The Great Ocean Road Part 2
Port MacDonnell to Geelong (approx. 460 km)
Day 4
Port MacDonnell to Narrawong (approx. 110 km)
Today we officially start our journey along the Great Ocean Road which clings affectionately to, well, the ocean! The road runs along the South-Eastern coast of Australia between Anglesea and Allansford in Victoria. Quick facts; started in 1919 and completed in 1932 by some 3,000 soldiers after the First World War (probably to keep them busy and out of trouble) it became the world's largest war memorial with the road covering a total distance of 243km (151 miles).
We began the journey with a border crossing from the state of South Australia into Victoria, half expecting some sort of inspection points after some signs leading up to the border warned us to throw away fresh produce before arriving to the border (I assume so as not to bring in any contaminants between states?). It seemed that Australia not only dislike allowing people through their international borders, but domestic ones too! Anyway, when we arrived to the border and there was no one there, literally just a sign to welcome you into Victoria, great news because we refused to throw our strawberries out that we had picked.
Initially we were going to make our way straight to Discovery Bay, however, our decision to complete this journey without the aid of a Sat Nav was already leading us astray. Now to this day, we do not know if it was the navigators blunder, or the driver's observation that caused the 60km detour we subsequently took, but regardless of whose mistake it was, we found ourselves going through some nice littler towns and even finding Points of Interest (POI) not marked on our map which we enjoyed, even if it did mean we completely missed Discovery Bay.
Our journey took us to Cape Nelson Lighthouse Station, famous for no particular reason, it has just been here for a long time (by Australian standards anyway), since 1884. As we were walking across the carpark to the entrance we passed a little old lady whom began to talk to us, this of course entailed some kind of story as these conversations often go with the older generations (and we love you for sharing your wisdom with us). It turned out that she used to be the lighthouse keepers wife many years ago, having actually lived here for some time. She had just taken her grandkids for a tour of the place as she reminisced about the good old days, whom I imagine probably received the same rehearsed story that we did. So after all the pleasantries we finally made it to the entrance where we found the café was closed and no tours on. This actually worked in our favour because there was no one else around and we didn't have to pay to look around. We gave ourselves our own tour of the lighthouse (we can actually read all the information signs so why would you need a tour guide anyway) and stroll along the coastline.
Soo after the lighthouse our bellies began to rumble which lead us to Cape Bridgewater where we could have a scenic lookout with our lunch (although there was some unsightly construction work being carried out on the port in the distance). There are two things that make this spot memorable for us; firstly, the disused railway line that randomly ran straight through the immaculate grass verge; secondly, the sign post that had like 20 different directional arrows pointing to major locations in Australia and other parts in the world. From this point, we were exactly 17,204km (10,690 miles) from Portsmouth.
This evening we decided that we would go to another free camp site which we found in Narrawong. The site is set in the National Park and was designed for free camping in the middle of the forest, a lovely setting amongst the trees and surrounded by the wildlife, with so many kangaroos around that it almost, but not quite, got boring. Sadly the forest here was overcome by a bush fire a year ago. However, the trees here if I recall correctly are spotted gum trees, which are nicknamed iron trees. They are able to withstand the extreme heat generated by these fires and simply blossom back into life when given the chance, as our Neighbour from New Zealand informed us. I wish I could remember his name, but it was some tribal sounding kind of name, and to be quite honest if I can barely pronounce your name I'm hardly going to remember it. He was a typical Bear Grylls kind of character, wielding an axe which he uses to cut his firewood before storing it under his tarpauling to season/dry it out as his wife and Kiwi Bear Grylls settle up here until the new year, that's how nice this place is and how crazy the rest of the Great Ocean road will be over the festive season we are told. Sadly our van is hired, and as much as we would love to stay here for a few days, we have a tight schedule to keep to.
The site has a few trails, so we took a nice stroll to the Whalers Lookout where we came across the majority of the kangaroos we saw while we were here, munching on the vegetation as we walked by or hopping through the trees of the forest - so satisfying seeing them freely roaming in the wild. The lookout was remarkable, as we gazed over the landscape which lead our eyes to the sea further into the horizon. Although we were tired from our journey today, we were pleased that we made the effort to walk the trail rather than to sit in the middle of the forest the entire evening.
