Blogs from Victoria, Australia, Oceania - page 19

As our plans to meet up with a friend from Hamilton in Warnambool did not pan out, we decided to abandon our 2 day stop over there and instead stay in Port Campbell. This proved a good move. This is obviously forest and dairy country as this is largely all we saw for the entire drive, with the exception of some stunning coastline in the areas we drove close to it and some majestic old historical buildings in Portland and Warnambool. We braved a Woolies carpark in Warnambool stopping for a few supplies such as fresh coriander, ground cumin, milk, onions, garlic and fennel. You know … the things you just can’t do without. Negotiating the carpark was a little tricky with a caravan, but fortunately it was mid-morning and the place wasn’t too busy. Parking ... read more

After a couple of days delay due to inclement wind conditions, we finally departed for one of our ‘must do’ caravan trips. This was to travel the Great Ocean Road, continuing on around the east coast of Victoria to just below Sydney. Leaving the Barossa looking fresh after a much-needed rain, we travelled across the flats towards Murray Bridge via Sedan and Cambrai. The countryside, parched and bare. A few hopeful farmers taking a gamble by dry seeding. We enjoyed a mid-morning coffee in a parking bay just east of Tailem Bend where a happy blue wren danced around our vehicle. Later we stopped for a bowl of hearty home-made soup at a scenic spot overlooking the Coorong. So much for our itinerary. We had already passed Meningie, our first planned overnight stop, instead opting to ... read more

It was a quiet day today partly due to the weather. With a prediction of rain in the afternoon I wanted to cram one hike in before so I headed to the Big Drift within the Prom. The Big Drift is " an expansive landscape of inland sand dunes". Sounded interesting to me so off I went. The trail there was about 1.2 km in length one-way. When the trail hit the sand dune is when the fun started. To get to the top of the dune you had to climb up the steep bank of sand about 20 metres high. Tough going, 12 inches up, 6 inches back. When I finally did make it to the top more fun. There was a full-blown wind storm. One needed to be wearing goggles as the wind was ... read more

Today started with a marvelous walk, a walk from Woolamai Beach to The Pinnacles. The first km of the hike is along the beach after which you climb some well-made steps and finish the walk to The Pinnacles as a coastal walk. Of course the scenery is quite nice. It is about 2.2 km to the actual Pinnacles at which time you are rewarded with these majestic rock spires jutting out of the ocean. Quite impressive. When I was there I could observe climbers actually scrambling to the top of the Pinnacles. It looked like they knew what they were doing. Certainly not for the faint of heart. This walk was one of the highlights of my time at Phillip Island. Next stop was to try the George Bass Coastal walk, or at least part of ... read more

On day 21 I visited Cape Schanck Lighthouse. There was a short but lovely loop trail there that took you to a numb er of observation points. The trail also brought you to Pebble Beach (aptly named) where I walked along the beach for a while. Next on my agenda was the Bushrangers Track - a tough hike of km in total. Up and down, with plenty of steep portions. I beachcombed in Bushrangers Bay for a while then started the trip back. Most of my walks to date have been shorter as I felt this one after it was done. After a rest, I decided to take a drive and visit a few of the major beaches in the area. These included Gunnamatta Beach and St Andrews Beach. The former is a popular surf beach ... read more