It has been noticeably cooler since we returned to the Melbourne area and the next night was no exception with wind and rain all night. I knew those extra fleeces I packed would come in useful. What a change from temperatures in the 30's a month ago. Next day we continued our drive along the Great Ocean Road.

At one of the many tourist information centres along the road we had been advised of a good spot for koala spotting so of we drove. The koalas, as per usual, were asleep so spotting them wasn’t easy. Peter refers to koala watching as on a par with watching paint dry. At the same spot there was a great deal of parrot activity and an enterprising café owner was selling bird seed. I bought a bag and was immediately laid siege to (that’s what it felt like), by exceedingly colourful Australian King Parrots and Crimson Rosellas. They didn’t even wait for me to get the seed out of the plastic bag and just dived in.

Driving down to our chosen campsite for the night I spotted a further 4 koalas, all sleeping, and next morning we spotted one right outside the campervan munching on eucalyptus leaves. Well he was for about 5 minutes then he went to sleep. What a life! We also spotted our first rather striking Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo.

The next two days we continued along the Great Ocean Road. The section from Princetown to Peterborough is the most iconic stretch of the road with some stunning coastal features. These, arise from millions of years of erosion of the orangey-yellow limestone cliff, which sit on a thick volcanic basalt layer, leaving towering rock stacks, arches, islands and blowholes.

The most famous of these limestone features are named The 12 Apostles, London Bridge, Bay of Martyrs, the Grotto, the Arch and Loch Ard Gorge. The contrast of the orange limestone rock against the intense turquoise blue sea is quite splendid. At one point, we walked down to the beach, the wind was fierce and the waves looked like a surfer’s paradise but not one in sight. They are obviously quite wave particular these surfers.

The Loch Ard gorge was the most interesting historically. It is named after the sailing vessel Loch Ard, wrecked at an island just off the coast in 1878. The ship was made in Glasgow for the Loch Line, which operated between Great Britain and Australia. It was a three-masted ship, 263ft long with a tonnage of 1693 tonnes. The ship departed England on 1 March 1878, bound for Melbourne, with a crew of 17 men and carrying 37 passengers and a lot of cargo. On 1 June, it encountered heavy fog. Unable to see the nearby lighthouse, they were unaware how close they were to the coast. By the time the fog lifted, despite efforts to pull away, it was too late and they ran aground on a reef. The ship sank within 10 or 15 minutes.

Only two survived. Eva Carmichael, who survived by clinging to a spar for five hours, and Thomas R. Pearce, an apprentice who clung to the overturned hull of a lifeboat. Tom Pearce came ashore first, then heard Eva's shouts and went back into the ocean to rescue her. They came ashore at what is now known as Loch Ard gorge and sheltered there before seeking assistance. Only four bodies were recovered and these are buried in a small graveyard on the cliff by the gorge.

The ship’s cargo included a range of luxury goods, including a large porcelain peacock made by Minton potteries Stoke on Trent England, as a decorative piece to demonstrate the outstanding craftsmanship of Minton. It’s made of Majolica glazed earthenware and stands 1.44 metres high. It was intended to be displayed in the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880. Remarkably, the peacock was recovered completely intact still in its wooden crate washed up on the shore a few days later (well done to the packers!) and was eventually able to be displayed a century later for the Victoria Pavilion at the Brisbane 1988 Worlds Exposition. We popped into Warnambool museum to have a quick peek at the peacock. I read that the 130 kilometere stretch of coastline from Cape Otway to Port Fairy has been named the Shipwreck coast as there are around 683 known shipwrecks that occurred in the 1800’s and early 1900’s, of which only 240 have been discovered. Traveling was certainly tough in those days.

After Warrnambool we drove inland, on our way back to Melbourne, to visit the Red Rock area. It’s a massive area shaped by volcanic activity. The rolling countryside was created by basalt lava flows. This was followed by explosions of fine ash resulting from contact between lava and water. The ash formed rims around holes, some of which filled with the water, to make Maar lakes (like the two we had seen on the Atherton Tableland). Finally, as though that wasn’t enough, fire-fountains of lava formed sweet looking conical hills called scoria cones.

We camped wild at a lookout and settled in for what was an extremely chilly but very clear night. We had a fantastic view of the dazzlingly bright orange full moon. It is particularly large at the moment due to its closeness to the earth. We awoke to thick fog. I refused to get out from under my many layers of duvet and pile of fleeces until the sun came out.

Our final stop before we handed Syd back was to a suburb of Melbourne for a trip on Puffing Billy. We hit Melbourne in the rush hour and it was manic. After reaching the railway station neither of us could face driving to find a campervan park for the night so we stayed in one of the Puffing Billy carparks behind some shops. Possibly our least salubrious camping spot.

Puffing Billy is a sweet little steam train that takes you up into the Dandenong mountain range from Belgrave to Gembrook. It is run almost entirely of volunteers some looking as old as the train itself. The narrow-gauge railway was opened in 1900 and trains carried everything up to the mountain farming communities including beer for the pubs. It’s now only used for tourist trips. Whilst waiting at Gembrook for the train back we spotted our first car museum. It was basically the private collection of a local car enthusiast. It was small with only 5 vehicles but peter was happy chatting with the owner.

And that ends our tour around eastern Australia. We have driven around 6,000 miles and still have a few to do around Tasmania.