On our journey further south we have arrived in a town named Geelong. In stark contrast from the busy city of Melbourne, this quaint little town has an unbelievable waterfront with a quiet little restaurant serving excellent food, wood carved statues ornamenting the small parks along the boardwalk and lines of sailboats ready to cruise the bay. Intially we would have passed right by this little gem and pushed on to the more known surf town of Tourquay, but we had a meeting with the marketing person for the tourism board handling the Great Ocean Road. Roger Grant was his name and he was a pleasure to deal with. From the moment I walked in the door of his office I felt like an old friend while he walked me through the many different locations and attractions he recommended along the famous Great Ocean Road.
I was made aware that our next five days will be spent on a road recently recommended by Frommers as the best touring road in the world. As I listened to Roger speak of the thick forests, waterfalls, shipwreck coast and charming hotels along the route, I did not know that the adventure was to begin in less than a couple of hours. Our meeting ended with a piece of paper from the receptionist that had the name and phone number of man named Duane who runs the Jet Boat operation in the bay. Roger recommended taking a quick ride out on the jetboat before heading out to Tourquay. We indulged in this offer, but never expected to still be in Geelong five hours later with this jet boat captain.
After a phone call to Duane on his cell phone I was made aware that he works another job building fences in the slow season, but was apparently more than happy to be pulled away from his other job for some afternoon fun. He raced over to the marina to meet up with us and we were off. Throughout this intense afternoon of bouncing, splashing, seemingly close calls with channel markers, and waves of water soaking the group, there was nothing but laughs and smiles. We all hit it off pretty well with Duane so we lost track of time and stayed out on the water much longer than expected. Upon our return the helicopter pilot who runs an operation next door offered Kira and Chap a helicopter ride around the bay (I think he was a little jealous that he was not getting filmed). This lead us to the restaurant on the waterfront for some refreshments and conversation while the rest of the group waited.
We learned of Duane’s heritage in New Zealand, and how he has been in Australia for the last 20+ years. He had always planned on heading back to New Zealnd, but ended up marrying an Australian and never returned. He did however bring a little piece of New Zealand with him…Jet Boating. In fact, the boat we were on orignally hailed from there.
It is always a true pleasure to meet people with a zest for life. Duane was nothing but good attitude and good times. A fence building, jet boating dad with a commitment to having a great time only adds to the great experience of flying around the bay on a jetboat. I would be happy to have a delay like this any day of the week.
