This is our third day on the Great Ocean Road and I must say it’s a fairly splendid drive. In fact, I reckon it beats other boastful coastal routes such as South Africa’s Garden Route and New Zealand’s Catlins Coast – you get more ocean views for your miles, and there are hundreds of walks, views, cafes and places to stay. Or who knows, perhaps it’s just the nefarious influence of the weather at work? We’ve got gorgeous autumn days here. Hm. California’s Big Sur highway, that might still be the best ocean drive ever. Then again, it’s only really one day whereas you could build a two week holiday around the Great Ocean Road.
The little cottage (or “kottage” as it is quaintly called – the owners are German ex-pats) we’re staying in tonight is actually the cheapest place we’ve found through all six weeks in Australia and yet astonishingly it’s also the best equipped. With typical German efficiency, they’ve thought of everything. It has: a hair dryer, first aid kit, air conditioning, a torch, alarm clock, tissues, ground coffee, low-fat fryer, napkins, grater, measuring jug, fire extinguisher, barbecue, electric blankets, teapot, milk, marmalade, spare pillows, extra blanket, chopping board, umbrella, kitchen roll, playing cards, calendar, DVD player, ten types of tea, egg cups, clingfilm and DVDs. We have stayed in several other self-catering places with exactly none of these things.
And yet very oddly it has no hob for cooking. There’s a microwave and an electric frying pan thing but no hob. Nevertheless, we are self-catering and so tonight I have learned how to cook spaghetti in a microwave oven and make a garlicky tomato sauce in an electric frying pan which has no “simmer” setting and so required constant hovering and stirring. I am da chef.
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