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Published: December 10th 2008
3rd December 2008 - LANDMARK HEAVEN!!!
We set off on our journey along The Great Ocean Road. We only had a short distance to travel today but many stops to make along the way!!! The weather was a mix - 4 seasons in one hour just about covers it and I lost count of the number of times we put coats on and took them off. Oh well...a good workout for the arms if nothing else! You will notice that the theme of photographs has changed from us on a rock to the sea and a rock!! Compelling and rich viewing I am sure!!
1st Stop - Bay of Islands - Lots of rocks that had broken off from the main land and formed their own islands in the sea. Very picturesque!
2nd Stop - The Grotto - I wish it had been Sants's but no such luck. This was another rock formation where a cave had formed in the sea.
3rd Stop - London Bridge - It really had fallen down as well!! They should rename it 'The London Pillars'. Still cool to see though!
4th Stop - The Arch - Exactly as it sounds...an arch in
The Grotto!!!
No Santa Though!!!the sea.
5th Stop - Loch Ard Gorge. This was a longer stop and there were a few things to see here. It was also the place where the ship went down in 1878 so it was nice to visit and see some of the things we had learnt about at the lazer show. We saw the 'Blow Hole' first. Not sure why it's named a blowhole when it actually sucked people in with the current but who am I to argue! 11 of the ships passengers were found in the blowhole after the ship went down. The force and current looked really strong and I wouldn't have liked to have fallen in there. We then moved onto Thunder point which was a little like a cave in the rocks. Apparently it used to be a blowhole but over time it had eroded into the cave it is today. Our next stop was the Loch Ard Cemetry where we saw a memorial to the ship and all the passengers who had died on it. We also saw the grave of the rest of Eva's family who died in the shipwreck. Our last stop was the gorge itself and had
a walk onto the beach where Tom pulled Eva to safety. Very Beautiful though I am not sure Tom or Eva would have appreciated the scenery when they were so close to death!!
6th Stop - 12 Aposthles. These were a little like the Bay of Islands only even more picturesque. There aren't 12 anymore however as some have eroded into the sea.
7th Stop - Otway Fly Tree Top. This was a walk through the tops of the trees in Otway National park. Nat didn't want to go up due to her fear of heights and as I didn't feel that well we gave it a miss. Damn Cold!!!
8th Stop - Triplet Falls. It was a 2km walk to the waterfall trrough what felt like a tropical jungle. I was sure we sould stumble upon a snake or two in there but they were either well camoflaged or I needed to wear my glasses because we didnt see any thankfully!!! The waterfall branched off into three shoots hence the name 'Triplet falls' and was worth a look however you couldn't really see them all at once through the dense trees.
9th Stop - Cape
Otway Lighthouse - We continued along The Great Ocean Road towards Cape Otway as the oldest lighthouse in Australia was located there. Along the way we passed through some trees and spotted a few more Koalas. Still awesome!! We thought Cape Otway would be a town where we could settle for the night but no!! The lighthouse was also closed and the view from the viewpoint may as well have been 10,000km away because you could only see the very top of it!! After the unsucessful lighthouse journey we went back passed the Koalas and continued a little further along The Great Ocean Road.
10th & Final Stop - Apollo Bay - Cute little town with a nice beach and a good spot to sleep next to the beach and a petrol station. It was so so cold and windy though that we couldn't get the gas burner lit again!!! It was time to revert to our last resort and borrow some hot water from the petrol station and make a cup of soup!!! Not the heartiest meal but it did the trick and warmed me through for about 5 minutes!!! Oh well....least I had my sleeping bag!!!
4th December 2008 - WAYS TO DIE & ON TO TORQUAY
I almost died during the night in more than one way....the first was from the cold. I literally almost froze!!! Frosty the snowman almost had a playmate for life!!! The campervan...bless him....does not do well at adopting different temperatures from the outside. It failed miserably last night and you could see your breath in the air it was that cold. To try and combat the cold I pulled my sleeping bag right over my head and pulled in the drawstring......second way to die...suffocation!! Even then I was still cold!! I curled up into the tighest ball ever, thought warm thoughts, put on extra layers...nothing worked!! I even contemplated exercises but didn't want to wake Nat up and you can't exactly do star jumps in the van!! This was the exact opposite of when we almost sweated to death a few weeks ago.....and just as bad!!! I was wide awake from around 1am until 7.30am in the morning...only then did I manage to get a couple of hours kip!!! Not a good night!!!
