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Great Ocean Road - page 1

Great Ocean Road - page 2

Another part of the trip meant another car. Hillie took us into Melbourne to pick up our hire car. We'd ordered a Corolla but they didn't have one. As an apology for keeping us waiting they upgraded us to a Toyota Rav 4 - very nice. To reflect the surprise, we called him Strewth.

The Great Ocean Road was stunning. It's hard to describe the vastness of the turquoise sea without sounding over the top, safe to say we were both very impressed and took a load of photos on our journey down to Apollo Bay.

First stop was Split Point Lookout / Lighthouse and Eagle Rock Marine Sanctuary. The walk up to the lighthouse was very pretty with glimpses back to the ocean and the creek.

Back down to the bottom and we had a walk on the beach to take more photos and enjoy the waves (we managed to keep our feet dry but only just).

One way of keeping your feet dry!

Jonathon decided to try something a bit clever with one of his photos. I think I prefer the one with the colours.

A final pull in at Cape Patton and we decided it was time to head for our hotel, Captain's at the Bay in Apollo Bay.

We had a stroll around the town, a cuppa sitting on our deck and then went to Restaurant Casalingo for a delicious dinner.

That was the end of Monday.

On to Tuesday and we decided to do The Loop, a circular drive through / round Great Otway National Park. It was a lovely drive - very twisty and green.

The mini movie on the left was my attempt to show how tall some of the trees grow.

Jonathon standing next to the base of one of the large eucalypts.

Next stop off was Castle Cove Lookout for some ocean views. There were a few wild flowers around, complete with insect visitors.

The hinterland was very green and agricultural.

The walk to the entrance was very picturesque and there were lots of info boards around.

The afternoon light was lovely, shining through the canopy.

The walkway is known as the Otway Fly and is 600 metres long. It was in cool temperate rainforest, 500 metres above sea level.

Jonathon wasn't 100% happy about being out on the cantilever but at least he did it (see right). It was 33 metres above ground and 24 metres long. You can see I was a bit more relaxed.

60% of the walk was built on pre-existing logging tracks to minimise the upset to the environment.

We drove down the road to Cape Otway Lightstation to watch the sun go down. Although we couldn't see it there (lighthouse was closed and Jonathon and others couldn't find a good vantage point), we spotted a place on the side of the road that would work. We had a picnic whilst we were waiting.

We thought that would be the end of Tuesday's excitement but Jonathon was pulled over by the police on the way back to our hotel. Apparently they were doing random breath checks, especially with it being Melbourne Cup day. Needless to say, Jonathon was not under the influence so we were allowed to continue our journey. The policeman knew Orpington because his family came from Kent - small world!

Wednesday dawned bright, clear, sunny and a lot warmer. We had to leave Apollo Bay and head for Port Fairy further west. Lots of stopping off points along the way, the first of which was Gibson Steps.

Our second stop was at The Twelve Apostles. You won't be able to count twelve so please don't try!

There were a lot of people there but it didn't feel too crowded and everyone was considerate of others for photos etc.

We then called in at various stops along the Shipwreck Coast - Loch Ard Gorge, Razorback, Muttonbird Island and others. Muttonbird Island is the one on the right with the arch (and in the mini movie above).

Muttonbird Island is so called because about 50,000 Muttonbirds (Short tailed sheerwaters) live here safe from predators such as foxes and cats. They keep the same partner and burrow for many years and arrive back from their northern migration in late September. These were the birds we saw when on our boat trip to Wineglass Bay but the sea was too rough to let go of the safety rail to try and take photos.

When the birds return (separately but often at the same time as each other, sometimes to the day) they spring clean their burrow, mate then disappear back out to sea for 3 weeks. They lay a single egg late November and take turns to sit on the nest. Eggs hatch mid January. I feel sorry for the chick because it gets fed every day for a week then every few days for a while. It's a hefty bird at 6 weeks (bigger than its parents). At the beginning of April when the big storms kick in the parents leave the nest (and the chick) and head back north. The chicks stay on the island without food and unable to fly but their fat reserves means they grow fast.

Their adult feathers replace the downy juvenile feathers and they teach themselves to fly, setting off for the 15,000 km hourney north by the end of April. They seem to know where to go without any guidance from adults or even a map! Amazing birds.

Don't be fooled by the photo on the right where the sea looks calm. It was really windy and the Great Southern Ocean was putting on a good show for us.

While Jonathon was photographing waves, I focussed on the beautiful flora around me and took a few photos of that to show the contrast to the ocean.

Some of the scenery was more lush than other parts. This part seemed to be almost barren - perhaps because it was was so close to the sea.

Jonathon was fascinated by the waves so, as a special treat, here are a few of his photos. As you can see, he had a wonderful time.

Lunch was at Port Campbell then we thought we'd better resume our journey to our hotel, Oscars Waterfront at Port Fairy. We were tootling along when we came across a road block. Apparently a house was in the middle of the road (we didn't ask) so we had to follow an unmarked diversion. We managed not to get lost and even saw the pretty town of Koroit and the signs for Tower Hill Wildlife Reservation (our aim for the following day) on our way so all was not lost.

We arrived at Oscars to find a lovely large house with a great residents' lounge area and a comfortable bedroom.

Residents' Lounge

Stairs down to front door

He came in because he was getting bitten (but not that much). This was the first day we'd seen any biting insects so it was a bit of a surprise. We had covered ourselves in repellent during the day but perhaps it had worn off by the time Jonathon went out.

While he was doing that I took full advantage of the comfy residents' lounge and homemade shortbread!

Having reached 30C on Wednesday, Thursday was a different day with cloudy skies and a high forecast of 17C and we think English weather is changeable!

The rain managed to stay away until early evening so we had a great time wandering around Tower Hill Reserve. Chris guided us around the Lava Tongue Boardwalk and we asked so many questions that the tour took almost twice as long as normal. It was really interesting and we even ate the bush tucker (all veggie) that he gave us.

Tower Hill is an enormous volcanic crater rimmed by beds of volcanic ash. It hadn't erupted for c.7,000 years so we felt quite safe.

Jonathon was hoping for less walking having walked so far on each of the last few days but that wasn't going to happen. After our walk with Chris and a quick cuppa, we set off for a second walk. Originally we were going to do the 30 minute Wagon Bay Loop but half was round we changed to do the Journey to the Last Volcano! It was a great walk even if a bit steep in places.

There were lots of wild flowers (weeds) around the place which added splashes of colour to the green.

There were a few boxes here and there. Chris explained that these were for the Sugar Gliders but some of the other animals used them as well.

We saw a few creepy crawlies ...

This bull ant was about 2cm long and was, apparently, a small one.

We even managed to catch sight of a couple of more furry animals - rabbits first.

We saw a couple of Wallabies, one of which we almost got close enough to get a decent photo of. He was very busy munching his way through a whole lot of hemlock so was well hidden.

Chris also let Jonathon try on a possum hunting coat - he didn't look too frightening! The fur was really soft and it seemed to be very warm. At birth a baby is given the first piece and as he grows older he acquires additional pieces that are stitched together to make the coat. The inside is also decorated with family history, symbols etc.

The visitor centre is managed by the Wom Gundidj Aboriginal Community a "not for profit organisation, founded in 1992, that harmonises contemporary artistic creation and nature-based tourism".

Dinner was at L'Edera - a delicious Italian meal in a very relaxed, friendly restaurant.

We were going to go to Griffiths Island to watch the Muttonbirds flying in for the night but it was too rainy so we settled in the comfy lounge with the fire on instead.

Please click here to move on to the second page for our trip along the Great Ocean Road.

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Great Ocean Road - page 1

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