 footer!

It’s encouraging to see young people with super healthy eating habits, so stopping at pop up wholefood café at Anglea’s McGains Nursery for morning tea was the next logical choice.

The shop is abundant with healthy culinary delights, and like kids in a candy story ( ha probably not the best analogy ) They loved it, and the smoothies were flowing.

The heat of the day kicked in and the cooling waters of the Pacific ocean beaconed, so we pushed on to Cummberland river, and as it offers easy access and a nice flat, rock free beach, they enjoyed a refreshing dip – Ozzie style.

The perfect combination of Sea, Sand and Sun calls out for that perfect culinary accompaniment of Fish and Chips, so what better place than our next stop for alfresco dinning with a sensational view, the Apollo Bay Fish and Chip Co-op, where the fish was so fresh it literally jumped onto the plate.

This was followed by some delicious ‘award winning’ Gelato from Dooley’s Ice Cream bar, made even more special as the son was presented with a surprise chocolate scoop and candle with a rousing chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’, much to the absolute delight of his mum.

In addition to the magnificent ocean scenery we managed to get in a beautiful giant fern rainforest walk, before being taken to a secret location to hopefully spot a kangaroo in the ‘wild’ (always a winner for overseas guest) we were in luck as a mob of at least 50 were turning on a show and hopped past us.

So delighted at this true Australian experience, and laughing the entire time, the whole family created a hilarious family holiday snap pretending to be Kangaroos.

So with already a jammed packed day, we arrive at the 12 Apostles and their smiles, though already spread wide across their faces, spread even more!

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