"Terminated" - Great Ocean Road (Day 2)

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The following morning was much brighter, a little chilly still, but the torrential rain had passed and the massive breakers at the end of the harbour had subsided somewhat. As it was quite early in the day we thought we would try and revisit Loch Ard Gorge again, before we went off to the Otway Fly. Our first glimpse of the gorge was of the beach at the end and the harbour-like area between the cliffs. It all seemed quite passive and Chris was a bit disappointed, after the dramatic landscape at the Twelve Apostles the day before. We followed the path along the cliff and rounded the corner to see pounding ten foot high waves smashing of the seaward side of the gorge. This had unfortunately been the scene of a shipwreck, I think at the end of the nineteenth century. There had been a party on board the night before and everyone had been celebrating seeing Australia after the months of travel from England. But the morning was foggy and unpleasant and the boat got too close to the rocks. The captain swung her round, almost cleared the gorge, but alas, too late. The crew and her passengers were all drowned. Seeing those fearsome waves crashing against the high cliffs and surging through the narrow passage at the end of the gorge gave us a sense of the terror that must have been felt by those on board.

(Chris’ turn). The last stop on this marvellous, absolutely spiffing journey was the Otway Fly. Thanks to the helpful tourist info people we were able to stop by this as part of our journey back. So we eagerly arrived to find it rather quiet and closed looking, oh no we thought. It turned out though that we were one of the first to arrive that day (now that has to be a first for us!). This wasn’t because we turned up early in the morning (it was nearly lunchtime), its just because where it is located is kind of half way along the GOR. So soon afterwards people started turning up. Initially we followed a path thru the rainforest passing huge trees (high and wide), giant and Jurassic looking ferns. Then from nowhere the raised steel walkway appeared. As we walked along this we gradually went higher and higher amongst the trees till we reached the apex, where there is a tower. The walkway was gridded so we could see the undergrowth below.

We then walked up a spiral staircase to reach the tower platform at canopy level. From here we could see across the top of the trees and the long drop to the ground below, 25m. (This also gave us further appreciation of just how deep we dived on our 30m deep dive). There was a slight wind making the tower sway, this was a bit unnerving but is all part of the design. On walking down the steps this is when vertigo kicked in a bit for me as it really hits you how high up you are. Once down from the tower we then went along the walkway on the left that was on a cantilever. So the only thing holding up this walkway was two long struts supporting it. This was even more hair raising! But not to worry we were told as it can hold up to 28 tonnes, 14 elephants. From here we got a superb view of the creek, the lichen and the moss on the trees, which gave them a completely different complexion. We then walked back down the walkway in a different direction from where we originally came from. On the way down the sun light was shining thru highlighting the ferns making them really eye catching amongst the foliage of the rainforest. We stopped by the café on our way out where Ali really enjoyed her pumpkin soup and cheese scones. (She’s just reminded me she prefers British scones as they have a denser, less spongy texture to them).

It was time to make our journey back so we headed inland taking a short cut across to the main motorway to Geelong. (In pronouncing this you really make the Gee part short and punchy, like je, and place the emphasis on the long bit. We like saying this a lot and still say it now even though we‘re in NZ). Whilst heading towards the motorway we were on the look out for petrol. We passed thru a small village and went straight pass the petrol station, well more like a shop along the road with a petrol pump. So we turned around and stopped by the side of the road to fill up. This felt quite bizarre filling up by the side of the road rather than in a forecourt.

Once on the motorway we put on the radio as we couldn’t tune in too well on the GOR and gave my mobile a break from playing MP3s. We caught a radio station, 3m (we think), that was a bit like one of those chat ones you get in the afternoon back home. There were 2 DJs chatting away about the world news and what they’ve watched on telly the night before. In particular (bear with us here as this had us in stitches, we want to record this so we don’t forget but may not work as well on paper) they were commenting on the bush fires in California and the fact that Arnie is the Governor there. So they did a comedy sketch on this along the lines of …..

Reporter (DJ 1): “what’s the status on the bush fires”
Arnie (DJ 2) in his typical movie voice: “they have been terminated”
Reporter: “all of them?”, “are you sure?”
Arnie: “they have been terminated”, “you’re not getting me they have been terminated forever”
Reporter: “will they come back?”
Arnie: “no they will not be back, they have been terminated forever”
Reporter: “will you go back in time?”
Arnie: “no I will not be going back in time, they have been terminated forever”

Once they had finishing chuckling to themselves they then went on to talk about a New Zealand cop show they watched. They played an excerpt that had been recorded where the cops had pulled over a kiwi as the car he was driving had been stolen. The policeman went up to the driver’s side and informed him that he was driving a stolen car. He started protesting his innocence and that he had bought it the other day. The policeman was saying he believed him but said he would still have to second the car. The driver was having none of it saying he had bought it and so it was his. As this went to and fro, the driver got more and more irritated to the point he was saying arrest me for stealing it then. He said this several times, and at one point walked himself over to the police car and sat in the back seat demanding that he be arrested. Amazingly the cop was really patient with him in not wanting to arrest him and attempting to calm him down. As the DJs pointed out at this point if this was the LA cop show they would have tazed him by now. (We were also wondering why the cop just didn’t arrest him and sort it out back at the police station as he sounded a bit drunk as well). The guy then went back to his own car and unleashed a torrent of abuse at the cop. Eventually the cop arrested him (they must have some patience) for swearing in front of a police officer. The guy, who needn’t have got arrested in the first place, ended up not only being charged for this, but also for driving whilst under the influence of drugs (so we were close).

So anyway we dropped the car off at Geelong then took the train to Melbourne back to Emma’s place for the night. In the evening we ventured out nearby to a local pub with Emma and Paul. It was time to say au revoir to them but not goodbye as we will be seeing Emma over the Christmas period in Sydney and hopefully Paul on his next UK visit.

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