Thursday 17th
Oh dear, that nice site we had yesterday turned out to be very noisy! The alarm to the office went off in the wee hours of the morning....twice! Then those in a tent next to us decided to get up, have breakfast and all before 6am. Without a thought to anyone else, voices were raised and all sleep went out the window. So instead of catching the 9am ferry, we caught the 8am ferry to Queenscliff instead. Made it with minutes to spare saving an hours wait till the next one.
 |
| The first sight of Queenscliff |
Only took 45 minutes. Had hoped to see a dolphin or two but no such luck. Once we disembarked it was off to where the Great Ocean road started, Torquay.
Our first stop after Torquay was to find the free campsite. 10 km from the Ocean Road and up this very windy road to Deans Marsh. Not too bad on the way up, car towed the van beautifully but NOT looking forward to coming back down! It's those 6% hairpin downhills that are worrying me. Arriving before midday we had the pick of spots. Only 12 overnighters allowed apparently (I say apparently because that evening 18 vehicles turned up including camper vans, those sleeping in cars and also with tents. Talk about sardines in a can!). The site is run by Parks and most of the National forests have a few free camping grounds but well away from the road and up dirt tracks. Very basic, no drinking water, the only water being tanked rainwater. No flush loo, in fact, it's more like a bucket over a hole in the ground. No internet signal and no telly. We went back into boat mode switching all bar one small light off and conserving what little water we had in the tank. In fact, at one point we used a torch to read by but the benefits.... oh that night sky! Didn't get any photos 'cos I left my other Canon lens at my brother's but we could have stayed looking up at all those stars all night. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. Quick lunch after we unhitched and off to Split Point Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet.
 |
| Split Point Lighthouse |
 |
| Eagle Rock |
It was a must stop at the historic Memorial Arch between Aireys Inlet and Lorne, and another before Lorne to see Teddy's lookout. It was here we discovered the snake we thought was a Copperhead (as put in my last post heading) was actually a Tiger Snake.
 |
| Teddy's Lookout |
With the temperatures in the low 30's, it was a welcome relief to get back to camp and sit in the shade of those trees. Out came the wine and beer and we sat and watched as one vehicle after another started to turn up all looking for a space.
Wildlife seen today
 |
| In a small pond at the campsite |
1 comment:
Takes us back 15 years to when we did the Great Ocean Road. Angela's sister lives in Melbourne and we were there with the in-laws. We borrowed their car for a few days during a Victoria hot spell, with the temperature around 40 degrees. We were warned that when it broke, the temperature would plummet. It duly did and went down to about 16 degrees in a few hours. We were watching the thermometer in the car as it dropped down. Amazing.
As you said the stars are amazing, we stood out at night with our jaws dropped.
Of all the areas we visited in our 6 month stay, the 3 weeks spent in Tasmania were our favourite.
Post a Comment