Great Ocean Road Trip 2014
Day 3
Apollo Bay - Lavers Hill - Princetown - 12 Apostles - Port Campbell - Gibson Steps - Loch Ard Gorge - The Arch - London Bridge - The Grotto - Port Campbell
"London Bridge has fallen down...."
Such a busy day today! We managed to cram so much into a single day and still had great fun doing so.
Training was called off this morning. We woke to grey skies and there was little enthusiasm from the training contingent. We decided to just get up and pack up to head off for more adventures. Shame though because as we rolled out of the park, the sun shone through the clouds and it was a "balmy" 20 degrees and the beach looked quite inviting.
We drove back up to Lavers Hill where the clouds came back and again the temperature plummeted to 12 degrees. Turns out that Lavers Hill has one of the highest rainfall around Victoria and is the highest elevation on the Great Ocean Road. May as well be called Cloud City for mine. We were glad to be continuing on today!
We drove onto Princetown which if you blinked, you'd miss. A pub and a roundabout at the caravan park were all it rated. We continued on to the 12 Apostles.
Things have changed greatly in the 20 years since I've been to the 12 Apostles. You no longer just pull off the road as close to the edge as possible to get a look at the Apostles - there is a fully established car park and kiosk now. Pity the clouds were still hanging around at the Apostles as they looked spectacular.
From there we headed straight for Port Campbell to dump the caravan and to free us up for an epic afternoon of fun.
From setting up, we drove through town to pick up some bread and headed straight back to Gibsons Stairs to have lunch in the car park and then descend to the beach below for a beachside view of the Apostles and the sheer cliffs that surround them. The sun decided to come out as soon as we hit the beach and we relished the warmth as we walked along the waters edge . The kids laughed at the pufferfish that had washed ashore and we took heaps of pics against the beautiful backdrop.
From Gibsons, we drove onto loch Ard Gorge. This place is described as one of the special places in Port Campbell National Park - and it truly is! We spent about 2.5 hours here doing the many walks on offer - Razorback, Island Archway, Thunder Cave and Broken Head.
We walked to steps to the beach and we all had a swim in Loch Ard Gorge - even despite them recommending not to! The water was crystal clear and refreshing. We marvelled at all the tourists who then suddenly turned up to the gorge beach in their designer jeans and jackets. Some wore full winter jackets! We of course were in the obligatory t-shirts and board shorts! The highlight for us fashion wise was the girl in the fluro yellow designer jacket with black leggings and fluro yellow Nike running shoes ! We all had a good laugh at that!
From Loch Ard, we drove on past Port Canpbell to The Arch and London Bridge and the Grotto. Some are places we won't get the caravan into so we wanted to see them without. On our way to the Arch, we stopped the Disco on the side of the road so that I could escort an echidna across the road to safety!
London Bridge is really spectacular and we will spend more time there tomorrow as we continue our journey. We will go onto the beach tomorrow as well.
Tonight, we will attempt to view the sunset at the 12 Apostles (clouds have come back in :( and about 9pm there is a talk and viewing of mutton birds at Muttonbird Island at Loch Ard which we will go to - all rugged up as the wind is pretty chilly.
Tomorrow we head for Warrnambool.