English (part 3): Lorne - Cape Otway
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Franziska & Klaas
10 Januari 2015 | Nederland, Groningen
Friday 31st of October: Lorne – Cape Otway
After our first breakfast on the road with cereal, yoghurt and coffee or tea we get a few more food supplies at the supermarket across the road. This is necessary, because our next accommodation on Cape Otway is about a 30 minute drive from the next supermarket. After this we are ready for departure. The weather is a bit cloudy this morning, but certainly not cold. Our first destination this morning is Erskine Falls, a beautiful waterfall in the rainforest covered hills about 10 kilometres north of Lorne. The parking lot of the falls can be reached on a small, but sealed road and the upper viewing platform is only a short stroll (80m) from the car park. A few steep steps take you to the base of falls. Surrounded by lush rainforest vegetation with lots of tree ferns the falls look even more spectacular from this point. Back up at the car park Klaas suggests I should climb onto the driver’s seat. Although I had my doubts in the beginning, I must admit driving this monster on a quiet little road like this isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Except for turning on the windscreen wipers instead of the direction indicators I manage to drive the car quite safely keeping it nicely to the left-hand side of the road.
Our next stop is Teddy’s Lookout, a view point high above Lorne with a panoramic view of the St. George’s River Valley and the coast line west of Lorne. On our way there we are stopped by the driver of a car parking on the side of the road. When we open the window to find out about the reason, he points us to a koala climbing the tree right in front of us. The cute little beast is so close we can almost touch it. Needless to say that our camera is working overtime. What a lovely first encounter with this cuddly Australian icon! After this highlight the view from Teddy’s Lookout is almost a bit disappointing, especially because a lot of clouds block the view out on the sea. There are lots of beautifully coloured birds and stunningly blooming shrubs around the outlook though and they make more than up for the lack of views. As I can’t see me drive our monster on the busy and winding GOR yet, Klaas is taking the driver’s seat again.
Our next destination is only about 5 kilometres further west on the GOR at Sheoak Falls car park. A lovely walk across blooming bush land brings us to the second waterfall of the day: Sheoak Falls. Although it is still a bit cloudy, the sun is trying hard to come through and it’s getting hotter and hotter. As we start to work up an appetite, we stop for lunch in Kennett River. At the picnic table in front of the general store we are soon joined by a bunch of crimson rosellas and king parots, which try very hard to get their share of our cheese sandwiches. Although we are not supposed to feed them, we can’t prevent them from picking up a few bread crumbs. With all the remaining food securely stored in the car we go for a walk up the Grey River Road. This unsealed road next to the Kennett River Caravan Park is lined with gum trees known for having one of the greatest concentrations of koalas along the GOR. But boy are these creatures hard to spot! Spending most of the day high in the trees sleeping, they blend in perfectly with their surroundings. After about 500 metres walking up the road, we still didn’t see a thing. Almost prepared to turn around we finally spot one in a tree above us. This first koala is soon followed by a second, a third, a fourth and so on. Once you get the hang of it, you literally spot them everywhere. Except for the koalas we also spot a kookaburra sitting on a branch above us. Lots of tourists come up here by car, but we feel walking is a far better way for spotting wildlife, because you have all the time in the world to screen the branches above you and don’t have to concentrate on the road at the same time. Almost back at the general store we discover, we could have had our koala-experience with a lot less physical effort, as one of our cuddly little friends is actually hiding in the trees right across the street from where we parked our car. Oh well, at least we did some exercise today!
Further along the GOR we reach Apollo Bay, the last town of any significance before Cape Otway. At the visitors centre we stock up on brochures about the area, some postcards to send home as well as a walking map of this part of Great Otway National Park. Although it is still pretty hazy, the outside temperature has climbed up to 31° Celsius and we are glad to return to our air-conditioned car.
