Captain Poprocks visits the Great Ocean Road

Hello everyone! 

Captain Poprocks and I have just arrived home from a week's holiday in Apollo Bay, on Australia's Great Ocean Road. We travelled down together with my sister Kathryn and my mother Janelle to watch Kathryn run in the Great Ocean Road Ultra Half Marathon!

(You can read about Captain Poprocks' last adventure here)

We stayed in a lovely apartment in Marengo, which is the next village along the Road from Apollo Bay. It had a gorgeous view of Bass Strait, and we spent many lovely hours crocheting and drinking tea on the balcony.

The race was very exciting! Kathryn was participating in her very first half marathon, and it was an ULTRA half marathon! She has been training and fundraising with CanToo, and organised with her Rotary Club to dollar match donations to support End Polio Now to take advantage of the matching from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Altogether she raised $8,488.00, which is a pretty amazing total! Mum and I found a spot along the final stretch to watch all of the runners come in. When Kathryn came around the corner, she was even still smiling! 

                                   

We are so proud of Kathryn for running so far, and finishing her first half marathon in pretty close to the time she was aiming for! 

               


                       

She was pretty tired afterwards though...

Captain Poprocks got into some photos with the other CanToo runners who were participating in events over the weekend - even scoring a drink in this one!

After the race (and recovering from the race), we did some exploring of this beautiful part of the world.

There were amazing beaches...

... incredible rainforest...

... craggy coastlines ... 

... beautiful farmland ... 

... memorials to the building of the road (you can read about the history here) ...

... and even some yarn bombing! 

The Captain was a bit naughty once, when he scuttled onto a someone's land to get a better look at the river:

We also enjoyed some really good food - definitely know where to eat again if we go back next year!

On the way home, Captain Poprocks got to indulge in one of his favourite pastimes - puzzles and games.

Overall, we had a wonderful trip and I am definitely hoping Kathryn (and maybe some more friends?) will run the Great Ocean Road Marathon next year so we can go back! 

But Captain Poprocks? I think he just wants to hit the beach :)