The 'GREAT' Great Ocean Road-7th-10th April, 2008

What a fabulous experience! Three amazing and totally different days.

Our first day, a Sunday, was full of sunshine. First, we were meandering through green hills full of large, glossy, black cows and viewing sparkling, deep blue lakes then, suddenly, it was all sheer cliffs and the angry white froth of crashing blue seas on outcrops of rocks; limestone stacks eaten away in the constant battle of the elements. This was where you felt that you could easily drop off the end of Australia! There was nothing but sea and driving winds between us and Antarctica! This was a remarkable thought. It was not cold though.

We had spent the day driving along to each look-out, taking photographs, along with all the other tourists. We saw an Echidna happily grubbing for ants along one walkway, totally unconcerned by the nearness of humans. These porcupine like creatures tend to look like a moving tuft of grass. The look-outs are well set out, wooden walkways and prevent people from disturbing the vegetation and wildlife. Both can exist alongside each other happily and successfully. We watched people taking pictures of themselves posing, with the magnificent scenery taking second place, in the background??? By the time we got to the Twelve Apostles and noticed that there were coaches of visitors, of every nationality, we realised that Sunday was not a good day to do this! We have had the luxury of walking around on working days when there are only a few people around, a real luxury, and what a difference!! We headed out to camp.
We did not like the tourist crowded Port Campbell, despite its river and beach, so we moved on to Princetown. This was the other extreme. There was a bar and a shop. That was it! But it was very picturesque.
The camp was set up next to a winding river, where it flowed into the sea. Unfortunately, this usually meant mosquitoes in extremoes!!! We had learned this lesson the hard way from our Port Piri experience! I thought that I was being clever parking up on the bank, by the road. We had noticed pencil sized holes in the ground, underneath the van but Lee had dismissed them as tent peg holes. I was not convinced, and I was right. It was not so. As I climbed out of the van to head for the loos in the dark my torch had captured a movement in the grass. On closer inspection I noticed Cicadas oozing out of these holes and rushing through the grass, in force, as the sun disappeared. At first I had thought that they were cockroaches and had scrambled inside imaging the full Alfred Hitchcock scenario. My last journey of the night had seen me sporting black socks with my trousers tucked in and sandals! We left early the next morning, well, once the van started. There was no sign of the insects.
Day two saw us driving in the Ottaways, a constantly winding road through great, green forests of firs, a managed plantation. The Aire Valley presented a wonderful pastoral scene, with majestic trees the shape of oaks, under which the relaxed cows and sheep sheltered from the sun, and lush green hills. This was a far cry from the dryness of Southern Australia and their concern about the great Murray River with its dropping levels.
Day three took us along cliff roads. The cliffs lined one side of the road and the ocean lined the other. It was less dramatic than day one but lovely, nevertheless. Apollo Bay sparkled in the sun. We wandered around the harbour where fishermen and women waited patiently. The golf course was right alongside the beach and a warm beach played over the sand. Lorne lazed in the sunshine as we strolled around.
Funnily enough, in the midst of this beauty Lee voiced the question, should we leave? He had had enough of Australia! I have had many mornings when I have felt the endlessness of all this and it has not filled me with joy! We decided that anything was possible. We would sleep on it for 48 hours. There was little real conversation for 24hrs but a lot of thinking. I wondered whether we could sell the van in time, where we should go to sell the van and then I began to think about all the places that I had not yet seen-Ayers Rock, Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Great Barrier Reef. These were the things that people came here to see!!! We decided that we would have time to make it to Sydney and, just when we thought that we had made a decision, we changed our minds! We decided to give ourselves another four months to do as much as possible and then call it a day. It felt good to have a boundary.
The next day we spoke to some people who said that we must do Tasmania, so here we are, and I am so glad that we did. We renewed our visas yesterday, in Hobart, at considerable cost, and even extended our visit here by a week. You never can tell how things will go from day to day but that is part of the joy of travelling.