After the awful night we got a wash at the petrol station and had a look
around Apollo Bay. Nice seaside town and a good beach. Not too many surfers out....maybe the cold was a reason!! Despite the cold I braved shorts.......some would call it stupid.....I would call it laughing in the face of Jack Frost!!! We left Apollo Bay at around 12pm and headed on The Great Ocean Road to another seaside town...Lorne. Another nice coastal town which we had a look around and took in the local signts.
We then set off again and made our way to Torquay!! Not the 'real' one but ironically a big surfer place!! No time to get a lesson and a bit cold by the time I arrived. Not too disappointed though as I want to do a proper school after christmas rather than one off lessons! It was campsite night tonight so after looking around the town we set ourselves up on the campsite and made the most of the facilities for the night!!! I love the third day!!!
5th December 2008 - THE DRAGON LADY, LEVAING TORQUAY & NIGHT OUT IN GEELONG!!!
We woke this morning to bright sunshine...woo hoo!!! At last a bikini day!! We got ourselves sorted and the headed to our
pre-booked library session to use the internet. Most awful woman there...didn't like tourists!!! I had to stand back from the desk for fear of her breathing fire on me!!! Nat got the worst of her wrath though........if I hadn't pushed her to the side I am sure her eyebrows would have been singed!! Fire Beathing Dragon Lady!!!
Once we had done at the library it was straight to the beach!! Our first proper beach day!! Nice sand, green sea, fairly busy ...all sounds good but it was a jungle!!! Flies swarmed, Ladybirds were everywhere (I have never seen so many) and tiny little leech type things crawled over you!! I thought they were freckles till I saw them moving!! Not good in any way but as it was our first sunny day for ages we were determined to persevere! We laid there for a while trying to block the buzzing out with some music and I must say that it did work ok for a while...until I glanced down!! Aarrrggghh...you could not see the skin for the insects!! I found a method of laying still and every 30 seconds kicking my arms and legs out...not 100% proof but better
than nothing! I hoped and prayed all Aussie beaches weren't the same!!
After an hour or 2 the clouds came and we decided enough was enough. We headed back to the van and drove to Geelong...our next destination. We drove through the town ( a lot bigger than the previous ones) and found a spot by the beach to park in. The front was decorated with different themed bollards. There was a brass band, women through the ages, firemen and many more....103 in total apparently. They were cool!! No clouds here either so we set up on the beach again...2nd time lucky!! The beach wasn't as nice....bit gritty but no insects!! Heaven! Caught up on some sleep for a couple of hours but then the wind came....just after I had put some suncream on!! I got pelted with sand and pebbles and stones...they stuck in my suncream and I looked like some sort of sandman!! Nice!! Not good too considering there was another 2 nights until campsite night and shower!
We had a walk along the front, saw a sea plane. I so wanted to go up but Nat thought it looked too much like the one from
Jaws and a bit on the pricey side!! The guy was really nice though and let us have a look inside and took our picture on it...now I would always remember the sea plane we didn't go up in!!! We drove further up the beach a bit later and found a free spot for the night. It was also near a pool so we managed to have a cold (by cold I mean freezing) shower to get some of the sand off....I couldn't stand under long enough to get it all off...too cold!! My moisturising experience after was what I would describe as gritty!!!
After some tea we got ready and headed out into Geelong for a few drinks. We eventually found a decent pub called The Carlton and stayed in there for a while!! A works christmas do was taking place there...made me miss mine at home...always a good night!! Whilst sat in a booth we got cornered by two old (50ish...sorry dad) guys who decided they wanted to chat to us for an hour!! Sounded Texan but apparently Aussie. Nice enough and we chatted to them for a while whilst also being deafened by one of them
who was very drunk and very loud! Not sure why we keep attracting the oldies.......I decided that on my next shopping trip I must get some Oil of Olay cream.....recapture my youth!!!
Once we escaped the oldies we moved onto Lamby's Bar. A younger cooler clientele apparently!! Had some good fun people watching whilst we had a few drinks. Got pretty busy too!! After a while we headed back to where our mobile home was parked.....we were both sure that we would sleep well...alcohol always helps!!!
6th December 2008 - LEAVING GEELONG!!
I had an amazing nights sleep.......just like baby bear's porridge...not too hot or too cold....it was just right!!! We got up and sorted then headed into town for a while before moving on. Next stop....Melbourne!!!
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Jim Mathieson
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Enduring message
I first saw this headstone as a child in about 1953. The part that has stayed in my mind since is the semicircular bible quotation at the top: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right. Genesis 18.25. This is on the memorial to six of a family of eight who perished just before arrival in a new country. The surviving family members, Eva and Robert in Scotland must have had an unshakeable faith to choose those words.