We left the house around 9.30 and - after a few mishaps and some lamenting/celebrating the fact it was raining (celebrations on my part, obviously) - made our way around the bay and onto the wonderfully scenic freeway. Dry grass and government billboards for dayz. After about an hour, a stop off at Hungry Jack's for some nutrition and a koala-less jaunt through the gum trees we finally emerged into the salty, misty open and took a break in Lorne to stretch our legs. Tbh I sit like a monkey/small child/pretzel in the car anyway so it doesn't really bother me but I feel like Evan probably appreciated the break from driving, and it's always nice to have a little photo op. 

 I made a lot of bad choices on this beach at New Year's between year 9 and 10, one of which resulted in a now infamous birthday voicemail message from my friend Ruby a few days later, but this time I just took a couple of selfies and had a bit of a sit. 
Time and maturity doth transform even the most foolish of teens.

After Lorne we made a pitstop for a brief hike aka my favourite activity of all time, on which we saw a waterfall with no water and an eastern brown snake #straya, and then drove around to Wye River. By this point it was probably best that we took a solid break due to the fact that we had all developed pretty serious cabin fever, as evidenced by a full-blown witch hunt over an empty water bottle and a heated discussion about "cauligreens." If you are anything like Dodie, Fiona and myself, you may be wondering "Dearest Madeleine, wtf are cauligreens?" According to yahoo answers, "ita a vegatable kinda like spinache leafy".

We ended up losing track of time and spending an impromptu few hours at the beach just chillin', thrillin', takin' some pics and - in Evan and Fiona's case - attempting to build some weird kind of dam/river diversion out of sand. Emphasis on "attempting".

If I hadn't been so content I would almost feel as though this was a wasted opportunity because I wasn't in a particularly contemplative mood, and if I had been this would have been an ideal spot for pondering the many intricacies of life. As it was, I think I spent most of the time thinking about Disney movies because the rocks made me feel like a mix of the Little Mermaid and the Lion King. Also my hair kept doing a majestic Pocahontas wind curtain.

Seriously what are the odds of this being the one day in my life when I wasn't feeling angsty.

Such a waste.
Note attempted dam building in the background.

I did get to hang out with some cool rockpools though.

Love me some rockpools. 

Once we were all slightly tired, burnt and dehydrated we popped back in the car and - after a brief wasp scare - went on our merry way. From there we drove pretty much straight to Apollo Bay, apart from a quick photo op at the Cape Patton Lookout, which I was particularly fond of because it reminded me of Northern Ireland.
Love me some Norn Iron

D-d-d-dayum. 

This photo brings me so much joy.

We stopped for dinner in Apollo Bay, where I had a Bubble-O-Bill and a seagull that looked like Keanu Reeves tried to steal our food, and then it was pedal to the metal yall because we were not about to miss sunset at the Twelve Apostles. Along the way we met an echidna (see: almost hit with the car), jammed to a bit of 1D and further developed our undeniable cabin fever with a few worryingly specific rounds of Animal, Vegetable, Mineral. I don't think I've ever yelled a succession of salad ingredients so passionately in my life. Eventually, after that whirlwind of emotion, we made it just in time.

Thank you, Evan. 

As soon as the sun set it started pouring with rain. Full thunder storm. On the ocean. If you've been around for a while I'm sure you can imagine how frickin happy I was. We went for a final wander down the cliff to go look over the other side, and then piled back in the car for the long drive home. I was so content that I didn't even care I had a hekkerz rain fro. That's a lie. I cared, but maybe only a 4.5/10.

The way back was not without incident. We got to Colac without knowing how to turn on the high beams, Fiona terrified me with a story about regional gangs and I saw a really big moth, but we also stopped at macca's for some late-night nourishment so it evens out. We got home just after 1am, but at some point between Evan's power nap and some alphabet game we refused to play properly the cabin fever crossed a line into delusion and I believe Dodie and Fiona woke up to us raving to the turn signal clicks. 14 hours in a car'll do that to ya.