Caravan Capers

Weather looked slightly dodgy (story of our lives really) so decided on a driving tour of the region +/- walks as they happened. Decided on the “food/wine” trail in the hopes of wine tasting and fresh produce along the way but ended up doing more “waterfalls and rainforest” with the only fresh produce 5 or 10 kg bags of spuds on the way out to Triplet Falls. Skipped the Otway Fly (elevated walkway among the trees) on the basis that it cost money and a helpful guy in a little cafe / garage on the way reckoned in wasn’t worth while and there wasn’t any real rainforest there anyway. Met Blossom the cat in a little cafe on the route. Nonchalantly roaming at will through the place, sitting on any available laps (willing or not – see photo of himself with Blossom), until forcibly removed by staff. Great scones and coffee though.
Running out of time to complete whichever driving loop we were on (all supposed to take 2-5 hours with a full day recommended to get the full benefit from most of them), mostly due to another late start and frequent stops for food and walks (also visited Beauchamp Falls – the power of the water generates its own wind down in the gully). Found ourselves on the Beech Forest Road (part of one of the driving loops but thank goodness we didn’t have the van in tow!) – posted speed limit 20-40 km/hr, exceedingly narrow and twisty road and most enjoyable…. if you were driving a Porsche spyder, rather than a tank, and weren’t constantly expecting a logging truck to turn up just round the next bend.
Thought we’d try for the Grey River Rd from the other end and this actually seemed to work, especially with Brandon on the job (Jen’s replacement, although probably not much better). No koalas spotted until almost back at Kennett River then the trees seemed to be littered with the little buggers. Lovely unsealed muddy and slippery road to get there as well. Back to camp and finally got that BBQ’d steak I’d been hankering after – pretty good too!

Towed the van up the road for a look at the famous Bell’s Beach – surf a bit rough but nothing much else happening so moved on (we’re clearly surfers, not). Moved on towards Lorne and Apollo Bay. Can see why this is considered one of the iconic drives in both Australia and the world. Coastline ruggedly dramatic, with great eroded sandstone cliffs crumbling away almost as you watch. Constantly changing backdrop – sun and bright blue ocean one minute, grey and forbidding sky and sea the next. Visited the lighthouse in Aireys Inlet  (Split Point Lighthouse). Another Fiona gave us a tour and a history of the area and the various shipwrecks along that stretch of coastline. Nearly blown away at the top of the lighthouse but the view was fantastic. Moved on to lunch at the Willows tea rooms just down the hill – succulent fishburger and gourmet foccacia with pretty good hot chocolates (not fair to compare to the Belgian chocolate shop in Torquay really, but oh well!). Headed up to Erskine Falls ~8 km inland from Lorne. All went fine until the last few hundred metres – caught the sign saying “steep descent, not recommended for caravans” too late and ended up trying desperately to back the van into a turnaround but ended up going the wrong way with an ever increasing line of traffic queuing up in both directions (ok a couple of cars). Chris had to take over as it wasn’t going well! Eventually parked the van up top, unhitched and drove down without it. Waterfall probably worth it but strangely enough I wasn’t driving the final stretch of the day!
Twisty, windy road most of the way to Apollo Bay. Completely missed turn off to Grey River Rd (supposed to be a good spot to view koalas in the wild). Decided to push on for Bimbi Park Caravan Park “Camping under koalas” in Cape Otway. Certainly some koalas in the various gums around the camp site on inspection next morning. Mostly doing nothing (nothing new there). Committed to 3 nights and then discovered we had to pay an extra $1 for every 3 minutes of shower time (to conserve water!) and that there was no drinkable water on site (none of which was mentioned on their website either! Freezing cold so thank God for power and the fan heater!

