Great Ocean Road - Ocean Grove to Port Campbell

On Friday, March 27^th we set off in both cars to drive the Great Ocean Road. Our first stop was Torquay for coffee. We then stopped at the famous Bells Beach. They were setting up for the Rip Curl Pro surfing competition. It was pretty neat to see the bleachers they were lining up along the cliff for spectators. There were probably 100 kangaroos in a field nearby. Our next stop was the rockpools near Lorne. Then we stopped at Lorne Visitor Center to pick up maps and some souvenir type stuff.

Rockpools near Lorne, March 27, 2015

Rockpool sea life

View near Lorne, March 27, 2015

We stopped at Kennett River to try to spot koalas. Barry, the kids, and I had been here before, but after seeing the area this time I’m guessing every time you visit it’s a bit different. This stop was so much fun and we all laughed so hard! Might have been the best part of the trip! The koalas were sleeping per usual, but the birds were extremely active. There were Crimson Rosellas, Eastern Rosellas, a Kookaburra, and some ducks. The birds were landing on all of us, whether we wanted them to or not! I didn’t even realize until I looked at pictures days later that Lydia had her bird dress on. How fitting, since she was quite the bird lady!

Dad and his bird buddy

Doesn't Hannah look excited about this?

Kiernan, the bird whisperer

"Lydia has a bird on her head..."
- new verse to the popular Laurie Berkner song

Sleeping koala

Kookaburra

Mom with her bird

Lydia became the bird lady! She started with two birds landing on her - one in each hand. Then another landed on her head. That was when she wasn't sure she liked it anymore. Their claws were a bit scratchy, so it was a bit painful when they touched skin. She was pretty brave though and cried when we left because she wanted to stay with them longer. I sure hope she remembers this experience. At least we have cool pictures to show her. 

Lydia's not sure about this-it was scratching her

Look at that determined face!!

Get the bird off my head!

Feeding the birds

We stopped in Apollo Bay for lunch at La Bimba. Great food and atmosphere.

Mom and Dad at La Bimba in Apollo Bay

For the foodies who read this blog...I had harira, a morrocan vegetable soup of chickpeas, noodles, vegetables, turmeric, and cinnamon and turkish bread. So good!

Harira=yum!

Next we drove to the Cape Otway Lightstation and learned that it was $20 each to see it! We decided to do a short walk to catch a glimpse instead. Unimpressive view, but hey, we can say we walked a small portion of the Great Ocean Walk. We also got to see several koalas on the road leading to the lightstation, so all was not lost. Also, the gum trees that are everywhere along the drive give off a scent of eucalyptus, so when you are driving through the forest it's a very refreshing smell!

Drive to lightstation

We walked 10 minutes of the Great Ocean Walk!

The pathway had neat trees surrounding it.

Cape Otway Lighthouse-can you see it?

View as we left the Otway area....reminded me of Ireland

Our last major stop for the day was 12 Apostles. Gorgeous place! The weather was misty at times and it was cold, plus we’d been driving all day so we were a bit tired, but AWESOME nonetheless! The scenery we saw in one day was incredible.

Our family at Twelve Apostles

Our 3 crazies!

Twelves Apostles

another view

See the people at the end of the cliff? We walked out to this area.
A little frightening with signs everywhere saying the cliffs were unstable!

View looking East

We stayed in a 3-bedroom villa at Southern Ocean Villas in Port Campbell. Barry and I ran to get pizza while Mom prepared a salad. We were exhausted! It was such a great day!

Fort (cubby) building with Grandpa

On Saturday, March 28th we visited Loch Ard Gorge first. Hannah was feeling a little under the weather, so she enjoyed the views from the top with Grandpa and Grandma while Barry, Kiernan, Lydia and I explored below. Loch Ard Gorge is part of the Port Campbell National Park. It’s named after the ship Loch Ard, which wrecked on a nearby island. Of the 54 passengers and crew, only two survived: Tom Pearce, a 15 year old ship’s apprentice, and Eva Carmichael, a 17 year old Irishwoman emigrating with her family. The story goes that Pearce was washed ashore and rescued Carmichael from the water after hearing her cries for help.  They sought shelter in the caves. Pearce than climbed out of the gorge for help and they went back to rescue Carmichael. The views here were amazing. 

Loch Ard Gorge view from the top

Lydia and Kiernan, Loch Ard Gorge, March 28, 2015

Loch Ard Gorge view from the beach

Another beach view

Barry and Kiernan climbed back into one of the caves. Here is Kiernan's description of what it was like:

"First, we climbed on rocks out to the cave. And then when we got inside it was dark and a long ways back. My Dad said 'Do you think there's a bear in here?', but I said 'no.' It was really cool. The floor was covered in sand and there were stalactites hanging down."

Barry and Kiernan, Loch Ard Gorge cave

Barry and Kiernan heading into the cave

We then traveled to Otway Fly Treetop Adventures. It's located in the Great Otway National Park. We did the treetop walk, which is a one hour rainforest walk that is about 2km and features a 30 meter high steel structured treetop canopy walkway. The walkway shakes, especially when you are walking it with children who walk like elephants. It was very cool and wet in the forest and smelled damp too. The forest was just teeming with growth, and the views and sights were neat. They gave the kids a little challenge packet that they had to complete, which kept them occupied and headed in the right direction. They had to do chalk rubbing on their cards, and even Lydia got into that. At the end they got a prize for completing the challenge.

Otway Fly, March 28, 2015

Huge trees losing lots of bark

beginning of treetop walk

Some of the ferns were as big as cars

At the top of the spiral tower, which was 47 meters up-whole tower was swaying!

View of walkways from top of tower

View from the top of the tower

Sign on forest floor warning us to watch for snakes (we didn't see any)

View on rainforest floor

Kiernan examining new growth on a fern

We took a faster route back by moving away from the coast. You can’t drive very fast on the coastal drive. We stopped in Gellibrand for a break and there were many galahs hanging out. They are the parrots with pinkish red bellies. Previously I had referred to them as Bourke’s parrot in my blog. 

We got back to Ocean Grove at about 5. We had grilled lamb cutlets and wine for dinner! Yum!

The two-day trip was fun! We spent the drive to Port Campbell with the boys in one car and the girls in the other car. It was a much quieter trip on the drive back to Ocean Grove, as we sent Lydia with the boys. Mom and I enjoyed the peace and quiet. It was a lot of travel for 2 days, but we are so happy that we did it. The Great Ocean Road is a fantastic way to see so much of southern Australia. The changing scenery as we drove along was amazing.

Stay tuned for more adventures...

Sarah