Great Ocean Road - Part 2
More rain. And wind. Lots of wind.
Our first challenge for the day was to get out of the driveway and up the dirt hill, which wasn't as difficult as we thought it would be. Then it was on to the town of Timboon where we were going to visit a whiskey distillery. It didn't open until 10am, and we had arrived a bit after 9am so waited around in the carpark watching the rain fall and ducks waddling through the grass nearby (yes, it was definitely weather for ducks!) When we did finally go in, we sat beside the open fire and had a hot drink to warm ourselves up, and then of course tried some whiskey and liqueurs. They were surprisingly good, and the woman was open to sharing how each of their products was made, so we came away with some ideas to experiment with when we get home. We then drove back into Port Campbell but on the way the fuel trouble with the bus came back again, making it a very frustrating trip. The frustration at the slow pace of the bus was compounded by the gale force winds we also had to contend with on the road. The first scenic stop was at Thunder Cave and blowhole but the lookouts were roped off to visitors. Then at Loch Ard Gorge, Bec got out to have a look first (as Callen was sleeping we were going to take turns) and got caught out in some horrible weather...first rained on, then poured on, then hailed on, then sea foam fell from the sky and when she did finally make it to the lookout almost got blown off by the strong winds! Needless to say, she returned to the bus very, very wet. Kent then went for a quick look, but just got blown about by the wind. Our next stop was the 12 Apostles and this time Callen came with us. But wind and rain hadn't eased up yet and we could hardly stand up at the lookout because the gusts were so strong (up to 75km per hour we found out later). It's safe to say, we have a good appreciation of why it is called the Shipwreck Coast! We then stopped at Princetown for some lunch and tried to get dry, before pushing on to our goal of Apollo Bay for the night. The bus continued to play up as we drove up and down the hills and we bypassed Cape Otway because of the terrible weather. We limped into Apollo Bay late in the afternoon and booked into a caravan park for hot showers all round. There was one final good thing that happened for the day - shortly after setting up camp, we were told that there were 2 whales in the bay (seeking refuge no doubt!). When we went down to the beach for a look, we were able to spot them about 100-150 metres off the shore just raising their heads or an occasional fin. So that was a pretty awesome end to an otherwise fairly average day.
P.S. It's still raining, and still windy, and we don't know if the bus will make it to Melbourne to get on the boat, but we'll see what tomorrow brings!