Week 10 Sun 22 Apr - Sat 28 Apr

Week 10 Sun 22 Apr – Sat 28 Apr

Werribee South (Melbourne) 22-23 Apr

The boat journey was good and no major dramas and we arrived at Melbourne port on time, debarking at 6.30am.  Being a Sunday it was fairly quiet which was nice as the traffic was minimal at this time of day.  We stopped and took a picture from around the bay and the headed west to Werribee, somewhere close to a train line.  After a few dramas about finding a caravan park, we made our way to Werribee South on the coast, a nice little caravan park and lucky for us open at 8am to check in.  After setting up and getting settled we had breakfast and then headed for the train. 

We found the Werribee train station carpark and got our tickets – amazed at how little it cost.  For both of us return fare only $7.00.  If this was Brisbane it would have been double this price. The train arrived in 10 mins and it took about 40 mins to get to Melbourne, deciding to get off at Flinders Street Station.

As Tony and I wanted  do a few different things, we decided to meet up in half hour, so I took off for the Yarra river walk, walked around Federation Square and then met up again.

Lunch was beckoning and then we hit the shopping streets of Melbourne.  We walked our legs off around blocks of streets, the obvious, Collins Street and Bourke Street and Flinders, although we opted to get a Tram from the bottom end of Flinders back to the Station.  We were getting rather tired as the boat trip doesn’t really give you a lot of sleep so we set off back to Werribee at 3.30pm.

Apollo Bay (Great Ocean Road) 24 - 28 Apr

Monday we set off for the Great Ocean Road, Apollo Bay was our destination.   We found a great fruit shop at a roadhouse not long out of Werribee and got 3 x 300g of small strawberries – absolutely delicious.  As we headed down the coast road the weather decidedly got worse, with horrible dark black clouds.  It did however manage to hold off as we parked up at Aireys Inlet to visit the Split Point Lighthouse which gives you the taster for what you are about to see along this fabulous coastline.  Just about to drive off and those dark clouds were turning into a horrible thunderstorm and torrential rain.  We preserved and made our way slowly to Lorne.

Lunch beckoned, so we got a healthy chicko roll and chips and sat in the park.  Suddenly we were surrounded – it was an attack of the Birds!!!!  They were everywhere and moving in – oh I am talking about cockatoos and they were asking for a chip.  They were on the floor, table and everywhere – very Hitchcock indeed.

Off again now leaving Lorne for Apollo Bay – and this is what I would call the archetypal Great Ocean Road drive.  It was beautiful and amazing and what a drive – although I had to keep my eyes on the road at all times.  The weather cleared a little after the storm and we got a fantastic view from Cape Patton down the coast to Apollo Bay.  We finally arrived at the Recreation Reserve camp spot around 4.00pm and the rain was back again.  The predictions for the next week was rain and showers and cloudy and windy – great!!

We woke up Tuesday and the weather was atrocious - blowing a gale, cold and wet – so we decided to have a lazy day and just have a look around Apollo Bay, check out the takeaway and shops.  We have been unsuccessfully trying to have a Chinese takeaway for the last fortnight to no avail, so when we came upon the takeaway we got the menu to decide what we were going to have. 

Wednesday was going to be a long day, as we were heading to the Twelve Apostles and other attractions on the coast.  The return drive would be around 200kms, and we should have left earlier than we did but nonetheless we got away at 10 am.  The rain was still coming down as we headed to Princetown and then the clouds got lighter and it started to clear, just a little cloudy.  We arrived at the Gibson Steps just up the road from the Twelve Apostles and went down to the beach.  As you see the amazing coastline it sort of takes your breath away with the beauty of the landscape and the cliffs faces and massive rocks juxtaposed in the ocean.  The colours are also amazing and as the wind has been quite high the seas were raging in and crashing on the shore and rocks.

Our next stop, the Twelve Apostles – now very commercialized and restrained by fences due to the volume of tourists. But even with this still a spectacular site.  This part of the coastline just has so much to see and offer, next being Loch Ard Gorge where there are 4 mini walks that take about an hour and a half – and we didn’t do everything.  I don’t know what to say – this part of the coast was particular amazing, spectacular, rugged and beautiful all at the same time.

We made our way along the Great Ocean Road stopping at all the touristy places, in order, Port Campbell, the Arch, London Bridge, Peterborough, Bay of Martyrs and the Bay of Islands. This was a far west as our travels are taking us on this trip, and after this we will slowly make our way back north east through Victoria back to NSW and then QLD.

By the time you do all these pit stops, the day had largely disappeared and before we knew it, it was 5.45pm and getting dark and we had a 1.5 hour drive back to base, not a great time to be driving as the roads are narrow, windy and wildlife love this time of day – but finally back at 7.00pm.

Thursday we headed in the opposite direction back to Lorne to have a better look and to do some of the waterfalls on the way, some of which were Carisbrook Falls and Sheok Falls then onto Lorne for lunch and then out to Erskine Falls a 30m waterfall (most famous in Lorne), back to Lorne to see the swinging bridge and walk along the beach, stop at the Pier and then take off home – again back to base in the dark.  Lorne is a lovely place and plenty of things going for it, however, I have never seen so many cockatoos in one place - and cheeky!!

Friday the weather was slightly better, but still the on and off showers persisted, but it did stop for longer today.  Today, off to do the loop around Apollo Bay to the Beech Forest and waterfall drive.  The drive up the mountain and through the forest is a particularly beautiful drive, narrow and steep and not much room for passing cars.   It is watch you always picture in your mind of a rainforest drive, dark, huge trees, drop offs and masses of ferns and enormous trees. 

Hopetoun Falls was the first walk for the day which took around 50 mins return and worth the walk down the steps to see.  Our next stop was to visit Triplet Falls.  This is a beautiful 1 hour loop walk on the forest floor with 3 levels of falls – lovely.  Just up the road from here is the Ottway Fly and Zipline Park.  We really enjoyed this as it has a number of sections to the walk plus a tower that is extremely high above the canopy, and it also sways a bit – a lot!!! 

Our last stop of the day was to Cape Otway Lighthouse, but we arrived at 5.00pm and it was closed, so we had to settle for the Lookout view – very disappointing. This was another full day just getting back on dusk.

Smythesdale (Ballarat) 28 Apr

Saturday we were leaving the coast and heading north, inland for Ballarat.  We stopped at a placed called Cressy to get a bit to eat, and got a great Lasange, salad and chips for $6 each.  Moving on we found a great free camp about 20km shy of Ballarat – a donation campsite with showers, toilets and a great camp kitchen with a fireplace. A really nice stopover for a few days, and we got straight to work collecting wood and started our fire for Billy tea. 

Unfortunately the rain came over on dark so no sitting out tonight.