While we have been following the coast line so far, at Apollo Bay the GOR turns inland crossing some of the last remaining patches of temperate rainforest in this area. Our next stop is at Maits Rest Rainforest Walk, an 800m loop on a boardwalk across a patch of pristine rainforest in Great Otway National Park. Enormous mountain ashes, trees that seem to walk on stilts, fern trees and lots of mosses line the boardwalk and make this an excellent and easy way to get a good impression of this temperate rainforest environment. On top of that after the damp heat in Apollo Bay the rainforest feels nice and cool.
It is late afternoon by now and high time to get to our final destination: Bimbi Park Campground. This caravan park is situated a few miles south of the GOR on the Cape Otway Peninsula . Although we weren’t planning on making too many reservations for this trip, we did book this campground in advance. This weekend being the Melbourne Cup long weekend accommodations will be busy with Melbournians taking some time off and many caravan parks have minimum stays in effect. In order to get to the park, we leave the GOR and turn onto the Cape Otway Lighthouse Road. The gum trees along this road supposedly are another great spot to see koalas. And we are lucky again! Just a few k’s after the turn-off a line of parked cars and people starring up into the trees suggest there must be some kind of animal activity. However this time there are not only a few lonely, sleeping koala’s, but also a mother with a surprisingly active baby swinging in the branches above her. Very cute! Although we could stay here for hours, we have to press on, if we want to reach our destination before dusk. Luckily Bimbi Park is only a short drive away.
Our campsite, the friendly staff has assigned to us, is ideally located on top of a dike not far from the toilet facilities and right next to a gazebo with a barbecue. David and Helen’s tent proofs to be very easy to set up and within ten minutes our ‘home’ is standing in place. The soil here is super soft and we don’t even need a hammer to get the pins into the ground. Hopefully they won’t come out as easily as they went in, because it has become pretty windy lately and we don’t want our tent to fly away. Once we are all settled in, we prepare another barbecue dinner. Tonight’s menu: sausages, corn on the cob and peas. After dishwashing and another cup of tea and coffee it’s time to crawl into our sleeping bags. Just in time, because outside it is starting to rain.
After our first breakfast on the road with cereal, yoghurt and coffee or tea we get a few more food supplies at the supermarket across the road. This is necessary, because our next accommodation on Cape Otway is about a 30 minute drive from the next supermarket. After this we are ready for departure. The weather is a bit cloudy this morning, but certainly not cold. Our first destination this morning is Erskine Falls, a beautiful waterfall in the rainforest covered hills about 10 kilometres north of Lorne. The parking lot of the falls can be reached on a small, but sealed road and the upper viewing platform is only a short stroll (80m) from the car park. A few steep steps take you to the base of falls. Surrounded by lush rainforest vegetation with lots of tree ferns the falls look even more spectacular from this point. Back up at the car park Klaas suggests I should climb onto the driver’s seat. Although I had my doubts in the beginning, I must admit driving this monster on a quiet little road like this isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Except for turning on the windscreen wipers instead of the direction indicators I manage to drive the car quite safely keeping it nicely to the left-hand side of the road.
Our next stop is Teddy’s Lookout, a view point high above Lorne with a panoramic view of the St. George’s River Valley and the coast line west of Lorne. On our way there we are stopped by the driver of a car parking on the side of the road. When we open the window to find out about the reason, he points us to a koala climbing the tree right in front of us. The cute little beast is so close we can almost touch it. Needless to say that our camera is working overtime. What a lovely first encounter with this cuddly Australian icon! After this highlight the view from Teddy’s Lookout is almost a bit disappointing, especially because a lot of clouds block the view out on the sea. There are lots of beautifully coloured birds and stunningly blooming shrubs around the outlook though and they make more than up for the lack of views. As I can’t see me drive our monster on the busy and winding GOR yet, Klaas is taking the driver’s seat again.
