Day 9
Travel Location: Nelson,Australia
The night remained stormy with the occasional shower which lasted until midday. We made our way firstly to the Triple Falls which is located in the Otway National Park. The drive took us over unsealed road and we tried the 4WD on our car. The weather was a bit chilly, but we took off by foot through the scenic walk in the park. After about 40 minutes walk, we reached the bottom of the falls and took some nice pictures (see photos).
Next on our agenda was the Cape Otway Lighthouse, the most southern point of our trip. It was very windy. We had the wind against us and later right up our bums at the top of the lighthouse. We had some nice views of the coastline and the sandy cliffs. The rain came about just as we came down from the lighthouse and we had to run to the car.
From the lighthouse we drove west along the Great Ocean Road towards the Twelve Apostles. The clouds were fast moving due to the strong winds. We decided to take the walk to the viewing area. Just as we reached the first viewpoint it rained. We ran back to the visitor centre and decided to continue the journey. After a washroom break the sky cleared and we decided to take a second chance and walked again to the viewing area. This time everything was perfect and we got an amazing view on the Apostles.
Later in the drive towards Glenorie National Park, we stopped along at Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge and at Warranambul where there are Whales with their calves during July to September. Naturally we didn’t see any of them. We made it to the campsite just before sunset. We were greeted by wallabies and echidnas at the entrance and we saw later on possums. We were also told that there are black snakes near the toilet. Nevertheless, I gathered wood in the diminishing light and light a fire to warm us up.
One thing to remember when travelling through rural Australia: Take CD’s. There is not always radio reception. However, we found one radio station playing 60’s music from the twelve Apostels to Glenorie National Park. They played music like ‘you bring the devil out of me’ and ‘return to sender’. A lot of Elvis Presley. The best part was the weather update. It was read in a monotonous voice, repetitions and mistakes. We thought it was rather funny and different to the perfectionist commercial stations.
