Our Great Ocean Road adventure

by Donna Waverley

My family and I recently went to Australia, to see my grandparents. But before we visited them, we went sightseeing along the Great Ocean Road, on the Australian coast.

Dad had intended to drive, but even though he was used to driving miles without getting exhausted, he then read on the website that the road wouldn't be an easy drive, with a number of sharp bends. Anyway, we thought he deserved to enjoy the fantastic views too, which he couldn't do as our driver. So instead, we persuaded him to book discount bus tickets and off we went.

Our first stop was where wild kangaroos lived - and Dad and I were taking a walk when a big one appeared) For a moment, it seemed to consider coming towards us, which made me slightly nervous -but then it went off along the rood, stopping to check if we were following. Although it was with us a while, I was so excited I didn't even manage to pull out my camera. Then it looked back once more, and went off into the bushes.

That wasn't the only wildlife we sow. I thought it unlikely we'd see Australia's famous koala bears during our short visit, as I'd heard they were rare - but we weren't disappointed at our next stop. In fact, we discovered there were roughly six million in that area! Sadly, some gum trees they were in had very few leaves left, which people told us was because of the koalas, although I'd read that lock of water is actually the problem. Still, I guess they looked cute, and were easy to find - we just followed the tourists looking up into the trees!

Dad had booked a campsite for the night, with ready-made tents - for an adventure! I wasn't sure about that, but they were actually luxury tents, within walking distance of some famous rocks and other places we hoped to visit. However, Dad also said the sounds of wild creatures would help us sleep. That sounded worrying - until the 'wild creatures' turned out to be hogs) So I was embarrassed by my fears - and kept awake by the frogs) But we had fun making meals together - we'd brought food, as we knew there'd be nowhere to eat.

In fact, this whole trip was fantastic!