An early start to head to Melbourne on a cold (light frosty) morning. Lovely mist & sun shining through the trees next to Janinie's house. As we left Trentham & the other little villages enroute the landscape was so beautiful with the mist hanging over it. Naturally I couldn't use the camera (no time to stop) as we had to have the caravan in Melbourne for 9am (1.5 hr drive) to have a few minor faults corrected by the manufacturers. They were very helpful but we left the van there & drove into the city for a quick look at Queen Victoria Market (absolutely massive) & walked to Federation Square down by the river. The building there is a huge modern hexagonal/octagonal (?) structure which I thought was offensive to look at - guess it's all a matter of taste. Didn't have time to see much else as it was a 40 minute drive back to collect the van by 3pm when they closed, then venture on to our next camp spot at Werribee, west of the city, hoping to miss the peak hour traffic. Stu had chosen the van park & didn't realise it was right on Port Philip Bay so it was a nice surprise on arrival, especially as we had to drive through very flat market gardens to get there. It reminded us of Pukekohe with it's red soil, except here there were no hills. The park is quite large & we got the last site as it is popular for people visiting Melbourne. Nice to walk a beach again & smell the fresh sea air & as a bonus were given a nice sunset. Up at 6.30am next morning to catch a sunrise as well, the first we have managed so far. Gorgeous morning & we are setting off to start the Gt Ocean Road so should be lots of photography in the next week or so (of course that is a change for me). It's a shame we can't put more photos on the blog.
29th April - Lovely day for travelling again, bypassing Geelong we start what I am sure will be an exciting drive. First stop Torquay, a small coastal town very popular with surfies. All along this road are lovely sandy beaches & rocky headlands. At several points we managed to stop & take a few shots of lovely red cliffs & a lighthouse, the then stopped at Anglesea for picnic lunch. The road is naturally quite winding though not too bad at this stage. Travelling on to Lorne, we deviated off to a campsite in the Otway National Park, called Big Hill only a 10 minute drive. A basic camp with toilets & water only. It was quite close to the road & no-one there on our arrival. However within a few minutes two other vans pulled in together, so it was nice to have company. They were two couples (related) from W.A. who invited us to join them for a cuppa so a pleasant change to have company. Another young Irish couple joined us too in their tiny van.
30th April - We discovered this morning that the 3 caravans were all heading to the same camp, so would all meet again. However, Stu & I left first & just a short distance down the road came upon a big holdup of traffic. Apparently a motorcyclist (no doubt speeding) went over the barrier & tumbled down the incline leaving his bike behind. It took about 40 minutes for the ambulance & fire service to get him up the hill though we only waited about twenty. It was quite funny as it turned into a social occasion with all the occupants from the waiting vehicles having long conversations on the side of the road. The Aussies idea of a social occasion! We have heard that the weather is going to change so are all anxious to do as much as possible today. The road became really quite scary, driving along the cliff tops looking way down to the rocks & sea below - it certainly kept Stu concentrating very hard. It's not a particularly wide road either, but they do provide a lot of 'pull offs' so that slower vehicles can let other traffic pass. Stu uses these a lot as he hates having people on his tail. This is the only coastal route I have ever travelled where it actually does keep to the coast most of the time. We did call into the seaside town of Lorne to get fuel, & then again at Apollo Bay for lunch. Both are very popular holiday destinations, especially for surfies, as is most of this coast. The road did for a time leave the coast where en route we visited 'Mait's Rest' and we did the most beautiful rainforest walk I have ever experienced (of course I have never done the Sth Island walks). There were huge native myrtle trees over 300 years old & eucalypts which were so high I had a crick in my neck looking up. Very hard to photograph of course, but the green of the ferns & moss etc was spectacular. The only thing that spoilt it was the van loads of other tourists who arrived when we did. However they didn't stay long so we did manage a short period of tranquility before the next lot arrived. On arrival at Joanna Beach we were disappointed to find what we thought was the campsite & it was so sloping that we couldn't get our van level. We did find another road leading further along the beach & went to inspect & it was great. We have a CB radio in the van & so have the others, so we were able to contact them to tell them where to come. We all settled in & had 5 o'clock nibbles time before dinner, then did our own thing. By the time we went to bed it had started to rain lightly, but by the next morning it had set in, so a quiet day with time for me to catch up on this blog.
