To Mount Gambier and The Great Ocean Road

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Russell - Having got over my hangover it was time to hit the road again but not without one last look at Adelaide from above. No we didn’t hire a plane we drove up to Mount Lofty. They really do like their call-a-spade-a-spade names around here. Mount Lofty stands above Adelaide and from this vantage point you can see the whole valley and right out to sea. It was great being able to see the city layout with the parkland surrounding the CBD. The only slight downer was that not only was it early morning so the temperature had barely risen above freezing - there was also a gale blowing a wind chill factor I don’t even want to think about so we moved on.

Our first destination was the road along the coast to Kingston SE - three reasons, we wanted to able to see the ocean, there is a Big Thing to be seen in Kingston SE and we wanted to know what SE stood for. Well the ocean views when they could be seen were good and we had no trouble in finding the Big Lobster - looking a bit worse for where these days - but unfortunately we couldn’t find anything that would tell us what SE stood for. But hey hum two out of three ain’t bad as they say. We stopped for a quick bite to eat and to contemplate the possibilities of SE (South Estralia, SAers Evermore, Silly Ending) but we are still none the wiser.

Moving on we headed for our last stop in South Australia - the city of Mount Gambier. Mount Gambier is a funny sort of city - if it can be called that. It s a classic country town but not in the outback town sense of the word - far too civilised for that. It is famous for some natural wonders - firstly its blue lakes. The lakes are called blue lakes - yes OK you’ve got the idea they are blue - but by all accounts are an almost unnatural blue. Of curse when we visited them they were grey, it being winter but about November time, for no apparent reason and in just a few hours they turn a vivid blue. Science really doesn’t know why they just do OK! Having taken our fill of grey blue-lakes we headed over to the other big draw the sinkholes. These geological features and collapses in the ground due to volcanic and seismic activity in the area a while back. They were marvelled at by the earlier European settlers to the area so someone generously bought them and did what every good Victorian did and set about improving nature. Consequently the bottom of the sinkhole now has a gorgeous formal garden in it and steps down to the bottom. We were also warned that there would be possums around looking for a free feed. And they weren’t kidding - Lins was taken a bit by surprise when she was accosted on the stairs by what looked like a small Otis the Aardvark. Although we had seen possums in Adelaide they were a lot more shy than these guys. We hadn’t brought any food though so they weren’t impressed.

Thinking of food we decided it was time to sort ourselves out and as there was a Pizza Hut in town we decided to pig out on pizza. When we entered there were no customers but there were plenty of dirty plates on several of the tables which meant they must have had customers at some point. There were several staff all chatting in the kitchen so we made ourselves known with the customary cough. “What would you like?” a girl said bounding out of the kitchen. “A table for two?” “Oh, you want to eat in?” she said in mild surprise looking around at the devastation. “Sit anywhere you like” she said handing us some menus. We found a clear table and sat down. The menu we had been given appeared to just say Pizza on it. None of the side orders or dodgy pasta sold here. We contemplated our options and selected our pizza. And then waited. And waited. Despite all the tables needing clearing everyone was firmly stuck in the kitchen chatting away. Eventually we were saved by someone coming into to collect a takeaway order. The girl bounded out to deal and, remembering our existence called over to someone else to take our order. A guy came out and we told him our order which he didn’t write down. “The drinks are over there just help yourself and the cutlery is over there” he said pointing to the other side of the room. We battled between the tables to serve ourselves and waited for the food. We ate the food and filled our drinks and looked after ourselves as necessary. At no point did anyone come to clear a table so we left the place with one less table available. I wonder how many days those tables had been waiting to be cleared. I wonder if they have been cleared yet?