Our next destination is only about 5 kilometres further west on the GOR at Sheoak Falls car park. A lovely walk across blooming bush land brings us to the second waterfall of the day: Sheoak Falls. Although it is still a bit cloudy, the sun is trying hard to come through and it’s getting hotter and hotter. As we start to work up an appetite, we stop for lunch in Kennett River. At the picnic table in front of the general store we are soon joined by a bunch of crimson rosellas and king parots, which try very hard to get their share of our cheese sandwiches. Although we are not supposed to feed them, we can’t prevent them from picking up a few bread crumbs. With all the remaining food securely stored in the car we go for a walk up the Grey River Road. This unsealed road next to the Kennett River Caravan Park is lined with gum trees known for having one of the greatest concentrations of koalas along the GOR. But boy are these creatures hard to spot! Spending most of the day high in the trees sleeping, they blend in perfectly with their surroundings. After about 500 metres walking up the road, we still didn’t see a thing. Almost prepared to turn around we finally spot one in a tree above us. This first koala is soon followed by a second, a third, a fourth and so on. Once you get the hang of it, you literally spot them everywhere. Except for the koalas we also spot a kookaburra sitting on a branch above us. Lots of tourists come up here by car, but we feel walking is a far better way for spotting wildlife, because you have all the time in the world to screen the branches above you and don’t have to concentrate on the road at the same time. Almost back at the general store we discover, we could have had our koala-experience with a lot less physical effort, as one of our cuddly little friends is actually hiding in the trees right across the street from where we parked our car. Oh well, at least we did some exercise today!
Further along the GOR we reach Apollo Bay, the last town of any significance before Cape Otway. At the visitors centre we stock up on brochures about the area, some postcards to send home as well as a walking map of this part of Great Otway National Park. Although it is still pretty hazy, the outside temperature has climbed up to 31° Celsius and we are glad to return to our air-conditioned car.
While we have been following the coast line so far, at Apollo Bay the GOR turns inland crossing some of the last remaining patches of temperate rainforest in this area. Our next stop is at Maits Rest Rainforest Walk, an 800m loop on a boardwalk across a patch of pristine rainforest in Great Otway National Park. Enormous mountain ashes, trees that seem to walk on stilts, fern trees and lots of mosses line the boardwalk and make this an excellent and easy way to get a good impression of this temperate rainforest environment. On top of that after the damp heat in Apollo Bay the rainforest feels nice and cool.
It is late afternoon by now and high time to get to our final destination: Bimbi Park Campground. This caravan park is situated a few miles south of the GOR on the Cape Otway Peninsula . Although we weren’t planning on making too many reservations for this trip, we did book this campground in advance. This weekend being the Melbourne Cup long weekend accommodations will be busy with Melbournians taking some time off and many caravan parks have minimum stays in effect. In order to get to the park, we leave the GOR and turn onto the Cape Otway Lighthouse Road. The gum trees along this road supposedly are another great spot to see koalas. And we are lucky again! Just a few k’s after the turn-off a line of parked cars and people starring up into the trees suggest there must be some kind of animal activity. However this time there are not only a few lonely, sleeping koala’s, but also a mother with a surprisingly active baby swinging in the branches above her. Very cute! Although we could stay here for hours, we have to press on, if we want to reach our destination before dusk. Luckily Bimbi Park is only a short drive away.
Our campsite, the friendly staff has assigned to us, is ideally located on top of a dike not far from the toilet facilities and right next to a gazebo with a barbecue. David and Helen’s tent proofs to be very easy to set up and within ten minutes our ‘home’ is standing in place. The soil here is super soft and we don’t even need a hammer to get the pins into the ground. Hopefully they won’t come out as easily as they went in, because it has become pretty windy lately and we don’t want our tent to fly away. Once we are all settled in, we prepare another barbecue dinner. Tonight’s menu: sausages, corn on the cob and peas. After dishwashing and another cup of tea and coffee it’s time to crawl into our sleeping bags. Just in time, because outside it is starting to rain.
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