The Great Ocean Road

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Next stop Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. The Chinese version of Michael Schumacher took us to the airport, as we had decided to take the airport bus for once, never again, it picked you up at the door of the hotel and we had to leave at 6am so thought it would be easier (cases weighed a ton let alone the hand luggage). Crammed into some little mini bus with a luggage wagon attached, we hurtled off around Sydney at breakneck speed; fortunately there wasn’t a great deal of traffic around at that time in the morning. Don’t need this sort of stress just before a flight. Stopped at a set of traffic lights and Schumacher gets out to check the wagon, he thought some luggage had fallen out! Anyway arrived at the airport in one piece, not a moment too soon. Flight was about 30 mins late and only took about 90 mins. Beautiful morning after the all the rain in Sydney even the pilot commented that it was a perfect morning for flying, I had to agree not a bump the whole way, restores ones faith in flying. Flew out over Botany Bay, where Capt Cook landed all those years ago, went over some hills/ mountains at one point but as we were flying with Virgin Blue, haven’t got a clue what they were as you don’t see a flying map which is a shame. Arrived with luggage in tow, so off to get the car, not ready still in the car wash. They gave us an upgrade which meant we could get both cases in the boot and off we went to our first stop, the MCG. Melbourne Cricket Ground to those of you who aren’t aware. Got there without any hitches, driver and navigator in unison for once!! Huge stadium must get to watch a match there, yet another thing to add to the bucket list. Went on a tour, taken around by a Brit, were allowed onto the hallowed turf, well a bit of astroturf by the side of the outfield. The wickets are being lifted to make way for Aussie rules football, whatever that is, ours is bad enough. The nearest thing that I can compare it to is the Neucamp in Barcelona, there must be a fantastic atmosphere when it is full. Then around the museum, loads of interesting cricket stuff. Quick drive through Melbourne to hit the motorway. They still have trams here, lots of old buildings interspersed amongst modern skyscrapers and some funky shaped ones. Across the Yarra river via the huge Westgate bridge and then the motorway. The land surrounding Melbourne is as flat as a pancake and looks parched; they can’t have had much rain lately. (Will eat my words later in the blog). Eventually passed Geelong and hit the Great Ocean Road (GOR for the rest of this blog). Scenery is stunning, huge sweeping bays with soft yellow sand, small waves rolling in one after the other. Stopped in Anglesea, a small town to pick up some provisions, lots of people in the water with their surf boards and on to Aireys Inlet, our first stop. Turned up, I had booked to stay in a log cabin, nobody about, spoke to a neighbour, nobody like to be about for at least a couple of hours, stuff that for a game of soldiers, hadn’t paid any money, so left them a note and went to look for somewhere else to spend the night, remarkably chilled considering. Ended up down the road in a lovely modern apartment just a short stroll from the cliff top walk. Dumped the stuff and went for a stroll to Split Head lighthouse, yet again more stunning views in both directions. There are some beautiful houses perched along the cliff top here; most appear to be summer/weekend homes. Really quiet just the sound of the ocean and the birds of which there are so many varieties. Would love to buy a book about them but have too many as it is.
