Princetown to Childers Cove

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This cool sunny morning Colin, Kirk and I,decided to explore the mouth of the Gellibrand River, which meanders down from the Otway Ranges. We were drawn to some interesting cliff formations on the other side of the river. It appeared there was a tunnel with a sliding concrete door, very mysterious, however we couldn't get across the river, to check it out. The shallow sandy floor of the river was quicksand,( check out Colin knee deep in the shallows). We thought it could have been a mine entrance, who knows, the mystery deepens. When we returned to camp, Danny told us that Bruno and his bike had hitched a ride with a caravaning elder couple to Warnambool. (It seems Bruno has spent more time in cars and vans than actually on his bike.) But for us on bikes we were eager to pack up and hit the road, because today would be a bit special. Today's ride we would check out the iconic Great Ocean Road locations of the check this,Twelve apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, the Blow Hole, the Arch, London Bridge and the Grotto and the bay of islands all on today's ride. And it wasn't long before we arrived at the Twelve apostles. some of these lime stacks tower over 50 metres above the sea, however under the constant erosion by the wind and sea, their numbers have dwindled over time but now only nine are still standing. ( In 2005 one of them had collapsed into the sea, leaving now 8 apostles).

Loch Ard gorge is tragically named after the Clipper Loch Ard. The three masted clipper ran aground in thick fog in the dark hours of early morning on a reef near Mutton Bird Island on the first of June 1878. Of the 17 crew 37 passengers only 2 would survive. Eva Carmichael and young apprentice Thomas Pearce made it to the gorge, where Thomas somehow scaled the cliff face to raise the alarm and seek help in the early hours of the morning. It was remarkable that these ill fated passengers departed England on March 1st 1878, 101 years to the day that we left Lilydale on this journey. After contemplating the enormity of this tragedy and paying my respects to the lost souls, it was time to move on and continue to check out the specky rock formations that just kept presenting around every bend over every hill. Next town Peterborough and then off to The Grotto, the Blowhole, the Arch, before arriving at London Bridge. In 1987 it was a double arched bridge, but just like the song, London bridge did fall down, just 3 years later in 1990, leaving two touros stranded on the outer arch, needing to be rescues by the Police helicopter.,

Just a little further down the road we came to the sparkling blue shimmering water of the Bay of Islands. After a lazy hot 45 ks it wasn't long before we stripped down to our shorts, dived in to the refreshing waves of Bass Strait and enjoyed a well earned swim. A Swiss family (it may have been the Robinsons) in a van who had pretty much shadowed us at every location, also had the same idea of cooling off in the magic of the ocean waves. It was so refreshing after 5 days hard riding, who knows the next time we get to pull a wave over our heads. It was hard to leave this oasis, but leave we must as the Autumn sun was getting low in the sky. Kirk the speedster decided to speed off to get closer to Port Fairy to meet up with Bruno. Colin and I weren't into the macho thing, so we stopped for the day around 20 kilometers down the road, where we came to an inviting little coastal village of Childers Cove. We set up our tents in a five star freebie camp with ocean views, between two grassed sand dunes hidden from the road. At sunset Colin and I did a quick check out of the cove, before cooking up an Indian rice dish, washed down with a few amber travelers we picked up along the way, Sun goes down moon comes up, just another beautiful nights sleep under the stars with ocean waves providing soothing sleep music.

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