01 May - By lunchtime the rain had cleared so we left the van & headed for 'The Treetops Fly' which is a wonderful walk through the top of the trees. We did do one at Lamington National Park, but this one is truly amazing. The forest itself is lovely with even a short deviation for kids. We being big kids thought we had better walk that too & it was like a mini Jurassic Park. (See photof) The boardwalk sis 600 metres long & 25 metres above the florest floor & constructed of 120 tonnes of steel . There are only 3 other steel canopy walks in the world & they are all in Australia. It was prefabricated in Tasmania & transported in 8 mtr spans & erected on site by cranes, taking 10 months to complete. It can withstand winds up to 260 kilometres. At the end of the walkway is a cantilevered section which can hold the weight of 14 elephants. Luckily we didn't see any wild elephants that day! The ' piece de resistance' is the 47 metre high tower which is accessed via a spiral staircase. It does slightly move, as do the boardwalks, but it is meant to apparently. I'm getting quite good at heights these days. There is also a 'Zip Line Tour' which is available - this means you can pay $115 each to fly through the trees on a flying fox type contraption for about 3 hours - unfortunately we couldn't view that section but could hear the 'zipping' sound now & again. A magical place & well worth the visit. By this time it was about 3.30pm but we wanted to visit the nearby Triplet Falls which was a half hour walk down steps the whole way but once again worth it. Luckily we discovered we didn't have to return up all those steps again as there was an alternative route back. To finish the day Stu & I took a walk to the beach & Stu got some great sunset photos.
30th April - We discovered this morning that the 3 caravans were all heading to the same camp, so would all meet again. However, Stu & I left first & just a short distance down the road came upon a big holdup of traffic. Apparently a motorcyclist (no doubt speeding) went over the barrier & tumbled down the incline leaving his bike behind. It took about 40 minutes for the ambulance & fire service to get him up the hill though we only waited about twenty. It was quite funny as it turned into a social occasion with all the occupants from the waiting vehicles having long conversations on the side of the road. The Aussies idea of a social occasion! We have heard that the weather is going to change so are all anxious to do as much as possible today. The road became really quite scary, driving along the cliff tops looking way down to the rocks & sea below - it certainly kept Stu concentrating very hard. It's not a particularly wide road either, but they do provide a lot of 'pull offs' so that slower vehicles can let other traffic pass. Stu uses these a lot as he hates having people on his tail. This is the only coastal route I have ever travelled where it actually does keep to the coast most of the time. We did call into the seaside town of Lorne to get fuel, & then again at Apollo Bay for lunch. Both are very popular holiday destinations, especially for surfies, as is most of this coast. The road did for a time leave the coast where en route we visited 'Mait's Rest' and we did the most beautiful rainforest walk I have ever experienced (of course I have never done the Sth Island walks). There were huge native myrtle trees over 300 years old & eucalypts which were so high I had a crick in my neck looking up. Very hard to photograph of course, but the green of the ferns & moss etc was spectacular. The only thing that spoilt it was the van loads of other tourists who arrived when we did. However they didn't stay long so we did manage a short period of tranquility before the next lot arrived. On arrival at Joanna Beach we were disappointed to find what we thought was the campsite & it was so sloping that we couldn't get our van level. We did find another road leading further along the beach & went to inspect & it was great. We have a CB radio in the van & so have the others, so we were able to contact them to tell them where to come. We all settled in & had 5 o'clock nibbles time before dinner, then did our own thing. By the time we went to bed it had started to rain lightly, but by the next morning it had set in, so a quiet day with time for me to catch up on this blog.
01 May - By lunchtime the rain had cleared so we left the van & headed for 'The Treetops Fly' which is a wonderful walk through the top of the trees. We did do one at Lamington National Park, but this one is truly amazing. The forest itself is lovely with even a short deviation for kids. We being big kids thought we had better walk that too & it was like a mini Jurassic Park. (See photof) The boardwalk sis 600 metres long & 25 metres above the florest floor & constructed of 120 tonnes of steel . There are only 3 other steel canopy walks in the world & they are all in Australia. It was prefabricated in Tasmania & transported in 8 mtr spans & erected on site by cranes, taking 10 months to complete. It can withstand winds up to 260 kilometres. At the end of the walkway is a cantilevered section which can hold the weight of 14 elephants. Luckily we didn't see any wild elephants that day! The ' piece de resistance' is the 47 metre high tower which is accessed via a spiral staircase. It does slightly move, as do the boardwalks, but it is meant to apparently. I'm getting quite good at heights these days. There is also a 'Zip Line Tour' which is available - this means you can pay $115 each to fly through the trees on a flying fox type contraption for about 3 hours - unfortunately we couldn't view that section but could hear the 'zipping' sound now & again. A magical place & well worth the visit. By this time it was about 3.30pm but we wanted to visit the nearby Triplet Falls which was a half hour walk down steps the whole way but once again worth it. Luckily we discovered we didn't have to return up all those steps again as there was an alternative route back. To finish the day Stu & I took a walk to the beach & Stu got some great sunset photos.
Beautiful pictures.
ReplyDelete