Day 2 - Another beautiful day so we went for a 4 mile walk along the cliff top coastal path in the opposite direction before we left. Strolling along, looking at the views and nearly stepped on this huge skink, type of lizard, he was about a foot long and really fat, frightened the living daylights out of me as initially I thought it was a snake. He was sunning himself in the early morning sun, but took off pretty smartly when he caught sight of me. No taste! Fantastic views along the path, each time you round another piece of the headland yet another wonderful view appears. Could never tire of this coastline. Stopped at a lookout point and then went down onto one of the beaches. There are loads of rock pools here with seaweed called Nautilus’s necklace. It looks like a load of beads that have been strung on a necklace. Packed up and drove to a golf course that is supposed to have more kangaroos than people, guess what, saw one. We then set off for Apollo Bay our next stop. Stopped at Lorne on the way, nice town situated on a curved bay. Not very many people about but must be heaving in the summer. As we drove along the coast road there were houses perched on the cliffs, one built onto a single concrete column with a glass bridge joining it to the cliff. Stopped at a nice fish restaurant overlooking the bay for lunch. The sea is flat calm however there is a cloudbank on the horizon which is a bit worrying. There are lots of lookout points along this part of the road, detailing various things of interest, particularly the shipwrecks of which there were loads in the late 1800’s. Eventually arrived at our cottage for the next 2 nights. The cottage is situated in a rainforest valley; there is no TV, internet or mobile phone coverage. There are 3 cottages overlooking a small area of water with an island in the middle. Having dumped the luggage we drove further up the road and went for a walk to Marriners Falls. It was getting a bit late, 6pm as we started, walked through farmland and then into a forest with a large stream gurgling on one side. The forest started to get thicker, huge Eucalypts towering above us and lots of big tree ferns n both sides of the path, some with some sort of brown lichen on their trunks making them look like furry bears. Other trees had green lichen growing over their branches with small leaves poking out, these looked like hairy monsters. As we got closer to the falls the path narrowed and a number of huge trees had fallen landing on the banks to our side. The tree ferns formed a canopy over us. When we arrived at the falls they weren’t very big, just one fall. Should it have been in full spate we would never have got to it as the stream would have covered parts of the path. We had to cross six sets of stepping stones to reach it. It had clouded over but we made it back in the light. It is really peaceful at the cottage. Sat out on the decking over the pond writing this. The only sound is of the birds and the cicadas.
Day 3 - Cloudy today, looks like rain. Drove to town to check out the information centre and use the internet, not sure what used to happen before its arrival. Apollo Bay is a one street town set back from the beach around the curve of another bay. To get to the beach you have to cross a boardwalk protecting the dunes in front of the beach. Had a quick walk and then set off for Maits Rest, a short rainforest walk to see a 300 year old Myrtle Beech tree. Rain has started so have to don the old coat. Next stop Cape Otway, this is the furthest point south on this stretch of coast. On the road down here you pass through a Eucalypt forest where we saw about 20 koalas including one with a joey. Starts to pour so we decide to head back via a small waterfall where there was a 20m walk to a viewing platform. Rain had stopped by about 9 o’clock that evening so we went for a walk up the road to see the glow worms. It was pitch black and really spooky, no moonlight or street lights and you couldn’t make out the outlines of the trees or the banks at the side of the road. The glow worms were in a bank and you could see them really well. Quick march back to the cottage as I didn’t know what else would be lurking out there.
Day 4 - Left Apollo Bay and made our way down to Port Campbell. It is a Bank Holiday here this weekend so a bit more traffic and just like the UK, rain. On the way you could see that at some point this part of the country has been through some volcanic upheaval as there lots of hills that looked the fingers of a hand with valleys running between them. The GOR leaves the coast here and winds through forests and up across hill tops and down into valleys. Lots of cattle and sheep farming. Sheep look bald having just been sheared. More look out points and spectacular scenery. Stopped at the 12 Apostles, a famous spot on the GOR. This now consists of 8 stand alone rocks just off the coastline. There used to be twelve, but! Stunning views but has clouded over so we will return for a photo opportunity another day. Arrived at our stop for the next 4 nights. We were an hour early for check in and boy did we know it. The female sergeant major in charge of the place gave us a lecture on arriving early however we were allowed access to the cottage, just as well! This town (hamlet by UK size) is tiny about 400 people live here and there is absolutely nothing happening. Went out for another drive along the coast, more stunning scenery. Have heard that they have had a severe storm in Melbourne with major flooding throughout the entire city and hailstones the size of lemons! We have been very fortunate and seem to have missed the worst of it.
