The start of the Great
Ocean Road starts just outside Torquay.
The day was spectacular and sunny! The windy road took us along the coast, on the edges of cliffs. Some lovely scenery but in all honesty at this point Shev is not that impressed with the coastal drive. She reckons The Amalfi Coast in Italy is way better.
The day was spectacular and sunny! The windy road took us along the coast, on the edges of cliffs. Some lovely scenery but in all honesty at this point Shev is not that impressed with the coastal drive. She reckons The Amalfi Coast in Italy is way better.
We stopped off in small
towns like Lorne, another supposedly good surf spot, but again no
swell. Onwards to Kennett River where apparently they have resident
koalas in their natural habitat down Grey River Road. There were 3,
one was definitely still very much a baby which was very cute. Our
first wild koalas!! I'm sure if we continued down the road further we
would have seen more but we needed to get to Cape Otway preferably
before dark.
As we turned off the
main highway and took the drive to the Great Otway National Park, we
found a few people parked on the side of the road looking up in
trees. As we slowed down we saw koalas in the trees. We too pulled
over and got out the car armed with cameras and zoom lenses. We must
have walked 500m up the road and on either side of the road there was
literally at least one koala in every tree. Some of the positions
that some of the koalas were sleeping in – its a wonder that they
manage to stay in the tree! After 100 or so – possibly more –
pictures of koalas we headed to Blanket Bay campsite. Again another
national park site with no showers, but hey it was an upgrade,
flushable toilets this time. Bonus!!
We decided to stay one
night at Blanket Bay and another night at Bimbi Park, not far down
the road but still in the Otway National Park area.
A great night camping under koalas at Blanket Bay, we packed the car up at and thought we should drive down to Johanna beach for some of the day, 14km away. Another good surf spot! On our way there was a look out point called Castle Cove with a few other people in campervans parked on the side, pulling on their wetsuits and surfboards lined up on the side of their vans. We pulled in to check out the view as well as to check out the waves. Clearly there must be good surf here! Dave was in surfers heaven when he saw the swell and the fantastic 8 foot waves rolling in. Needless to say the day was one swelter of a day, with temperatures peaking 37 degrees! We saw some shade near a cliff edge for me to sit under while Dave surfed, not ideal I know, but it was better than burning in the heat. Dave changed into his boardies and pulled on a 2mm thick wetskin, grabbed the surf board and we headed down a windy path down the mountain to the beach. Upon hitting the sandy beach, and walking 4 steps in the sand, our feet were burning from the heat of the sand. It was a 100m distance to the waters edge, so we ran as fast as we could, our poor little feet burning more and more, hotter and hotter until... until.. until we reached the sea. We stood and both ''ahhhhhhed'' for a while. It felt so good to dip our feet in the freezing ocean...
A great night camping under koalas at Blanket Bay, we packed the car up at and thought we should drive down to Johanna beach for some of the day, 14km away. Another good surf spot! On our way there was a look out point called Castle Cove with a few other people in campervans parked on the side, pulling on their wetsuits and surfboards lined up on the side of their vans. We pulled in to check out the view as well as to check out the waves. Clearly there must be good surf here! Dave was in surfers heaven when he saw the swell and the fantastic 8 foot waves rolling in. Needless to say the day was one swelter of a day, with temperatures peaking 37 degrees! We saw some shade near a cliff edge for me to sit under while Dave surfed, not ideal I know, but it was better than burning in the heat. Dave changed into his boardies and pulled on a 2mm thick wetskin, grabbed the surf board and we headed down a windy path down the mountain to the beach. Upon hitting the sandy beach, and walking 4 steps in the sand, our feet were burning from the heat of the sand. It was a 100m distance to the waters edge, so we ran as fast as we could, our poor little feet burning more and more, hotter and hotter until... until.. until we reached the sea. We stood and both ''ahhhhhhed'' for a while. It felt so good to dip our feet in the freezing ocean...
Dave had a great time surfing, it was the biggest surf yet on the whole trip with freezing cold water that definitely required a wetsuit not a 2mm wetskin and boardies! There was even a guy with a hood...
Once the surfing was
over we drove back to our new campsite Bimbi Park. Lonely Planet had
described the place as ''camping under Kaolas.'' Given we had already experienced sleeping near 2 koalas at Blanket Bay Bimbi Park was even better! In almost every tree, however it always took a few minutes to get
your ''koala spotting eyes'' adjusted that you saw a few in the trees
and there were almost two in every tree. They really don't move that
much or fast but we did get a video of one jumping from branch to
branch. We had no idea that they did this and from a small flimsy
branch to the next. I found a fishing rod in a tree that was slightly
tangled but its a compact one so we kept it and all I need now is
some tackle and a licence which apparently you need for each
different state but you can get a 24hr pass which makes it easier.
Due to the mid 30
temperatures during the day, we decided to leave the roof of the van
open while we slept to get a cool breeze. I woke up during the night
to this god aweful noise, and woke Dave up. It was like a cross
between a hippo and a pig and Dave then informed me it was the
koalas.Apparently they made the noise earlier while I went for a
shower. Never knew such a small cute and cuddly looking creature can
make such a hideous sound. Well they do say dynamite comes in small
packages!
When we left in the morning heading towards Warnambool we saw some of the highlights of the Great Ocean roads, I think the photos will show what a great scenic drive it was especialy around Port Cambell.
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