Ironically, I scavenged the forest which was devastated by a fire only a year ago for some firewood. In fairness, I found a fair bit of charcoal, but much of it was damp. Luckily Kiwi Bear Grylls came over and offered me some finely chopped wood as kindle which I used with the bark I ripped off of the trees which helped to get our reluctant fire roaring, keeping us nice and warm and helping to keep the mosquitos away. This was one of our favourite evenings during our trip as we sat in front of the fire with a bottle of beer and a glass of wine in hand in the middle of a National Park forest.
Day 5
Narrawong - Princetown (approx. 164 km)
So after talking to the Kiwis yesterday evening we found out that our unplanned detour from Discovery Bay actually meant that we passed on a famous sight along the road that cannot be missed, the Petrified Forest! A sight that we initially planned to see, but didn't realise that it was in Discovery Bay. We decided that we would wake up early and go back on ourselves (luckily only 30km) to see what all the fuss was about.
We got there in good time, and found that we were the only ones there which was great for taking pictures. The landscape here is very abnormal! The environment is laden with hundreds of rock formations, establishing a chaotic collection of hollow tubes formed from limestone eroded by millions of years of rainfall. Many of the tubes are one to three meters high, with some even spanning up to twenty meters! Unfortunately though, the really interesting ones that are so large are closed off from the public. But still, walking around here had the eerie sensation that you were on another planet, such as Mars. The fact that it was only Emily and I walking around with no one else in site added to that deserted and lifeless sensation.
So after feeling like an Astronaut on a different planet for a while, it was time to take off the space suit and get ourselves back on to the tarmac. Our destination, Port Fairy. During the trip, we drove past a fence that was decorated in the most unorthodox manner, it was covered in hundreds of old shoes! People stop here to tie an old pair of shoes to create a fascinating looking fence, some of them left here with short messages or with names on. We couldn't really figure out the exact reason for this trend, but we think it is related to a children's charity. Unfortunately, we didn't have any shoes of our own to add to the collection. Shortly after we set off again we spotted our first koala :). He was dead, I mean sleeping, peacefully, on the side of the road :(. As we continued we came across another turning for a view point, The Crags. We had no idea how long the road to the view point actually was when we set off, and if we did then perhaps we wouldn't have gone. But luckily we were naïve, and the road was long but beautiful, and when we got to this ancestral homeland the panoramic views of the coastline were even more so, one of Curt's favourite lookouts of the trip.
Finally though, we made it to Port Fairy, and it was probably one of the best towns we visited. However, we regret that we didn't really take many pictures here! The people were lovely, the buildings had some kind of heritage and the coastline was popular with many surfers. We found that there was also a backpackers hostel here, letting travellers who have discovered this hidden little gem in Australia stay for a while and enjoy their time here.
Our next (unscheduled) stop was Tower Hill Nature Reserve, home to families of some very large Emus, making for some fun driving. We were thinking of stopping here for lunch, but it looked like that some of the families were getting intimidated by some hungry Emus and so we continued on. Next we came across Warmambool, visiting Logan's Beach which is apparently a family whale nursery. We must of spent about two minutes gazing at the ocean until we became bored of looking out for whales, and have concluded that people whom do this for a hobby must have too much time on their hands and are incredibly wet characters. You'd get more excitement watching the kettle boil over and over again. Now we got to the part of the journey where we start to see all the renowned sights of the great ocean road. We found that these were so close to each other that each time we got ourselves back into the van we were stopping again after 5 - 15 minutes of driving. We'll try and keep this brief!
Firstly was the Bay of Islands and then the Bay of Martys, both lovely bays (particularly Bay of Islands), nestled along the coastline.
The Grotto; wanted to, but forgot to take our Christmas hats with us as it's a fitting name for the time of year. This was a beautiful rock formation at the bottom of the cliff with the waves having carved a large hole in the rocks giving you a window to peer at the waves crashing into the rocks behind.
London Bridge; PACKED! This sight was accessible to large vehicles, and we unfortunately found ourselves pulling up behind a coach full of Chinese tourists with their huge cameras, selfie sticks and peace signs! Besides that, London Bridge was pretty spectacular too. We found ourselves following the tour guide briefly, learning that London Bridge was actually joined to the adjacent cliff, with half of it actually having fallen down and claimed by the sea. We then found ourselves racing to beat the Chinese tourists to the next location so it wouldn't be so chaotic.
