Entrance to the Great Ocean Road
Scenic views around every corner
Breathtaking...
One of many koalas in the trees
Hawaiian party decorations flooded the pool area
"I'm not going to drink much, maybe just one..." This glass made the rounds first with Hawaiian tastiness and later with beer
Tom's decked in a full Hawaiian ensemble, Joe cracks into his presents
Joe, Liam, Damon, and Jade
Let's get this party started! Tom gets the keg going.
The hot tub was hot, hot, hot!
Jade organized an awesome weekend getaway at a little shack along the Great Ocean Road, Australia’s most scenic drive. The trip was in celebration of Jade’s and Joe’s coinciding birthdays. Trip participants were Jade, Dan, and me from our house; Jade’s boyfriend Joe, who lives six houses down the street from us, and his housemate Liam; Joe’s brothers Tom and Chris; Liam’s brother Damon; and my friend from work Narelle. We got a late start after our intended 10AM departure. It was meant to be a three hour drive from Melbourne to our holiday house on Cape Otway, the furthest jutting peninsula more than halfway along the Great Ocean Road. We left closer to noon, stopped in Geelong for an extended grocery shopping trip, and our three car caravan met up at various lookout points along the way. We all stopped at a pullout near the woods known for good koala spotting. After a trek through the Otway rainforest, we arrived at Sea Eagle Retreat around 5 PM. The guys jumped straight into the hot tub adjacent to the heated pool(!), but we didn’t give them long before we kicked out Joe to decorate the mansion for his Hawaiian themed surprise party. Joe’s brother Tom surprised everyone with a keg. (They were shocked to learn you can buy a keg at a grocery store in the U.S.; in Australia you’ve got to know someone who works at a bar to give you the hook up.) We had mojitos, Hawaiian punch, and leis for everyone. We had a late night in the pool and hot tub with a few adventurers exploring the paddocks in the dark wee hours of the morning.
