Great Ocean Rd Day 4

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Gday All

Well it was a chilly night in Lorne and the morning wasn't much better. After a quick breakfast we packed and headed off toward Apollo Bay. There had been a lot of small landslides and a lot of fallen rocks along the road in the last few days so I had to concentrate a bit more than usual but it is still a nice drive.

The search continued for a kettle for our portable gas stove. We had been searching for one before we left Tassie even Kmart in Geelong didnt have one. Well we went to the local hardware and Op shop in Apollo Bay, no go there either so we thought a detour to Colac was called for. So we went back up the road to Skenes Creek and turned off to Colac. A nice drive through the forest and bingo the first camping store in Colac had one...finally

After picking up lunch at Red Rooster we drove down through Gelibrand River to Lavers Hill and back on the Great Ocean Rd. We had a quick stop at the Otway Fly Treetop Walk a reasonably new attraction down that way. It was all a little steep for me so we had a quick look around and kept on travelling.

Once back on the Great Ocean Rd we were looking for a nice little wayside stop to test our new kettle with a coffee so we turned off the rd just passed a small place called Wattle Hill after a few minutes we found we were on the Old Ocean Rd which ran alongside the Gelibrand River which was in flood so no stops but some great scenery. We passed a bridge that was under water and had a Load Limit on it which really touched the funny bone.

We joined the Great Ocean Rd again at Princetown and travelled towards the 12 Apostles but again the walk was a little bit far for me so we will do that tomorrow. We did stop at Loch Ard Gorge which was the site of a major a shipwreck (The Loch Ard) where 52 of the 54 passengers and crew were lost. The only survivors were an apprentice Tom Peace and a young lady Eva Carmichael who had lost the rest of her family in the wreck. The local townsfolk wanted them to get married but Eva went back to Ireland after three months. I was able to walk up a few of the smaller paths so we got some good photos there.

We then continued on to Port Campbell where we are staying for the night in another caravan park.

More tomorrow

Mark and Jules

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Photos

A grave
In the 1920s workmen found the graves of 4 men who had died trying to salvage the WB Godfrey with a badly worn plaque. They made no effort to remove the remains and the road was laid directly over them
This marble headstone was erected at a false grave in 1930

A sheep
We pulled off the road at a Scenic lookout well the scenic lookout wasnt there but this sheep tried to stare us down..lol

A nesting bird
These birds nest all through the cliffs around Loch Ard Gorge

Views of the coast
A view from a