Another late start! Can’t seem to make it out of bed much before 9 or 10 these days – shame! Eventually left around lunchtime with a brief stop at Bunnings for some replacement tap fittings (ours were left on Alison’s outside tap (Callum the playfully destructive again – chews and sucks on all sorts of things, including numerous bits of soft toys that are dragged around in a somewhat damp state and presented to various humans for tug-of-war or throwing). Arrived Torquay (start of the Great Ocean Road – and iconic drive along the south west Victorian coast) at 3.30 pm in dire need of caffeine (you wouldn’t think we’d be this weary after all the sleep we’ve managed to have recently!). Directed to the most to-die-for cafe – coffee and chocolate – you can choose straight coffee, hot or iced chocolate and they had this marvellous thing called a hot mocha chocolate made up of a shot of coffee and Belgian dark chocoloate (swoon). Decided to be restrained and only shared an orange almond cake and had two gorgeous dark chocolate ganache thingies each. Charlie’s Cafe for anyone passing by the Visitor Information Centre in Torquay.
Tonight in a van park in Jan Juc – seemed to be mostly permanent vans and slightly creepy, but we’d already paid and entered by then! Site right up the back looking out on one side onto a possible cow paddock (but no cows in evidence so who knows?). Will move on tomorrow to see some of the Great Ocean Rd.

Lazy day today. Alison had several commitments during the morning, Chris went grocery shopping and fixed the spa electrics (that Callum the doberman had chewed through at some point) and I attempted to brush up my guitar skills, not terribly successfully, I’m afraid. Took Callum for a scenic walk along the Yarra up near Warrandyte later in the afternoon and stopped for a coffee along the way. Lots of happy dogs roaming around with their owners. Teppanyaki this evening at Yamagata near Doncaster – have never seen bowls and rice thrown across the length of a room before! Melt in your mouth scallops and generally recommended. Our chef was obviously pretty new to this (steak a bit on the tough side) but was trying really hard and did a great job.

Usual slow start to the day and eventually left the Prom at ~ 11.30am, after a helpful visit to the Park Info Centre for some tips on camping along the Great Ocean Rd. Decided to skip the penguins at Phillip Island (website made it look all a bit commercialised) and head straight on up to Melbourne to visit rels and friends. Stopped at Leongatha for a lateish lunch at a great little cage called “Number9Dream”. Not sure where the name originates but the number 9 was featured prominently in all shapes and forms on shelves and around the walls. Great food and fantastic coffee as well – bonus! Their beef burgundy pie was very good. On to my rels for afternoon tea then continued on to the burbs of Melbourne in North Ringwood to stay for a couple of nights with a friend of mine. After picking up a key from her at work, we attempted to back the van up her rather steep driveway, with not very successful results. Colin ended up at the top of the drive but blocking entry into the garage, and the car’s clutch was wafting a distinctly burnt odour into the night air……. Colin ended up parked at a jaunty angle on the nature strip with the car in the driveway after that!
Nice to be able to walk around the bed for a change, and have direct access to a bathroom!

Freezing night but cozy inside Colin (yes we’ve named the caravan Colin – blame Chris for this one, not me). Woke up to a glorious sunny day, birds chortling and singing (some melodically, some not so much). After a leisurely breakfast, wandered (actually hiked – enormous camp ground and we seemed to be rather a long way from the Info centre) over to pay our camping fees and find out what the options for walking might be. Tossed a coin and decided on Oberon Bay.

Walking in the Prom is a great experience. Rugged coastline and varied vegetation, with a different vista around every corner. The beaches are all wildly different in terms of their sand type and scenery, with some pure white and composed of shell grit, others coarser and darker in colour and some almost mud. Didn’t see any wildlife of the furred variety on our trip round to Oberon Bay via Norman Beach, Norman Point and Little Oberon Bay but saw lots of the feathered type. Crows galore (seem to run in pairs in order to outflank any unsuspecting prey who might possibly have something edible about their person). One lone sooty oystercatcher patrolling Little Oberon Bay and some large and flamboyantly made up Pacific Gulls (lovely yellow stockinged legs with red-lipstick tipped yellow beaks). The day stayed sunny and quite warm at times, but whenever the wind picked up the temperature seemed to drop into arctic range.
Surprisingly survived 12 km walking relatively intact (although new hiking boots were trying to create some blisters and bruises around various bits of ankle!) and managed to crawl back to camp. Our resident wombat again paid us a visit, and a we moved site to a recently vacated and more private one just across the way from where we initially set up. Left over spag bog (for the 3rd night) still pretty good (as was the red vino!). Freezing sitting out under the awning though – even rugged up with 3 layers of everything, including a ski jacket apiece.