The Arch; yes, this looked like an arch with an ocean behind it. We then went to the Loch Ard Gorge which was a bit of a trek down many steps, hugging the edge of the cliff down to the beach below. Famous because two survivors got washed up to the shore after a shipwreck, I think this location was actually named after said ship.
The Twelve Apostles; somewhat of an icon for Australia, but all I could think off was 'well I can only count seven!' Apparently there are only eight or so remaining, and there's no point in trying to count them all because some are hidden behind the rocky headland. These are the world's tallest limestone stacks and were actually pretty awesome, even if all they are is a bunch of rocks that stand alone in different formations close to the cliff which hugs the shoreline.
By this point we were getting tired, time to find somewhere to settle up for the night. We spent our night at Otway National Park, an old cricket pitch with proper toilets and showers, power hook-up and a tap to fill our water tank. The recreation ground was surrounded by fields full of kangaroos! They were everywhere! We still enjoy watching them jumping around and grazing on the grass, so we grabbed some beverages and got as close as we could to watch them for a while.
So today is Christmas eve, and neither of us have wrapped each other's present yet! We are excited to give each other our gifts, not because they are great gifts, but purely because of how silly they are given the lack of decent shops during our road trip. Emily wrapped hers in the back of the van, while I struggled on the seat at the front. We also decided that we would have our Christmas roast dinner a day early, so that we could celebrate Christmas day like the Ozzies do with a BBQ on the beach. We bought a hot chicken from Woolworths, which upon carving the bird I discovers STUFFING inside the bird, perfect! We haven't had a roast dinner for three months, making this mini feast taste all the more amazing! A lovely Christmas Eve dinner :).
Day 6
Princetown - Geelong (approx. 186 km)
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!
We woke up early after a Kangaroo pulled out our electricity lead from the van. Cheeky thing, think it must of tripped over it! And decided we should wake up and start our day.
Firstly, we grabbed a shower while preparing our Christmas breakfast :). Croissants and scrambled egg with some orange juice and sparkling wine - trying to get as close as Emily's traditional Christmas breakfast of scrambled egg and smoked salmon on toast with champagne and orange juice :). After breakfast we eagerly opened our Christmas presents which we picked up on the road - three mini presents each! Emily wanted something that sparkled for Christmas, so I got her some sparklers, some jumping frogs and some UNO cards. I received some dominoes, Ferreo Rochers and possibly the best present was my rubix cube! We also got Frustration as a shared present for us to play. Safe to say that we shouldn't get bored for a while.
Presents unwrapped, we Skyped home to speak to the family and then began our Christmas journey. It doesn't feel very Christmassy in Australia (too hot and sunny), so Santa hats was an essential to bring some Christmas cheer and remind us that it is indeed that time of year. Hats on, seatbelts fastened and Christmas tunes playing (much to my despise) we set off on our Christmas, but we weren't laughing all the way!
Unfortunately, we hadn't had anywhere planned to stop off, which later became a big issue!
Anyway we were well and truly in the Christmas spirit and was looking forward to the day ahead. Stopping at many viewpoints along the way, surprisingly we still weren't bored of the stunning views!
First was the Carisbrook Falls - this was a little disappointing but I think that is because we are so used the stunning waterfalls in South East Asia. We stopped in many lay-bys along the GOR looking along the coastline. These were beautiful and it was amazing to look back at our drive and see how far we had come.
We drove through Apollo Bay, although we were planning to stop here it was REALLY touristy and were surprised all the campsites were closed for Christmas Day given how many people are travelling the road at this time of year. We did ring a BOOKING number at one of the campsites (left on site specifically for Christmas day) where the most obnoxious women picked up the phone. She obviously got some coal from Santa, probably due to her bitter personality. So after a short conversation/argument, the BOOKING number doesn't let you make bookings. So we drove on still very much in the Christmas spirit despite encountering the Grinch.
