Monday November 8th
We decided today to drive just a relatively short way down the Great Ocean Road, heading for Cape Otway light station. This is listed as Australia’s most important lighthouse because the large number of wrecks in the area of the Bass Strait in the 1800s prompted its construction. It was completed in 1848 and is the second oldest in Australia.
After our excitement at seeing our first koala in the wild yesterday, we felt just the same today when we saw dozens of them on the way down to the Cape. Most were trying to ignore us and get some sleep.
The road to the Cape is through the Great Otway National Park. We travelled on a narrow, mostly unmarked road through avenues of Eucalypts and Paperbark trees, towering 50 or 60 metres (Marg doesn't believe me) above us.
Before we reached the lighthouse we had decided that we loved the area and our accommodation so much (well who wouldn’t love this level of luxury!) that we really didn’t want to end our holiday by returning to the hustle and bustle of Melbourne. This would mean cancelling one hotel booking, hoping for vacancies in Apollo Bay, altering our car hire for 2 extra days and a return direct to the airport. Luckily we had our Australian phone. Unluckily we had no signal. It would have to wait.
The building on the left is not our latest holiday home, however much we’d like it to be! This was the cottage which served as a telegraph station and also as a home for the families of the lightkeepers. It has also served as a school. The head lightkeeper’s house is now used for holiday accommodation.
We headed for the lighthouse and realised how exposed and windswept it is. Packing hats, glasses etc. away we headed for the top.
Marg looks quite calm and collected in the next photo, but this part was quite protected from the wind. The photographer (Paul) was being blasted by what felt like a hurricane a bit further around the tower!
Inside we chatted to the guide, Pat, who was a real character. He told us that the workings of the lighthouse were manufactured by Chance Bros of Smethwick, near Birmingham. He had even assembled a folder of photographs and articles about the company, just for visitors from “Brum”.
Up until this point, Pat had been wearing a baseball cap, but when asked for a photo, he insisted on wearing his “official” hat and dragging Marg into the picture, also having to wear a proper hat. He was interesting and really interested in Wales and the UK. We enjoyed meeting him.
Before leaving the cape, and after a spot of lunch, we visited the Aboriginal Cultural Site. Walking through the undergrowth we arrived at a replica of an Aboriginal dwelling where a young man, of Aboriginal descent, took great pride in showing us tools, weapons and instruments and telling us the history of the Aboriginal people.
As we were leaving, we saw 4 people from our hotel who we’d identified as being Welsh (the Welsh baseball caps were a bit of a giveaway!) It turned out that 2 were from Cardiff and the other 2, now living in Melbourne, were originally from Gilwern. It’s a small world!
Back at the hotel, and a few phone calls later, the result is that we aren’t returning to Melbourne, but are staying here until we are due to leave Australia. We’ve extended the car hire and arranged to return it to the airport on Friday.
We know that the suburbs and surrounding countryside of Melbourne are lovely, but staying in the city is like staying in any city.
So we’re quite happy to be ending our stay in Australia in the peace and quiet of Apollo Bay.
No comments:
Post a Comment