Day 115 11/01/2015

We planned to drive along the Great Ocean Road today and stay overnight in Warrnambool. The weather was quite misty as we drove down to the coast road, turning west at Apollo Bay and heading towards Cape Otway, passing where we'd gone kayaking yesterday (we actually received a text to tell us that the swell was too big for kayaking which was interesting given we'd been the day before!). Cape Otway is the second most southerly point of mainland Australia. The coastline is beautiful and very rugged. We drove down to Cape Otway Lightstation which is the oldest lighthouse on mainland Australia although no longer in use. We'd read that you can sometimes see Koala's in the trees along the way and we were delighted when we spotted them. They are such lovely creatures. The lighthouse was built in 1848 by 40 stonemasons without mortar or cement. Nearby is the Telegraph Station which has a fascinating display on the 250km undersea telegraph cable line that was laid back in 1859 from here to Tasmania. We continued west to reach the Port Campbell National Park stopping at Princetown for lunch, a small village on the Gillibrand River Estuary, where we experienced our first and hopefully last, Spyder drink (see photo below). We've probably had our quota of E's for the year! The road levels out from here and enters flat scrubby escarpment lands with c70m cliffs falling away to the sea. Waves and tides have crashed against the soft limestone for aeons caving out a fascinating serious of rock stacks, gorges, aches and blowholes, the most famous of which are known as the Twelve Apostles. We stopped at Gibsons Steps where you can walk down the 86 steps, originally hacked out by hand and now replaced by concrete, to Gibson Beach (there's no swimming anywhere along this coast due to strong currents and undertows) to see the first of the Apostles. A short distance along the road you can walk to the viewing platform to get a great view of seven of the Apostles. By now the weather had improved with the sky clearing and the temperature rising. The helicopter company offering scenic tours was doing a roaring trade but at $145 for 15 minutes we thought it was a bit excessive and gave it a miss. A little further along the coast is Loch Ard Gorge. The stretch of coast is known as Shipwreck's Coast and this area is the most famous with haunting tales of wrecked ships and heroic survival. By know it was nearly 5pm and we decided we'd better head to Warrnambool, planning to return tomorrow to see the remaining sights and the penguins which nest along the shore. We're staying at the Warrnambool Hotel, a historic 1894 hotel with a very popular and noisy bar under our room which we're hoping quietens down at 10pm as promised! It's renowned for wood fired pizzas which we can confirm our lovely especially when washed down with a good bottle of red.

Forrest Guest House

Perfecting the art of down climbing 

You can't get any cuter than this 

Cape Otway Lightstation 

Lime Spyders with added E's! 

Gibson Beach 

Twelve Apostles 

Looking east to Gibson Beach 

Loch Ard Gorge