We set off from Melbourne in true English weather - yes it absolutely poured most of the way to our first stop off at Apollo Bay. This is a picture of the Erskine Falls in a temperate rain forest. We saw a water dragon too. We had a fabulous room with Victorian bath, settee and TV. And to make it even better, we had a buffet and cooked breakfast included in the price.
The day started with one of the most exciting things so far - real live wild koalas. We saw around 25 of them, 2 babies and 1 that moved a lot to let us photograph him. Mind blowing. It is not an animal you even see in a zoo so this was a real first.
From there we started along the true “Great Ocean Road.” Not as mind-blowing as California Highway 1 in our opinion but still fantastic. We saw a variety of rock formations including “The Blow Hole” and “Thunder Cave” at Loch Ard and “The 12 Apostles”. The weather was sunny though the wind was a bit chill so the only downer were those bl”””y flies!! To make it better, that evening on the beach at Apollo Bay we saw a seal, starfish and an octopus. WOW.
We also went to see some more amazing rocks on our way out of Apollo Bay - “The Arch”, “London Bridge” and “The Grotto”. Another day with a chill Thanet wind! We stopped for lunch at Warrnambool and went to the Flagstaff Hill museum which is a reconstruction of an 1870s whaling port. This was lovely and had lots of volunteers to guide you. From there we found a tiny bluestone 1840s cottage in Port Fairy to stay in a couple of nights.
Port Fairy was a sweet town trying to be “arty”. Most important facts here were the swamp wallabies - wild on Griffith Island; the seal in the harbour and a fabulous meal in one of their restaurants. We carried on in even more depressing UK weather to Robe. Only spent one night there, though it was a pretty town with lots of old houses in limestone. From there to Adelaide - see the next blog when we get it ready!
