Day 99 - The Great Ocean Road - Lorne to Port Campbell, Victoria, Australia


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February 25th 2014
Published: March 14th 2014
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Tuesday 25th February 2014. The Great Ocean Road - Lorne to Port Campbell, Victoria, Australia

We enjoyed a breakfast of fresh OJ, bread and marmalade before loading the car. Terry was about to feed the Kookaburras so we went to watch and take some pictures. It was really good to see these birds close up. He was feeding them minced beef as they are carnivorous (they are a member of the kingfisher family - but don't eat fish). A few Sulphur Crested Cockatoos came down hoping for a morsel but Terry explained that they wouldn't stick around while the Kookaburras were there. We did see one try to eat a bit of mince but it spat it out in
disgust - they are vegies! We were also joined by a lovely red and blue parrot. He wasn't a bit phased by the Kookaburras and Terry went and got some seed for it. The Kookaburras were quite happy to sit on Terry's arm while he fed them.

We jumped in the car and drove up to Teddy's Lookout which had been highly recommended both by the Tourist Office yesterday evening and by Terry. It took about 5 minutes to drive to the lookout which offers spectacular views of the St George River and the Great Ocean Road coastline.

We then drove the 9 kilometres or so inland to the Erskine Falls (which had also been highly recommended). The Erskine Falls are are one of the most well-known falls in the Otways. With an impressive 30 metre drop into the Erskine River they are truly spectacular. From the car park we walked down the steps to the first lookout. The descent to this lookout was Very steep through majestic trees and tall umbrella ferns. We continued on down millions of steps (240 to be exact) from the first lookout to the base of the falls where there is a second lookout. We took some photos. It was hard going returning up the steps to the car. Chris handled it like a gazelle on heat but M and D were more like aged tortoises.

We retraced our steps back into Lorne so that we could continue with the GOR. We stopped at Lorne beach where there was a group of kids on a camp. They were cooking a fabulous brunch on the pay as you go BBQ (what a great idea these are!). We walked down to the beach and took in the fresh ocean air. We had been blessed with another lovely day. We returned to the car and continued on to a little town called Kennet River. Kennett River has a large koala poulation and Terry had told us that the best way to spot them is to take a leisurely stroll along the Grey River Road. We parked at the bottom of the aforementioned road and started to walk. We came across our
first Koala (they are not bears!) almost immediately. It was really low down in the branches of a tree and we got some brilliant pictures of it. M and Chris continued up the road and spotted a kangaroo on the roadside. Chris was really p****d off as it bounced away before he could take a snap. We found another tree with two Koalas sleeping in it.

These beasties spend most of their lives asleep. The Koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Oz. It is easily recognisable by its stout, tailless body; round, fluffy ears; and large, spoon-shaped nose. Koalas typically inhabit open eucalypt woodlands, and the leaves of these trees make up most of their diet. Because this eucalypt diet has limited nutritional and caloric content, koalas are largely sedentary and sleep for up to 20 hours a day. They are asocial animals, and bonding exists only between mothers and dependent offspring. Adult
males communicate with loud bellows that intimidate rivals and attract mates. Males mark their presence with secretions from scent glands located on their chests. Being marsupials, koalas give birth to underdeveloped young that crawl into their mothers' pouches, where they stay for the first six to seven months of their life. These young koalas are known as joeys, and are fully weaned at around a year. Koalas have few natural predators and parasites but are threatened by various pathogens, like Chlamydiaceae bacteria and the koala retrovirus, as well
as by bush fires and droughts. When we rejoined D at the car we saw a couple more of these cute creatures - we must have missed them when we started up Grey River Road because they almost certainly wouldn't have moved there in the time we had been for a stroll.

Mission Koala accomplished we continued along the GOR. We briefly stopped at Cape Patton Lookout. From here we had Spectacular views of the coastline to the West stretching to Apollo Bay. This lookout and Mount Defiance, closer towards Lorne, are two of the highest lookouts on the actual roadside. These steep rocky cliff sections of the road were major challenges to the construction team of approx 3000 returned soldiers from WW1 who took over 10 years to complete the road. We took some photos and then continued on to Apollo Bay where we visited the tourist office for some blurb and then went over the road to the pub for lunch. An excellent $10 of chicken and pork fried rice - yummy.

