Great Otway National Park

The Great Otway National Park sits approximately in the centre of the Great Ocean Road and at the southern end is Cape Otway, the second most southerly tip of Australia.  We were recommended to stay at a campsite called Bimbi Park on the road down to Cape Otway where one of the highlights was a natural population of Koalas.  We were there like a bear! (yes, we know they're marsupials and not bears, ok!?!)  

You've got to love the warning signs!

We arrived in the dark and sort of saw a few koalas in the trees along the road.  Then Geoff slammed on brakes as one crossed the road just in front of us.  It was much bigger than we expected and much more ungainly!  They're definitely more adapted to life in trees than on the ground with their toes split in 3-and-2 arrangement on their front feet and 4-and-1 arrangement on their back feet.  

We had a lovely and really well kitted out campsite where we based ourselves for 2 nights so that we could explore the area.  Unfortunately the weather was pretty wild with low temperatures and huge rain and hail storms so we were glad to have nice facilities out of the weather to cook and eat in.    Our little tent did well in the rough weather.

We spent many hours watching the koalas just outside the campsite where there were many all close together (apparently quite rare).  They were literally hanging in the trees like Christmas decorations!  As koalas eat such low nutrient food, they sleep for 16-18 hours a day and generally feed in the mornings and evenings.  We didn't envy them clinging to the trees in very strong wind and sitting out freezing rain and biting hail!  At night we were woken up by the males in the campground making their peculiar moaning grunt to signify their territories.  In the morning we would see how many we could spot in the trees between our tent and the ablution block!  They were much larger than we had expected and the males in the south (where we were) can apparently weigh up to 15kg.

Yum! Eucalypt leaves for breakfast... rather you than me, fella!

A cold, wet ball of koala.

They were literally hanging in the trees like Christmas decorations.

Mother and joey

It was amazing how they defoliated (ate all the leaves) off the trees that they were in. 

We were mightly glad for all our warm clothing!

How they managed to stay on the branches while they slept was amazing.  Even more so in the howling wind!

Every 3rd fork in the tree had a fluffy koala sleeping in it! 

Another mom and her baby feeding high up on the thin branches 

They were fascinating to watch

The forest around the campsite was lovely.

We had read up about the lighthouse at Cape Otway and were keen to visit it.  It is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Australia and was built in 1948 by more than 40 stonemasons without any mortar or cement!  The lighthouse stands guard over the point where the Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean meet and was often the first land to be seen by people sailing from Europe to 'the New Land'.  Unfortunately we felt the entrance fee was rather steep, so we had to settle for a glimpse of the lighthouse from a walk nearby.

Cape Otway lighthouse.

We found a beautiful little cove called Blanket Bay for lunch and watched some Southern Right whales playing in the bay.  The surf was huge and the sea of the type that brings the words of John Masefield's Sea Fever to mind.

The little estuary at Blanket Bay

Before heading back to the koalas for the evening session, we headed down to Johanna Beach where the Rip Curl Pro relocates when Bell's isn't working.

The remote and beautiful Johanna Beach.

Sea Fever by John Masefield

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

The Surf Coast

We headed off on a 'little' roadtrip that would take us down the coast from Melbourne to Adelaide and back on an inland route.  Most of the coastal route is known as the Great Ocean Road, but more about that later. The first part of this trip was down the Surf Coast, a section from Torquay to Apollo Bay.  First stop was the famous Bell's Beach.  The sea was absolutely flat when we were there, but Bell's has a powerful left-point break that is part of international surfing folklore.  Since 1973 it has been home to the Rip Curl Pro - the glamour event on the world-championship ASP World Tour.

The beautiful Bell's Beach

The sand was gloriously golden and there were a few surfers and paddle borders out in the cold weather.

Health and Safety at the famous surf beach.

Geoff couldn't resist a swim - even if the rain and hail were coming down hard!

The coast is lovely and not unlike the Wilderness area in the Cape.  Kaleideskoop and Karen Zoid played on the iPod, making it feel more like a roadtrip up the coast.  The main difference being the Eucalypt forests lining the road and the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and Crimson Rosellas flying over the road.  

Glimpses of deserted beaches.

Aireys Inlet Lighthouse (1891) is 34m high and is important to guide ships through the Bass Strait.

Lucy really liked the lighthouses.  I guess she takes after someone we know.....

Eagle Rock.  The first of many impressive sea stacks we would see on the road.

Another beautiful lookout.

The afternoon alternated between beautiful sunshine and rain squalls and hail, providing for some very dramatic views.

One of the lovely rainbows we saw out to sea.

The Great Ocean Road is a stretch of road between Torquay and Warrnambool on the Australian south coast and was built by returning soldiers from World War 1 as a job creation and nation building scheme.  Built between 1919 and 1932, it stretches 243km and is dedicated to all those who lost their lives in the first World War, making it the largest war memorial in the world.  In its most impressive areas it is comparable to Chapman's Peak and Clarence Drives, but the road also winds through farm land, towns and scratchy forest.  The Great Ocean Road does however link many very interesting attractions, cute towns, lovely beaches and thick forest.