Sort of forgot to mention the minor disaster discovered when we stopped at the van park yesterday. Unfortunately, despite peering quite hard at the fridge when setting out the morning before to ensure all the settings were correct for travel, I neglected to latch the damn door and found various food items rolling around on the floor. Luckily no major spillages although there were some suspicious spots of olive scented oil (presumably from the olive container) as well.
Woke up to a surprisingly sunny (more or less) day. Showered in the very nice amenities (hot water … yum!) then forgot we had bought some bacon for breakfast and had toast and coffee instead. Despite staying hitched up we still only managed to get away by 11am. Needed to stop in town for Chris to get some emergency coriander for the planned green chicken curry that night. Then took a somewhat meandering route westwards to Bairnsdale and then to Sale for lunch via some very small hamlets including a place called Holland’s Landing – extremely flat, green countryside  for miles in all directions. Hollands Landing itself contained a number of ramshackle dwellings aligned along both the main road in and various named dirt roads off to the sides that seemed to peter out into nothing extremely rapidly. You end up at what appeared to be a very well set up boat launching area next to a small caravan park and general store, presumably the raison d’etre for this little place.
Cravings for a large juicy steak went unfulfilled in Sale (sigh) and had to plump for roast lamb instead. Jen the GPS then navigated us out of Sale and onto the A440 towards Foster and “the Prom”. Interesting approach to navigation from this extremely narky GPS madam – “drive 120 km and then turn left”, followed by silence for the next 120 km, apart from once when she chastised Chris for being over the speed limit (not that she gets her information right half the time, and not that I’m bitching because Chris likes her better than me as a navigator either).
Landscape became hillier and more interesting as we moved further west. Wilsons Prom from a distance looked like a low range of mountains across the water from where we were. We were struck by the spectacular scenery once we entered the park (and still sunny!). Lots of road signs indicating wildlife (of all types) but you never expect to see much……. until one lone emu dashing up and down the side of the road, followed by a bunch of suicidal emus, several herds of kangaroos and a sunbaking wombat later…… Found a nice campsite with not too many people around and settled in for the night, only to be joined by another wombat, happily munching grass next to the van and ignoring our presence completely. Chris was in wombat heaven!
Time for the green chicken curry …… which sort of turned into madras chicken curry (and we nearly forgot the coriander), as we didn’t have any green thai curry mix on board after all.

Another gorgeous day! But decided to move on anyway as can’t stay in one spot for 3 months. Pretty much burned through to Lakes Entrance today with a plan to move on to Wilson’s Promontory tomorrow (if camping available – apparently pretty popular). Slight detour via Cape Conran and Marlo, with some attractive coastline (starting to sound like a travelogue now – eeek!) and bucolic scenery of sleek cows in green fields lit by sunlight at milking time, against a backdrop of threatening grey clouds in the distance (now switching to budding author 101!). Thought the rain wouldn’t be far away. Camped tonight at Eastern Beach van park in Lakes Entrance and right on cue it started raining again, fortunately after we got ourselves sorted. Oh well.

Woke up to blue sky and sunshine – yeay! Still really windy but given the good weather (for a change), staying on and enjoying it seemed like a plan. Actually got the bikes out for the first time this trip and discovered yet again how generally unfit we are, particularly trying to go uphill towards Bournda Lagoon. Walked to the top but then decided to turn around rather than head downhill (to avoid more uphill coming back). Also opportunity to blog away in the sun. Gorgeous! Bellbirds calling all around, crimson rosellas, currawongs and more (not very good at bird identification – need an informative book of some sort). Definitely back to nature and just the thing to make you stop and think about life, rather than simply dashing through it as we all do these days. Perhaps a bit of a road trip round the local neighbourhood this afternoon?? Gourmet lunch of BBQ’d tuna steaks, cous cous and vegies…
….Road trip up through Tathra and a bit beyond to a place in Mimosa Rocks NP called Wajurdal Point- great coastline and as an added extra bonus saw lots of whales! Whales were somewhat distant and able to be identified only by their occasional spouts and various visible body parts (probably backs) but exciting nonetheless. Headed back down to Pambula and saw the “friendly Pambula Beach kangaroos” – with one male trying really hard to grab hold of a female roo’s tail with nefarious intent – please read between the lines here! Back to Bournda for a relaxing evening.