Port Fairy to Melbourne

Sunday 3rd Febuary

Sunny 28 degrees.

Today we start the Great Ocean Road drive.

Before setting off we drove into Port Fairy - what a delightful town, nice shops and cafés. In 2012 it was voted the world’s most liveable community (don’t know by who - just quoting the billboards). A small river snakes out to sea with a calm branch off where an instructor was taking a class of paddleboarders. Day trip boats line the river in front of cafés and holiday rentals, a marina round the corner and a golf course too. Perfect. We walked a short way on to a small island watching the paddleboarders going through their exercises before heading out to sea - it was simply lovely.

The sign says The Great Ocean Road (TGOR) starts (ends actually but we are doing it backwards) in Peterborough of all places but our Lonely Planet guide says it runs from Nelson close to the South Australia border to Torquay Australia’s surf capital or visa versa. In any event it was quite a drive from Port Fairy to the picturesque bits, about an hour to the Bay of Islands. We met a couple of Aussies there and the womans mother came from Ruston Parva, just down the road from Driffield. We were doing the same route so we bumped into them several times. They took our photo.

This part of the coastline is scattered with limestone stacks gradually being eroded by the sea, all very picturesque. There are lots of places for boat launching so being Sunday, lots of the locals were out - don’t blame them. There are little pull-ins to accommodate 20 or so cars and boardwalks out to see the views.

Next stop was Loch Ard Gorge. This got its name after a major shipwreck when the clipper Loch Ard foundered at 4am on the last day of its long voyage from England in 1878. Out of 56 passengers and crew only 2 survived, Eva Carmichael (passenger and non swimmer),  and Tom Pearce (apprentice crew). Tom rescued Eva, dragged her onto the beach and promptly fell asleep. They both fell in love and lived happily ever after.  Actually no. She went back to Ireland and they never met again. Maybe if he had been a captain...

Next pull over point was “The Grotto”. It was difficult to get near the grotto, as is was being taken over by posing Chinese couples and groups. Carol did manage to get a picture though. We decide to miss out the rest and head straight for the big one: The Twelve Apostles.

We imagined before we started that it would be like the others, a small pull-in place for maybe a dozen or 20 cars as a viewpoint, but no. It appears the Chinese tour companies have embraced this tour and it is now a massive operation. Big car park, separate coach park with drop off points, gift shop, toilets, (with Chinese style squat toilets), and boardwalks down to the views. Well, it was like the Chinese Wall in Australia. Hundreds. Graham was shoulder barged, trod on, and poked with a selfie stick in the pursuit of the perfect portrait. The views though, were mesmerising once you found a little spot.

Next stop lunch, and we have the perfect place: Port Campbell. We manage to find a parking place and head down to the beach to each our lunch. Graham has a swim in the refreshing, blue seas, and we eat our sandwiches in the sun, lovely. Like some of the coves we have in Cornwall.

We could have stayed all day but we have to move on to hit our camp site, so on we go. We have to cherry pick as we can’t do it all so we decide on Cape Otway, the most important lighthouse in Australia’s history. 

The route is a detour of around 5kms or so, which takes us through Koala country. Now koalas live in trees and spend most of their time motionless, sleeping and eating, they are difficult to spot. If you come across a car with people looking up in the trees, chances are they've seen a koala. We stop a couple of times and see these cute creatures holed up in the branches, no pictures I’m afraid, too far up, but they just sit there, dozing, looking down bemused. We do, however, have a picture of some notable trees, notable for their lack of leaves. A whole batch in amongst normal living green ones. A fire perhaps? or a particular specie?

The lighthouse guided ships between Tasmania and the mainland in the late 1800s. This whole coast is known as Shipwreck Coast, because of the number of shipwrecks, obviously. This shortcut saved 6 days sailing rather than going round Tasmania so it was worth doing, hence worth the effort of building the lighthouse. The visit took us through the different phases of the lighthouse: whale oil, kerosene, diesel generator electricity, maims electricity, redundancy. Now it comprises holiday accommodation.