Next stop Kennett River - a famous spot for Koalas. Thinking this was a good place to camp out for the night we experienced the same problem. While the family that owned the camp site was packing their car they were not interested in allowing us to stay for the evening as they were closed for the day! Sadly we missed our chance to walk along the river in search for Koalas. We got over this fairly quickly knowing that we are still going to be in Australia for a few more months and will probably see some at some point. Sensing a theme here, we did start to look for a free camp site, but there wasn't anything around. We did find a very secluded forest in a National Park. It was so secluded in fact that there were no toilets, and no other campers. We didn't really want to spend our Christmas day here alone so we decided to try our luck further up the road. In hindsight, this probably wouldn't of been that bad, but I'm sure we would have complained of being bored if we did settle up here for the night.
We found another campsite that was open for one hr to take bookings! This was the sort of theme we were expecting along the road. However, this gluttonous couple were asking for $65 for an unpowered pitch, bearing in mind we have never been paying more than $25 for POWERED pitch! Again, this couple were extremely rude, but we were refusing to be extorted like this just because it is Christmas day. The site was largely empty, we just saw some people driving away as we pulled up and later spoke to another couple who had also tried here and decided to go elsewhere. Clearly their greedy tactics were driving people away, and if they had an ounce of business sense they would have offered a reasonable price and had a nice full campsite. Nonetheless, they fell short of any Christmas spirit and we drove on with our money in our pockets (I would rather drive on through the night than hand over my money to these swine's).
By this point we were getting pretty restless with all the hassle of finding a campsite so began to think of other options. Driving through Lorne we stopped off at Teddy's Lookout recommended by someone we met in Adelaide (Laura from Cardiff) - another beautiful lookout, cheering us up a little with again some scenic views. Before we knew it, we came to the main arch of the Great Ocean Road, marking the end of the road for us and the beginning for those travelling from Melbourne. To say that this was an anti-climax for us is massively understating how we felt. Regardless, we stopped, took some mandatory pictures, feeling a little frustrated with how it all ended but still sensing an achievement of how far we have come in our little camper.
We kept on rolling relentlessly in our van, now feeling a little drained of our Christmas spirit desperately looking for a site using our Wiki Camps app. This too was letting us down, with many of the sites located so deep into the bush and miles away from civilisation that the roads were becoming very uneasy for our campervan. We took the van through some very rough and dusty dirt roads and are still unsure of how the campervan survived. In fairness though, as pointless as these excursions were because we couldn't find a suitable place to settle we did get to see some pretty cool stuff, such as a mother kangaroo and its joey hop over what must have been at least a 4ft fence after crossing the road right in front of us.
We finally got to a point, frustrated, exhausted and ready to throw in the towel in the hope for finding a nice site and went on to our last resort, which worked our better and expected. We pulled into a rest area just off of the Princess Highway near Geelong, normally used by lorry drivers overnight. The rest area has just been recently developed and had some toilets and felt safe enough to stay the night. We decided to stay here, wake up early and find somewhere tomorrow on the other side of Melbourne.
Even though this may be Australia, it turned out that they still get rain with a downpour having been unleashed on us soon after we pulled up, of which revealed to us the most enchanting rainbows we had ever seen, as though it was some sort of Christmas miracle. Ok maybe getting a bit ahead of ourselves, but it put a smile back on our faces. You don't often see a full rainbow from end to end presented in front of you, in fact I'm not entirely sure I saw any before this day, but to see TWO FULL rainbows adjacent to each other is surely a once in a lifetime occurrence.
While we were cooking dinner, we noticed some people from the car near us struggling to boil some water in a saucepan outside in the car park next to their car, in the rain! I quickly ran over and went to see if they wanted to use our kitchen in the van. It turned out the three of these people were French, and found themselves in a similar situation to us having found no room in the Inn on Christmas day. We set the table up, after just turning it into our bed, and had them over for a few drinks, with the frogs opting for red wine of course, how French of them. We found that their arrangement was that the guy whom owns the estate sleeps in the car, while the couple pitch up a tent somewhere outside. We found it hilarious when they found themselves having to pitch their tent on a patch of grass in this rest area.
Christmas day was definitely a bit of a disaster, but the evening we spent with the Eiffel tower folk was actually really nice and kind of made up for the 9 hours of driving that was undertaken today, which was kind of bitter considering we are not even that much closer to Sydney after all that. The moral of the story, never attempt to do anything on Christmas day! And that Australians have no Christmas spirit!
C & E x