The Gateway to the Great Ocean Road

The memorial to the men and women who built the road.

The Mornington Peninsula

Brenda played tour guide for us for a day and took us down the Mornington Peninsula which lies south of Melbourne and separates Port Philip Bay from Western Port Bay.  We headed up to Arthur's Seat for a fantastic view over the bottom section of the peninsula and across 'The Rip' which is the narrow mouth of Port Philip Bay.

Our first 'wild' kangaroos.

A crazy shaped tree at the park at Arthur's Seat.

The Mornington Peninsula National Park covers the southern section of the peninsula and down at the southern most tip is Cape Schanck with its beautiful lighthouse which was built in 1859.  We were surprised at how similar the coastal vegetation looks to what we would find at home, except that on closer inspection, none of the species are the same.  The Bass Strait looked fairly wild and unwelcoming under the grey sky.

Geoff with the Cape Schanck Lightstation in the background.

Cape Schanck with its rugged black 'back' beaches - Brenda and Geoff.

The 'back' beach at Rye.

A rock arch called London Bridge,  Brenda, Lucy and Geoff

We headed west to the tip of the peninsula and the Point Nepean National Park.  Unfortunately part of the park was closed while they resurfaced the main access roads, so we could not get to the end and look out over the Rip towards Queenscliff or to look down on Cheviot Beach where Australia's then Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared while swimming in 1967.  His body was never found, however in keeping with their sense of humour the Melbournites built a memorial to him - the Harold Holt Swimming Centre!    

The national park is formed from the old military base which protected the entrance to the bay and a large quarantine station.  The park was formed in the 1980's as the vegetation is unique but large areas of it remained off limits due to unexploded bombs as the military had used it as a firing ground.  A large effort was made to recover many of these bombs and in 2009 most of the park was opened to the public.  We thought Bill Bryson in his book Down Under summed it up well: "Here you have a country of three million square miles, nearly all of it empty and eminently bombable.  And here, just a couple of hours' drive from the country's second city, you have a headland of rare and sumptuous beauty, and of considerable ecological importance, and from this land you bar the public because you are trying to blow it to smithereens.  Doesn't make much sense, what?" Unfortunately this is probably true for many beautiful and ecologically important places around the world.

The quarantine station was really interesting and was operational from 1852 until 1980!  It must have been very disheartening to have traveled on a ship for up to 3 months to get to Melbourne and then have to be unpacked and stay at the quarantine station for a number of days to weeks with Melbourne visible over the bay on a clear day.  So close and yet so far.  We found it fascinating exploring the fumigation chambers and bath houses. Though to be honest we'd rather be quarantined on this stunning peninsula than, say at OR Tambo airport or heaven forbid,... Heathrow...!

One of the baggage fumigators 

A larger fumigator.

The Parade Ground at the Quarantine station

It was an interesting day out, and one of the things that fascinated us the most was the vegetation.  We'd only really seen the big Mountain Ash and tree fern forests so far, but here was something much more like what we had at home.  It was interesting to see many of our 'problem plants' (ones that Lucy gets paid to remove) growing in their natural setting and to see how many of our plants are problems for them here. Notably, our stunning daisies (gazania's), arum lilies and polygala's are real problem plants. It seems rich that we have to fight dense forests of Aussie aliens, when all we gave them were pretty flowers - lots of them!

We headed home in the late afternoon light along the inside of the bay and the 'front beaches'.  The sun came out and it was calm and beautiful.  The 'front' beaches have been popular summer destinations for Melbournians for many generations and people have erected private bathing houses on the beaches.  This is an interesting concept as each one is privately owned yet stands on public land and they are normally passed down within a family.  When one is sold (for the price of a small house in central Melbourne), the new owner basically just buys the rights to pay the municipality rent in return for having a small brightly painted wooden hut on the beach which is not not connected to water or electricity and in which you're not allowed to overnight!

Sorrento Beach 

Some of the bathing boxes in the background. 

A stunning sunset after a lovely day out.

Elephant hunting in the City

Melbourne Zoo is celebrating their 150th birthday this year and one of their focuses is protecting threatened species.  Mali is an Indonesian elephant that is the face of their threatened species programme and so they had 50 fibreglass replicas of Mali decorated by different artists and they are placed all over the city.  We tried to see how many we could find in an evening.  Here are some of the pictures.  Thanks go to our assistant models/photographers Claire and Craig.

This one was knitted into a jersey giving him a very lifelike look especially on his trunk and legs where the jersey wrinkled.

This one was commemorating Dame Edna's retirement

Mali painted this one herself.  The round blue mark on the trunk is the print of her trunk tip.