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Published: June 17th 2017
01 Path
The path that led to the bird hide.Geo: -38.853, 143.523
This morning we were up quite early and ready to get out there and continue exploring the area. It was about 9am when we arrived at the Distillery Creek Picnic Area in the Great Otway National Park. Here we choose to do the Nature Walk, as it was a short 1.5km circuit walk and included visiting a bird hide.
The view from the bird hide was very disappointing and not what we expected. We assumed that it would look over a body of water, instead there was visibility of an open area with long grass and no birds were seen. We continued on the walk, frequently looking out for local wildlife. Finally we spotted an animal. In a tree above us there was a koala sleeping. At first it was exciting and then we lost enthusiasm as it was just sitting there sleeping. I was sure that we would see many more koalas on this trip.
Back in the car we continued to drive along the Great Ocean Road. It wasn't long before our next stop. It was in Fairhaven and virtually across the road from the unique house that sits on a 15m tall concrete pole. It is
02 View
The disappointing view from the bird hide. known as The Pole House. They would have an amazing view from up there with all those glass windows. Once we had marvelled at the house and view of the ocean, we continued driving.
It was only five minutes until we stopped again. We were now at the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch at Eastern View. This is the start of the Great Ocean Road which is 243km long. It was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932 and dedicated to the soldiers that died during the battles. It is a very important natural attraction in the tourism industry and many tourists and locals visit this area for the amazing views, beaches, wildlife and forests.
Back in the car and we continued driving along the Great Ocean Road. Our next was in Lorne. Here we went for a walk along the foreshore and the Erskine River. We spotted various birds, walked across the swing bridge and took photos of the ocean view. Today the weather so far has been perfect – blue sky and sun.
We then drove for a few minutes and arrived at Teddy's Lookout. There was a road sign warning us of kangaroos in the area.
03 Snoozing
A koala snoozing in the tree above us. I still find it a novelty to see these signs. We walked along a short pathway and had a great view of the ocean and the Great Ocean Road as it winds along the coast. From Teddy's Lookout we drove back into the centre of Lorne and followed the signs for Erskine Falls by driving along the appropriately named Erskine Falls Rd. Along the way we stopped to look at a koala up a tree by the roadside. It was a nice sighting.
Erskine Falls is in the Great Otway National Park and this is one of many waterfalls in the area and the most popular one. From the carpark it was a very short easy walk of 150 metres and then we had a view of the falls. Erskine Falls is a small waterfall with a height of only 30 metres. We decided to continue walking to the base of the falls, which was a steep downwards climb - coming back up won't be fun!
From the base we had a nice view of the falls and had it all to ourselves as the other tourists decided against continuing the walk. The weather had now become grey and overcast and
04 Paul
Paul walking along the Nature Walk trail. I hoped that the blue sky would reappear soon. We were on a little bridge viewing and photographing the falls. Here we were surrounded by luscious greenery. It was quite relaxing here among the peace and quiet, the only sound was our cameras clicking away and the flowing water. It was now time to make the trek up the steps and back to the car.
We drove back to the Great Ocean Rd and continued our journey west. Along the way we stopped at a view point and saw an overcast sky and lots of sea spray - not the best view that we've seen. Our next stop was in Kennett River on Grey River Rd. According to the tourist brochures, this road is a great place to see koalas.
As soon as we turned into this quiet road I pulled over and we went for a little walk. Straight away we spotted koalas in the trees up above us. It was really fun to spot and observe them. Some of them were sleeping, some were a bit active and they were all so cute! We also saw a few colourful birds. We didn't stay here for very long as it
05 Unique
A unique looking house at Fairhaven. was already mid afternoon and we needed to organise accommodation for the evening.
We continued driving along the Great Ocean Rd and then turned off it and drove towards Cape Otway. We were staying at Bimbi Park, their motto was 'Camping Under Koalas'. It was after sunset when we arrived and we booked two nights in a caravan. We did spot a few koalas. I was looking forward to more koala spotting tomorrow morning. This place is surrounded by forests.
Our caravan was very cosy. We sat outside on the deck to have our dinner and a few drinks. While we ate, two very fat possums came to visit us and it was such a novelty. They were very friendly and more than happy to take food that we offered them. It was getting chilly so we went back inside and planned out an agenda for tomorrow.
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