Packed up and headed off towards Port Campbell. Just near Kennett River we digressed and drove up Grey River Road, apparently a spot for viewing Koalas. We spotted several and quite close to the road.
From there it was on to Mait’s Rest, a little west of Apollo Bay in the Great Otway National Park. Took the self-guided walk (an 800m circuit), a lovely walk through a cool temperate rainforest - including a boardwalk built over the tree-fern gullies and a 300-year-old beech tree.
Near here we left the Great Ocean Road (briefly) for the drive down through the National Park to Cape Otway. Just before the Cape, there were lots of Koalas in the trees near the road – some with babies. This would be the best sighting of Koalas in the wild we have seen.
The lighthouse precinct at Cape Otway has been well kept and is quite a pretty spot. Soup and coffee at the café for lunch before climbing the lighthouse.
From there it was on to Princetown and then the Twelve Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge. It was pouring when we arrived at the Twelve Apostles so it was on with rain gear for the walk out to the viewing area. They were pretty spectacular despite the rain. To think that they were created by the constant erosion of the limestone cliffs and date back 10-20 million years is pretty amazing.
Fortunately the rain had eased by the time we got to Loch Ard Gorge so was great to be able to do the walks around the cliff face. The story of the Loch Ard is a tragic one (and one repeated often along this coast now called the Shipwreck Coast). The three-masted iron clipper, Loch Ard was on its way from England in June 1878 with 51 passengers and crew. The pass into Bass Straight is a difficult one, so critical it was called ‘threading the eye of the needle’. The captain miscalculated and the ship ran aground on a reef, sinking in 15 minutes with only two survivors.
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Loch Ard Gorge
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After that somewhat sobering experience, it was on to Port Campbell to the caravan park camping next door to a couple from Brisbane. Take away fish and chips (in the van with the heater on) for dinner.