Lighthouses are a novelty in Australia, whereas in the UK we have hundreds of them and they are all basically the same. Round with a light on top. This one is, we admit, better than the one at Withernsea, and I’m sorry, but it does have a nicer setting.

We don't manage to reach our pre booked campsite in Lorne, we would be late by at least one hour but manage to swap it for one in the same group in Apollo Bay. A cramped site but a welcome rest at the end of another packed day.

Monday 4th Feb

A little cloudy , 20 - 22 degrees

We set off in good time - on the road at 9.15am! Today promises the surf beaches of the region which Graham is really looking forward to.

Before that we stop off at Kennett River nature park. It is lovely. There is everything there and all wild. Lots of water fowl, a Koala high in a tree, Kangaroos in a distant field, a parakeet in a tree, cormorants, ducks (Pacific Black, Australian Wood), a tiny bright blue bird, tit sized but with a sky blue and royal blue striped head, in short, a wildlife watchers dream. There are houses here for sale too. And a beach a stone’s throw away - you can hear the waves.

Aww, little fluffy ears. Unfortunately my old iphone is not much good at pointing into light, so all we get is a silhouette.

We pass by this famous memorial archway across THE road.

We then passed through Lorne - our failed to get to destination yesterday. Lovely beaches and a holiday atmosphere. Carol bought some Australian massage flip flops to replace some lost en route.

Graham channeling his inner Keanu Reeves.

On via Fairhaven, Aireys Inlet, Anglesea and then on to Bells Beach a legendary sufing beach  where Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze battled it out in the film Point Break - allegedly. Apparently when the right- hander is working, it’s the longest ride in the country... What?

We also looked out onto Winki Pop another famous surf beach.. apparently. However today the surf was not playing and we failed to spot one surfing dude.

To compensate we bought a his and hers teeshirt when we arrived at the end of the road in Torquay - the home of the iconic surf brands Rip Curl and Quicksilver. Well actually we bought them in the Surf World Museum shop having had a “ How much!” moment in the Rip Curl shop...

On to Melbourne - Australia’s  2nd city. Sadly we misprogrammed the dopey sat nav and ended up in Elizabeth Street Melbourne centre instead of Elizabeth Street Coburg, a suburb of Melbourne. We ended up in the centre of Melbourne after at least an hour battling through 4 lanes of traffic to have to then go back out 9 kms to the campsite! And these Aussies don’t play fair - it was a free for all, no lane discipline, undertaking, overtaking...arghh!

Haven’t we come far!

One really odd thing about Melbourne that we quickly learned is to turn right you go into the left hand lane. It’s not obvious, and we only picked it up being forewarned thanks to Bill Bryson and his book on Down Under. Trams run through the centre of the road and at the last minute we saw the sign saying “To turn right, get into the left lane”. Luckily there was one space left for use to slide into, then we wait as all the traffic behind us goes straight on. Imagine if we’d held that lot up - it would have been honking central! We wait and we wait. Eventually the sign ahead changes from “WAIT” to blank and turn - last one through.

We head out of town following a tram. Which lane to go in? Left lane is full of parked cars, right lane is a tram lane with rails in the road. We follow the tram, being undertaken at every opportunity when a space in the parked cars allows. Just when someone undertakes, if the tram stops, everyone stops. The tram hangs out a red stop sign and people jump off - they would have been mowed down by the undertaking car. So that’s why all the cars stop. This may be quaint but its bizarre. Cars hold up trams and trams hold up cars, trams obey traffic signals as do cars. we’re not sure it works but I suppose it must. You should see the crossroads!?! Everyone stops except trams who have priority, but their passage can be blocked by thoughtless motorists queuing across the rails.

The sympathetic receptionist had heard our sat nav problems before. Went into Elizabeth Street in centre of Melbourne did you?”

We stocked up with provisions and settled in with a glorious view of an electricity pylon. 

Tomorrow we are meeting friends for lunch (we met when travelling in China last year) who live in Melbourne and who promise to show us the sights.This will be our first and probably last 2 nights stay whilst touring in Australia and welcome respite from constant travelling.