From the Yarra Valley to Warranbool

The drive through the Yarra Valley back to Melbourne was like being in the Napa Valley. We took the ring road around Melbourne to avoid the downtown traffic and finally found our way to the Great Ocean Road. It was a gorgeous drive with sunny skies, bright blue skies and water the color of turquoise. The road was constructed after WWI as a make-work scheme for returning veterans. It took 14 years to construct and you can see why. For most of its’ 187 miles, it crosses along the coastline in a hair-raising manner, clinging to the side of sheer cliffs. Poor John, as driver, he had to spend most of his time and attention negotiating the hair-pin turns. After a beautiful drive along the coast, the road veered off into a rain forest- and the clouds suddenly appeared, followed by fog and rain and a serious drop in temperature.
The highlight for most tourists visits to the Great Ocean Road is a view of the Twelve Apostles, a series of rock formations scattered along the ocean. We saw the heads of three of them as we drove by. We stopped and considered a walk in the rain and cold to see the other 9, but decided that a postcard would be the right supplement for our drive-by sighting.

We knew that we’d have a long drive the following day to get to Adelaide to meet up with Jean and Gordon, so we decided to get as far as we could before stopping. With a quick stop at Cheese World for some cheap wine and cheese, we headed to Warranbool.

We did our standard drive-by to check out the hotel options. The options were fairly limited- either high price and too far out of town or budget (and looking like it) and in town. We decided to take a chance on the Warranbool Hotel/Tavern. We had read about the old hotels offering cheap accommodation with the caveat that you want to check the tavern hours and band schedule. These old hotels are gorgeous old buildings right in the center of town and offer basic rooms (some ensuite), usually with breakfast, for great rates (typically 1/3 less than a basic hotel). With only one room left, we jumped on it, with assurances from the bartender that there was no band that night and the bar closed at 1 AM.

We braved the weather and walked several blocks to a small Thai restaurant and had a great meal. We settled in for a good nights rest before our long drive the next morning. All was great until about 2 AM when a group of 20 somethings came home from their night out at the bars and decided to continue their party in the TV room- directly next to our room. It was like having 6 drunks sitting on the edge of your bed having that inane conversation that only 20 somethings can have. After a rousing chorus of “We will, we will ROCK YOU”, complete with foot stomping, I volunteered to confront them and ask them nicely if they could ‘keep it down’. We figured, wrongly, that the soft approach would be better than having an angry 6’2” guy telling them to “Shut the ***** up”. When my calm plea didn’t work, John gave it a shot. It worked and we got a few hours of sleep before our early morning wakeup.

At breakfast the next morning, we came up with “New Rules”.
While pub rooms are a great value- great price, great location and usually great pub, these are the RULES:
Rule #1: Ask at the pub about closing time of the bar and any musical venues planned for the night.
Rule #2: Check out the room location before committing. If it’s directly over the pub or on a noisy street, think twice (Remember, most pub rooms don’t have A/C and any air will come from the open window)
Rule #3: Most importantly, if you se what appears to be a TV or “reading” room, it may not be what it seems. When the pubs close, your fellow travelers may stagger in for a 4 hour frat party in the “boom boom” room. Telltale signs of possible trouble include: a communal refrigerator (especially if it’s already stocked with beer), barf stains on the carpet, and cigarette smells in the furniture.