As I write this it is the morning of Thursday 8th December. We are sitting having brekkie in the sunshine looking over the river we are camped next to. What a glorious start to a day. But I am procrastinating - I am meant to be reflecting on the previous day's experiences.

We had another late start yesterday and as we got up told ourselves we really must get our act into gear or we'll be wasting half days of our trip. We left Lorne and drove further west along the Great Ocean Road with Port Cambell as our final destination. Despite knowing that all the little towns are meant to be very pretty we didn't have too much desire to look round a town - partly due to our lack of capacity to buy any souveniers with no luggage space left,and partly due to the fact that we were entirely self sufficient in the van with all the food and drink we'd need for our trip. As a result we passed through Apollo Bay with just a toilet stop and pulled over for lunch at a quieter spot a bit further down the road with a sea view.

Our first proper stop was to do a 30 minute rainforest boardwalk where the ocean road turned inland for a while. It was an enjoyable stroll but a wholly touristy experience with coach loads of other sightseers passing us along the way. I guess we have been spoiled because once you've been to the Amazon with the massive amount of sights, smells and sounds it's difficult to top it.

Our next stop was at Cape Otway where Australia's oldest lighthouse is. We had to take a 12km detour off the main road to reach it, passing through a lot of tall gum trees. Scott pulled over to get a photo of the trees and I dreamed of seeing a koala as I stared up into the canopy. Then much to my delight and amazement I saw one and ran after Scott excitedly calling out to him. After we'd spotted one we kept seeing more in the same vicinity - I think there were about 10 in total. Most of them were sleeping and not doing anything too exciting - but one of them woke and jumped across the branches and posed beautifully for Scott to get a perfect snap - the classic Aussie shot! We had to pay an entrance fee to see the lighthouse itself including a tour inside. We decided to give this a miss and opted for the free choice of doing a 20 minute walk to a lighthouse viewpoint. As we headed off along the narrow path between tall grasses we passed a snake warning sign. Scott, not a lover of snakes, proceeded to walk stamping his feet loudly with each step (a local had told us this would scare snakes away)! I continued mildly amused, although I have to confess I wasn't too keen on the idea of meeting a snake either. My imagination ran wild playing out what I'd do if a snake suddenly jumped out of the grass and bit one of us! The view of the lighthouse was very limited and small and not the great sea scape I was hoping for, but we'd had the opportunity to stretch our legs, and we'd seen koalas so the detour off the road was more than worth it.

The next stop was at the Gibson Steps - a step set of stairs leading down to Gibson's beach with a view of 2 of the famous 12 Apostles. For those who may not know the 12 Apostles are dramatic limestone rock stacks in the ocean and the most famous stretch of the Great Ocean Road. Despite the name there are actually only 11 rock stacks though! Gibson's beach was amazing - v dramatic as the sun was now low in the sky creating a silhouette of the rock stacks. The beach was fabulous to walk along and had very dramatic cliffs, but the signs warned against swimming with strong rip currents. Despite this we saw about 4 people diving under the waves - either brave or very stupid I thought! About 2 minutes further along the road we arrived at the 12 Apostles lookout where an impressive board walk and viewing platform had been built to the edge of the cliffs giving some fantastic views of this great natural phenomenon. This scenery was much more impressive than the previous days drive.

By the time we left the lookout it was nearly 7pm and we hurried on to Port Campbell where we were to camp, worried that the camp site office may shortly close. I had nothing to worry about as we arrived in good time and I prepared chicken stir fry with honey and soy, and Scott did his usual uploading of photos to drop box. Still no news from my sister - we are anxiously waiting to hear. We have no reception this morning so will have to wait until we get on the road to check emails again.