Wednesday November 10th
We retraced the steps we took last Sunday as far as Airey’s Inlet to see the lighthouse at Split Point. This is obviously where the flies and mosquitos also go on holiday! We’ve managed with only a couple of bites each so far – until today!
The area itself is worth visiting though. The lighthouse is only open to organised tours at set times, so we passed on that having been to the top of Cape Otway lighthouse.
The lookout points were well planned and there were yet more great views of rocks and sea.
I know one or two people back home who would have been more impressed with the bird we spotted on the cliffs.
Initial thoughts were that was a peregrine, but he was quite a long way distant and enlarging the photo showed him to be a brown falcon. *
* apparently it's a Nankeen Kestrel - thanks Keith
Leaving Airey’s Inlet we headed for the Erskine Falls, which are situated above the town of Lorne in the Great Otway National Park.
From the car park we were made to feel really welcome by this sign!
We could hear the sound of water as we approached the top viewing point, which was a welcome sound as the falls can be occasionally little more than a trickle in dry spells. Luckily there had been rain so we weren’t disappointed.
We could hear the sound of water as we approached the top viewing point, which was a welcome sound as the falls can be occasionally little more than a trickle in dry spells. Luckily there had been rain so we weren’t disappointed.
The best viewing of the falls is from the bottom, down 200 or so fairly steep steps, but it’s worth it! It wouldn’t be hard to imagine Indiana Jones appearing from behind one of the tree ferns.
A little further downstream was a sign advising that only experienced bush walkers should go any further. Since Marg had her Dutch tourist trainers on we felt confident!
She even found some stepping stones which were another reminder of Ogmore.
The gorge is a beautiful place and, for a while, we were the only people there.
There were a few concerns that our little hire car wouldn’t make it up the steep incline from the car park, but we needn’t have worried and made it easily back to Lorne for a spot of lunch.
This is a pleasant seaside holiday spot, but apart from the beach, a quaint church, some cockatoos grazing on the prom and a lovely old hotel from Victorian times, there was nothing to make us wish we were staying there instead of Apollo Bay.
We headed back to something we had seen on our journey last Sunday. This is a memorial to commemorate the building of the Great Ocean Road by 3000 Australian returned soldiers and sailors after the First World War.
The arch over the road is the fourth to stand there, as storm, road widening and the fires of 1983 took care of the other three.
The whole of the Great Ocean Road is seen as a memorial to the sacrifices made in WWI and is the largest enduring war memorial in the world.
The arch over the road is the fourth to stand there, as storm, road widening and the fires of 1983 took care of the other three.
The whole of the Great Ocean Road is seen as a memorial to the sacrifices made in WWI and is the largest enduring war memorial in the world.
Thursday November 11th
Spent our last full day in Australia sorting a few things out, then going for a walk along the shore. A last paddle nearly turned into a last swim!
Apollo Bay has been a perfect way to end our Australian adventure, but we’re very aware that the atmosphere would be totally different in the height of summer. As it is – we’ve loved it!
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