The next day we started on one of the highlight drives - The Great Ocean Road. This world famous road along the Victorian coast is famous for its views of the cliffs and coastal formations. Our first stop was Portland though we weren’t sure this was officially the Great Ocean Road yet. We headed into the town information and got very little. We drove up the harbour jetty and got scared so carefully turned around and drove back. It was a pretty town but we moved on. Just outside the town we met the sign introducing the Great Ocean Road so now we were on our way. The first thing we noticed was that there wasn’t much ocean to be seen. In fact we were taken quite a way in land to begin with. The glimpses of the ocean were nice though and we finally made a lunch stop in the town of Warnambol. This town is famous for one thing and that is its Whales. Southern Right Whales stop in the bay to rest and relax and are often seen breaching away in the bay. You may be thinking why are they called Right Whales. Well I hope by this stage you are well acquainted with the Aussie naming system. The fact is that these whales have a lot of oil and quality blubber that can be sold and perhaps most importantly don’t sink when you harpoon them. They are therefore the Right Whales to hunt. No I am not making this up now. Who do you think named the Fur Seal? We headed to Logans Beach along with all the other tourists to see what we could stop. The rain had started to fall again and it was well bloody freezing. And so the whales must have thought as they were all well out of sight - probably enjoying the sunshine out at sea.

Shortly after Warnambol we arrived at the first official stop on the Great Ocean Road - The Bay of Islands. This is a collection of stacks and islets just off the coast. It is the first of many features we were to see in the rain and cold. Why we didn’t die of frost bite I’m not sure. Why anyone would be standing on a cliff face in this weather is beyond me - or maybe not since we did it - even if Lins did chicken out of some of the more wet places. One the first day we saw in this order, the Bay of Islands as I mentioned. The Grotto, steep steps go down the cliff face to an old blow hole at the base of the cliff. It was actually quite serene in the grotto itself but you could see the angry sea outside. The Arch as it suggests is an arch from the cliff. Of course eventually it will become a stack like those at the Bay of Islands. Finally for this day we saw London Bridge. It is difficult to see these days why it is called that but that is because part of it fell down in the late nineties. Before then it was a double arch extend ding from the cliff a little reminiscent of the old London Bridge - not the new concrete structure. When it was connected to the mainland you could walk out across it though this was something the people who were on it the day it collapsed regretted! Fortunately no one was on the piece that collapsed itself but the dozen or so stranded on the arch for several hours whilst helicopters were found to winch them away were less than happy.

Having happily seen plenty we stopped in Port Campbell for the night and had fish and chips by the seaside - very British. Well it would have been had the fish not been Flake (or shark as it is otherwise known).

The next day we had more features to see. First was Loch Ard Gorge. This gorge was named after the ship Loch Ard that was wrecked here. Over 50 people drowned but two survived. One was the cabin boy named Tom Pearce who washed up on the shore by the gorge. There he heard the cries of a woman so dived back in a spent the next hour trying to get the girl out. She was an Irish immigrant, called Eva Carmichael, who had just arrived in Australia. By the time he had got her out they were both exhausted and slept on the beach. The next morning Tom was able to climb the cliff and raise the alarm with a local farmer who arranged the rescue of Eva. At the time the press tried to turn the story into a major romance but the truth was that Tom and Eva probably never saw each other again. Eva even returned to Ireland though how she managed to get back on a boat I don’t know!

After the gorge the main event - the world famous Twelve Apostles. These are a group of stacks that can be seen down the coast. Of course there aren’t twelve of them but then you have to invoke your poetic licence sometime else what is the point of having one. They are a spectacular sight and make some great photos. We spent some time looking at them until we noticed the icicles forming on our face and moved back in the car. We decided that the Gibson steps weren’t worth frost bite for sure this time - especially as they were now concrete according to our guide book!

So we carried on down the coast to Apollo Bay, Lorne and Torquay before leaving the coast and heading inland. We soon arrived at Geelong and knew that we were close to Melbourne. It was time for a nice cup of coffee.

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Photos

Big Lobster
Yeah - he's big

Blue Lake
Er maybe Grey Lake today

Sink Hole
A pretty sink hole

Peter Possum
A relation of Otis surely

London Bridge
has fallen down

Twelve Apostles 1
Can't see all 12?

Twelve Apostles 2
Still can't see 12!