Published in Overland Issue Print Issue 199 Winter 2010 · Writing / Main Posts the great ocean road, December 30 Amanda Surrey we set out early with coffee no music the speakers dismantled weeks ago from the back seat she says ‘take the western ring road’ we bypass the city the bridge to the west and begin the long straight road to Geelong cut across flat brown fields petrol stations industrial satellite towns close to the city the traffic slows we pull up behind surf boards and bicycles attached like Christmas decorations to giant four wheel drives pass the church and its steeples veer to the left and out to the coast here it unwinds from my passenger seat like a sand coloured ribbon the water impossibly blue the lighthouse long stretches of coast and scrub through to Lorne pulsing with people and sun block we stop for lunch walk the length of the pier young kids daring jumping twisting off the side turn back past surfers by the side of the road I sleep and wake later on the Westgate bridge my shirt stuck to the seat the seat to my back my back to the road Amanda Surrey Amanda Surrey lives and works in Melbourne and grew up in New Zealand. More by Amanda Surrey › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays First published in Overland Issue 228 8 September 202315 September 2023 · Main Posts Announcing the 2023 Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize ($6500) Editorial Team Supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, and named after the late Neilma Gantner, this prize seeks excellent short fiction of up to 3000 words themed around the notion of ‘travel’; imaginative, creative and literary interpretations are strongly encouraged. This competition is open to all writers, nationally and internationally, at any stage of their writing career. First published in Overland Issue 228 8 September 202326 September 2023 · Main Posts Announcing the 2023 Judith Wright Poetry Prize ($9000) Editorial Team Established in 2007 and supported by the Malcolm Robertson Foundation, the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets seeks poetry by writers who have published no more than one collection of poems under their own name (that is writers who’ve had zero collections published, or one solo collection published). It remains one of the richest prizes for emerging poets, and is open to poets anywhere in the world. In 2023, the major prize is $6000, with a second prize of $2000 and a third prize of $1000. All three winners will be published in Overland.
