Travel: OZ Blog Ep: 17 - Week 11 Great White Shark Cage Diving/ Great Ocean Road

After the ‘Rock to Water’ tour, we spent 2 nights in Adelaide. We got an Air BnB which was a great change from the constant moving around and sleeping in swags. And there was even a bath! It had been like nearly 3 months since a bath (DISCLAIMER: we shower, we aren’t scruffs). We hit up the local woollies grabbed some snacks and food and made fajitas that night. The morning after we grabbed our Juicy Campervan and drove towards Port Lincoln, where we were going to be doing out Shark cage diving. After a couple of hours driving, a quick stop off to pull over in some town on route to cooking in the van, and many many miles. We got to the diving shop, so we pulled up into a parking space and went to sleep for the night. Surprisingly the van was really comfy, myself and Jack slept in the main compartment and mark in the pullout roof level bed.

Early morning wake up, we went into the shop, filled out the paperwork, bought some strong sickness tablets, as if the Great barrier reef was anything to go by, regardless to if you normally don’t get sick, take them. And still, what a surprise myself and jack felt sick. feeling sick, however, made us have an amazing memory. So we were at the back of the boat, water flying everywhere as its choppy, us looking at the horizon to feel better and all of a sudden a dolphin came out of no here and was follow our boat in the breakwater behind. It was amazing, however, our phones were in the main cabin as it was wet so we didn’t get a video sadly.

The boat was kitted out with a 15ft telescopic cage that drops off the back and floats on the sea level, this allows us to get in and out as we please and also has the oxygen mask tubes attached, meaning all we need is a wetsuit on, no tanks on our backs. Also at the rear of the boat is a tank which you can climb down into and watch what’s going on under the boat, meaning you can take photos with your phone. The cage was surrounded by fish. This was from them playing music underwater to attract the fish rather than baiting them. I thought I was going mad at one point where I could hear ACDC highway to hell underwater.

Honestly, the whole experience was amazing, I first sighted a great white shark when I was on the boat and the boys were in the cage. Watching the size of this beast break the water near the surface was unreal. Like you know they are big, but to see it with your own eyes is something else. We managed to sight great whites another 3 times throughout the day before coming back. I would highly recommend this peaceful and eco trip, to experience the giant beasts calmly and naturally. The food onboard was amazing also. So if this is something that is on your bucket list. Check out Charted Bay Adventures in Port Lincoln.

Once off the boat, our next point of call was finding a campsite on route back towards Adeliade to the continue on The Great Ocean Road. Of course I can’t remember the spot we pulled up in. It was pitch black by the time we got to the campsite, we made some dinner. Was probably burgers or sausages as that’s what we seem to live off while on the road as it was cheap and quick to cook. We spent part of the night shooting long exposures of the milky way, and messing around with jack holding a torch. The photos can be seen below. We woke up in the morning to find a waterfall on the edge of the camp. Pretty cool right!

On route to the Grampians, we stopped off to take some photos on the road with the mountainscape in the background. We walked around the Grampians taking some shots of the amazing views. It was basically deserted the whole way until we got to the top on one of the peaks with a lookout. If you like a hike I would recommend. After the hike we went into town where we bought some fish and chips before heading on our way to another campsite. where we got stuck in the mud for a bit, which was fun to get out of.

Over the next few days, we drove from the Grampians to Melbourne. Stopping at many points of interest including London Bridge, Thunder Cave and The Famous Twelve Apostles to name a few. With a very sketchy night camping and coasting along with no fuel. But we did it. The Great Ocean Road was amazing, and we were very lucky with the weather. I do however wish I saw it at the start of my trip not last, as it was very underwhelming after seeing amazing spots like the outback and Springbrook national park. nonetheless, it was still great. It was very touristy, coaches full of them. Luckily we were able to see spots early and miss the crowds in some cases. It was fun living in a van, but we did miss having showers as often as we would like. Check out the photos across this blog and the video below-showing a lot of the spots. When we arrived at Melbourne we dropped the van off. No problems. We had a great experience with the juicy Campers. The only thing I would say is they drink a lot of fuel.

Next blog, Melbourne!