Day 5 - We are half way through our trip. Well I suppose it is going to have to end at some point, however I love seeing all these new places and am in no rush to return home, neither is Alan. Seven weeks and we are still talking after being with each other 24/7. Amazing. Checked the sky and set off west to Warrnambool. Stopped off at more lookouts with different rock formations, one of which is called London Bridge. There used to be a path across to this rock but in 1990 the ‘bridge’ collapsed into the ocean leaving the rock with the arch. A couple had just walked across it and were left stranded and had to be rescued by a helicopter. Bigger waves today, there is nothing between here and Antarctica, have yet to stick my feet in the ocean , expect it is freezing. If you look out to sea, it looks flat calm and then you can see continuous swells that build into large waves and finally crash onto the shore. The sea is deep blue in colour. Saw some Australian pelicans, they are much bigger than ones we have seen previously in other countries. Once again the GOR leaves the coast and heads inland, lots of cattle farming. At Warrnambool there is a beach where Southern Right Whales stop on their migration to have their calves. Apparently they come in very close but needless to say we had missed them, wrong time of year. Drove a little further west to Tower Hill reserve. This place is amazing. It is a reserve on the crater floor of an extinct volcano. When you get onto the floor you can see the rim the whole way round about 40m above the floor. There are a number of walks here and we did two. Feels a bit like Jurassic Park. Saw a couple of black wallabies, three emus and a koala and an echidna. Al thinks we have enough pictures of koalas and can’t understand why I keep taking more. The Aborigines once inhabited this area, however everywhere you go there is nothing about them or their history which is a shame. Storms continuing in Melbourne, hope they finish soon, we have to fly out of there on Thursday.
Day 6 - Not sure where the bad weather is but it isn’t here, clear blue skies and sunshine. We decided to go to Loch Ard Gorge and do the walks there, about 4 miles in total so nothing to strenuous. The gorge has been named after a ship that hit these rocks in 1878 and sunk with only two survivors. Just offshore here is Muttonbird Island. Shearwater birds nest here in holes in the rocks at this time of year having completed a 30,000km round trip to the Aleutian islands. You can see different coloured layers in the rock denoting the period of time when it was formed. Further round is the mouth of the Shearwater river where huge waves are forming out at sea and start to break on the underwater rocks off shore. The wind is stronger today and whips the crests off forming a spray. Sea is a beautiful deep blue colour far out and turns turquoise in the shallows. We then drove out to Peterborough, another dot on a map somewhere. There is a huge lake here with lots of water birds, saw some Australian pelicans amongst others, they are bigger than the brown ones in the Caribbean. Then onto Childers cove, this place is beautiful, small coved bathed in sunshine, it’s too dangerous for swimming and probably too cold as well. There is lots of undertow. Whilst walking down to the cove Al spots another bandicoot and a small brown snake. About a foot in length but very thin. Yuk. Luckily it didn’t seem to like us anymore than I liked it. Clouds are thickening so we decided to return to the cottage. Really bad storm in the night, wind whistling around the buildings and heavy rain. Had to get up in the middle of the night to check everything was ok.
Day 7 - Rain has stopped but gale force winds according to the weather forecast are still blowing. Jeans, jumper, coat etc will be required today. Even stuck one of the heaters on in the cottage as I was freezing. Al still in shorts but did feel the need for a sweatshirt! Cloud everywhere so we head west again. Stopped at a viewing point, the sea is wild today but beautiful. Icy green in colour, white horses as far as the horizon, huge waves come crashing in against the rocks producing loads of surf. Ended up in Port Fairy, a fishing port and one of the early settlements in this part of the country. Lots of old buildings dating back to the mid 1800’s. Sits on the River Moyne. A lot of Irish immigrants settled in this area. Further along the coast there are more view points and you can see an island off shore, where there are lots of fur seals, sea is far too rough to go on a trip out there. Sun popped out for the odd moment. The GOR leaves the coast again and there is farmland as far as the eye can see. Lots of cattle even the shaggy Highland sort. The fields are so big that the crop sprayers are about half a mile long. Passed a huge wind farm, the turbines going like the clappers in this wind. Ended up at Portland, our furthest stop west. Blue whales were sighted off the coast here this week, apparently the krill which they eat appears here at this time of year. We leave here for Melbourne tomorrow, spending the night at a hotel at the airport in readiness for our early flight to New Zealand on Thursday. Hope the weather calms down before then.

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