Now repleat we returned to the car to continue our journey towards Port Campbell (where we did have rooms reserved for the night). Our next stop was the Cape Otway Lightstation. The entrance fee was quite pricey so Chris decided to give it a miss but then the nice guy on the desk let D in for a OAP rate, did the same for M and let Chris in for free - thanks mate. The Cape Otway Lightstation precinct is a fascinating escape from the everyday hustle an bustle with the lighthouse itself roosting high on the sea cliffs. It is perched on towering
cliffs 80 metres above where the Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean collide. The weather had worsened slightly and there was quite a chilly breeze blowing. This light-station is the oldest on the Australian mainland and has been in continuous operation since 1848. For thousands of immigrants Cape Otway was their first sight of land after leaving Europe or North America months before. Hundreds of lives were lost in shipwrecks off Cape Otway, which led to the building of the lighthouse.

We first went to the telegraph station where there was an exhibition of various dinosaur bones that had been found at nearby Dinosaur Cove. The bones found here re-wrote the world's pre-history books. A remarkable little dinosaur, called Leaellynasaura, discovered during digs in the 1980's was on display. The discovery of this beasty changed the world's understanding of dinosaurs. She was probably warm blooded, and had huge eyes so she could see in the long polar winters that Australia would have been experiencing at the time. The telegraph station was built to house Australia's first submarine cable, which linked Tasmania and the mainland. when the cable failed, the building became a Lloyds Signal Station, signalling passing ships and telegraphing the details to Melbourne. Betweeen 1882 and 1933 it was a school and accommodation for the Armed Services and lightkeepers' families. The Lightkeeper's House was next. Originally the cottage was built from green sandstone from a nearby quarry. Now it is let out as a holiday destination.

We continued through the precinct until we reached the old lighthouse. The narrow gap between Cape Otway and King Island (less than 90km) was so hazardous that at least 18 ships were wrecked there. In 1835 almost 250 lives were lost when the convict ship Neva flounered off King Island. In another major shipping disaster 399 immigrants perished when the Cataraqui was wrecked off King Island in 1845. Newspapers and the Legislative Council demanded that lighthouses were built at the western approach to Bass Strait. Originally fuelled by whale oil, then kerosene and later electricity the lighthouse has been shining 48 kms out to sea. The old light was decommissioned in 1994 an replace by a solar powered automatic beacon.

It was now very windy and cold. We climbed up to the top of the lighthouse to take in the view. D was brave enough to stay outside and take a few snaps. We came back inside and decided that time was short if we were to make the Twelve Apostles (and it was bloody cold!). We made our way back to the car passing the WW2 Radar Bunker which was built in 1942 after the US steamship City of Rayville was sunk by a German mine off the cape in November 1940. This was the first casualty of WW2 for the USA. Back in the car we continued on our way towards Port Campbell.

Our last stop for today was the Twelve Apostles. These world-famous wave-sculpted rock formations stand defiant (well 8 or so do - the rest have collapsed!) against the surging waves of the Southern Ocean. They are now located in a designated NP called the Twelve Apostles Marine NP. The apostles were formed by erosion: the harsh and extreme weather conditions from the Southern Ocean gradually eroded the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then became arches, which in turn collapsed; leaving rock stacks up to 45 metres high. The site was known as the Sow and Piglets until 1922 (Muttonbird Island, near Loch Ard Gorge, was the Sow, and the smaller
rock stacks were the Piglets); after which it was renamed to The Apostles for tourism purposes. The formation eventually became known as the Twelve Apostles, despite only ever having nine stacks! The stacks are susceptible to further erosion from the waves. On 3 July 2005, a 50 metre tall stack collapsed, leaving eight emaining. On 25 September 2009, it was thought that another of the stacks had fallen, but this was actually one of the smaller stacks of the Three Sisters formation. The rate of erosion at the base of the limestone pillars is approximately
2 cm per year. Due to wave action eroding the cliff face existing headlands are expected to become new limestone stacks in the future - so the Twelve Apostles (9 really) could become 5, 10, 15, 20 in the future - who knows.

The visitor centre was very well organised with plenty of parking and walkways to safe viewing platforms. Due to the aforementioned erosion the cliff edges are very dangerous and are fenced off with large warning signs. We walked down to 3 different lookouts so we could see the 8 stacks from different angles. We could clearly see the collapsed 9th stack too. We spent around an hour strolling around and taking photos. The light was fading so we decided we had better set off to Port Campbell.

We found our backpackers no worries. Mark, the warden gave us a beer and showed us our rooms. It was a great hostel. Very small with only 6 rooms and two chalets. We watched TV for a bit then had fish and chips from the local takeaway. Chris had flake which is a gummy shark. M tried it and it was delicious. We all watched a movie before going to bed. Tomorrow we will finish the GOR. It has been great so far.


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