Well today is the Great Ocean Road.
No big journeys.
No horsing on to get somewhere.
Just lay back and enjoy the journey.
Only one small issue is that it is overcast and intermittently raining which is a pain. I’m more than happy to get up and chill over a cup of coffee in the hostel and when I emerge at 8 it is a hive of activity. Everyone is up about and leaving to go where they are going.
By the time we leave the place is empty but that’s cool.
Our first stop just up the road is one of the many lookouts on the cliffs.
It is very similar to yesterday only wetter, and though not cold it is definitely a fleece day.
The first stop is Loch Ard Gorge or shipwreck Bay as someone told us that is what it is called.
It is not hard to see why as the sea is rough and the cliff’s coastline is jagged and treacherous. The story goes.
Loch Ard ran into a rocky reef at the base of Mutton Bird Island, near Port Campbell. Only two people survived: an apprentice, Tom Pearce and a young woman passenger, Eva Carmichael, who lost all of her family in the tragedy. The two were washed up and eventually rescued at what is now known as Loch Ard Gorge, named after the shipwreck.
I walk down to the shore and the sand is golden and apart from a few others who have the same idea it is in its own way peacful away from the bus parties up on the cliffs. The sea is strong and though not roaring today you can easily see how it wouldn’t take much more wind to make it impossible to battle.
Must have been in the lap of the Gods for anyone to survive the wreck that gave the inlet it’s name.
From there we travel to the Twelve Apostles.
This is perhaps the most famous or at least the best known location on the coastline here and they have an underpass for tourists and a heliport with three choppers for the well healed to see the coastline from the air. If the weather wasn’t so overcast I would be tempted but today it would be such a waste. Still there are plenty of takers.
We walk down and take the customary snaps and leave ASAP.
Onwards then and to a surprise.
The road takes a detour of the coast up through a splendid forest. Weaving up through the trees to about 400m you are in another vibe altogether and it is beautiful and the misty rain seems somehow more appropriate.
Not quite at the top but well up, we stop at Lavers Hill for a bit of lunch.
This is a quaint spot with wood burning stoves and character.
I have a Lamb and Pea Pie.
That’s a proper pie with a base and sides.
Lovely with a home-cooked feel too and friendly staff.
The house cat seems very content too.
From there then we travel through the forest until we come to a lookout and the feel is like the north of Spain or almost like Alpine valleys.
The changing surprises the Great Ocean Road offers is making this better than we expected.
Still it could always be even better.
Eventually we get back down to the shoreline and arrive in Apollo Bay.
This is where we stop for icecream and beachtime. Well we sit on the beach at anyrate and eat our icecream.
Nougat and Boysenberry and for Maggie, Lemon and Ginger.
The ginger is especially nice.
On the way back to the car I film some rose breasted Cockatoos or Galah Cockatoos as they seem to be known here.
After that we hit what I thought the whole Great Ocean Road would be.
Cliffside road with ocean crashing against the coastline below.
Lucky we weren’t here any earlier as the road is still being repaired after the fire.
The fire burnt the vegetation and then when the rain hit it washed the banks down onto the road and closed it.
Finally to Torquay for our Motel and dinner of fresh Mussels and fries washed down with a locally produced Pale Ale.
Another day is done.
