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Published: January 28th 2010
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Day 269 - Apollo Bay to Lorne
Great free camp spot we found again last night! Grant cooked up breakfast this morning, it’s tradition that whilst he’s on holidays he has the ‘occasional’ blast of bacon and eggs - who are we to mess with tradition!
We left the house with the view and convoyed down through Apollo Bay turning up towards the Mariners Lookout. The road ahead looked likely to climb right up into the clouds above us so we decided to park the caravan up and catch a lift with David and Daph, we would have made it with the caravan but it would have been a slow haul!
From the car park it was a 10 minute steep climb to the lookout but wowie, what a view. The coastline looks superb this morning, really beautiful and the water is stunning. We stopped for some photos and sat for a while taking in the surroundings then headed back down the steep slope. We couldn’t resist a quick peak into the cute looking shop hidden away in the bushes just by the entrance to the walk. Here we met the lovely owner, Barb, and admire, purchased and
cooed over the handmade products on sale. The Gumnut Babies really caught our eye, they’re gorgeous little things all made and painted by Barb. Unfortunately she only had four left so I missed out on getting one but no drama, we will return another day!
From here we headed to the beach where the girls let off some steam building sand castles with Daddy while the rest of us stretched our legs and walked back towards the marina. We didn’t make it quite that far but it was a great walk just looking out over the ocean and chatting away.
We all got back on the road heading for tonight’s destination of Lorne. We’re booked into the Foreshore Caravan Park at a cost of $50 per night. I know, ridiculously costly isn’t it. This is the only place where camping is possible in Lorne itself and there’s no listing of national parks sites in the Camps 5 book so we’re a bit stuffed. Everyone else is staying in an apartment in the Cumberland Resort but we’re pretty sure we won’t be able to sneak the caravan in there so we’ve had to sort something else out! Having baulked
at the cost a little bit on the phone I have to admit that it is cheaper than the price quoted to us for the Big 4 site in Port Fairy - that was $59.50 per night for what must be a very posh patch of grass! There’s something very ‘exclusive’ about travelling along the Great Ocean Road, it's the view that we're paying for.
There’s a high probability that we’ll be back this way before we head off to Tasmania so we didn’t do any of the stop offs like Koala Cove or Kennet River on this journey, we just enjoyed the view driving along the coastline. It’s stunning.
Neither of us could ever remember seeing the camp grounds when we’ve been in Lorne before but they were easy enough to find this afternoon. We checked in and were directed to the Ocean Road site which is behind the IGA supermarket just off the first roundabout as you come into town. Our $50 a night spot gave us a terrific view …. of the supermarket rear wall! Lucky for us Darryl is a whiz when it comes to reversing and generally manoeuvring the caravan around else I
don’t reckon we’d have got in. The layout isn’t the same as a normal caravan park where all the sites are easily accessible; this particular site was wedged in the middle of established campers with the supermarket wall to negotiate!
Ah well, who cares, not us as we were gone shortly after setting up and heading for the Cumberland Resort to catch up with the others.
We’d only been there a couple of minutes when Amy’s head scratching gave away the fact that she and subsequently Charlotte have got nits! Oh no, what a ‘lousy day’ for that to happen! The puns came thick and fast. Anna was quick to visit the chemist and get all the supplies for a de-lousing session. Fair play to the girls, they took the treatment well and had a giggle at themselves with the moose on their heads! Uncle David was a great help and really kept them entertained and giggling away.
We’d decided to give Grant and Anna the day off tomorrow by volunteering to take the girls out somewhere. We weren’t entirely sure what we’d do with them so hot footed it to the visitors centre at the opposite
end of town (opposite our campsite funnily enough!) where we found a very helpful chap with plenty of ideas. With a bundle of information we headed back to the apartment only stopping to check out the koala up the tree outside the visitors centre. What a cute little chap he was and unlike many wild koalas he was wide awake!
Dinner was a self confessed BBQ disaster- now that never happens with Grant in charge, rarely happens with Darryl in charge and is unheard of when David is involved because he doesn’t BBQ! For whatever reason the Calamari rings were likened to a bunch of ‘fan belts’ , the prawns 'under-done' but the kids proclaimed that the chips were ‘alright’ so technically dinner was saved!! Oh dear, the challenge was on for an improvement tomorrow night or Mrs Adams will not be happy!!
With arrangements made to pick the girls up at ten tomorrow morning we made our way back to the caravan. It was already pretty late so we just tucked ourselves away for the night.
Dar and Sar
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Lynne Coulsell
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Are you sure you're in OZ, I've got pictures of me and the kids like that only I'm fairly sure it's Brean sands in the background!!! Nice snapper!! I find mashing vegetables and putting them in a spag bol usually works, well with Mark anyway but don't tell him! Lots of love x