We woke up and, you guessed it, we were freezing cold! Not only was I tossing and turning because I was uncomfortable – we even have pads underneath us so I can’t imagine what it would be like without them – but I also woke up to find myself feeling frozen. I think both the tent and the sleeping bags are not meant for weather this cold, though they claim to be three season. So, I take back what I said about my preference for camping over hostels because I could sure use a warm comfy bed about now. Still, we go to bed really early so even though we toss and turn and freeze, we are getting plenty of rest.
Anyway, enough about our discomfort! Really, how can we complain? We are camping in Australia and how awesome is that!?
We packed up and drove down to Apollo Bay where we found a grocery store and bought a few more food items. We ate breakfast – rolls with raspberry jam,yogurt, and apples – on a park bench by the beach. It was sunny with a bit of a chilly breeze, very pleasant.
As we ate, I opened up the map we had bought and made a plan for our day. Before heading back out on the road, we explored Apollo Bay a bit. We walked down the beach and onto the docks, then passed a beautiful golf course and headed back into town with its line of shops and cafes. We popped in a few places hoping to find a book for me to read as the Kindle broke but we found prices too high - $25 for a paperback. No, thanks. We did go into a little tourist shop though and found ourselves an Australia magnet, a koala climbing on a boomerang. And we saw those Australian-made cowboy hats, which we have seen everywhere! Nick still hesitates to get one but I think he will break in the end.
We continued our drive up along the coast where I had assumed we would see more lookouts and cliff formations but these were very sparse in comparison with our first drive. There were a good number of very fine beaches but I suppose we are a bit spoiled living in Hawaii as we weren’t entirely drawn to that experience. However, as most people in the water were wearing wetsuits, I don’t know that the ocean would have felt too terribly inviting anyway.
Seeing as there was not much along the coast, I planned for us to continue our trekking through the woods. I found a trail that passed by four waterfalls, some canyons, and a place called Fern Gully! So we parked the car at the trail head and headed on our way with our bags full of food, water, binoculars, and camera batteries.
I was a little irritated at the hike only because I had read that it was an “easy” grade but we did nothing but trudging uphill, uphill, and uphill! Oh well, burn those thighs off!
There were a few things unique about the trail. For one thing, you could see the ocean every once in a while, which was a neat background similar to many of the hikes on Hawaii. We also passed through a whole lot of blackberry bushes. I wanted to eat them but there was a sign saying not to. I used to pick and eat blackberries at my aunt and uncles and they are so good! We also passed a great many butterflies, as we did on that hike on Kangaroo Island, but these were more like monarch butterflies with the orange wings. And there were salamanders everywhere too, with their sleek snake-life bodies. They even move like snakes too because they move from side to side when they walk! I got a good photo of one and I was proud to catch the little guy.
We made it to the first falls pretty quickly, called Shoeak Falls. Nick clambered up to the foot of the falls for some pictures and it really gave a better perspective on the size of the falls. The pool the water fell into was so dark, you could hardly see beyond a few inches into the water. The still dark pool made me think of a mermaid or nature spirit living there and about ready to rise from the water any moment. Not to say that the place was creepy! It was neat with the sound of flowing water all around.
We continued on and found a very strange cave above the falls. It had all these divots in it, sort of like the Remarkable Rocks. It kind of looked like it had been hit with a bunch of tennis balls, basketballs, and golf balls. Near the cave, called Swallow Cave, ran the river with a bunch of dry rocks available for sitting and relaxing in the sun and we did just that! We sat in the middle of the dark creek and ate our lunch and listened to the water running all around us, small falls behind us and Shoeak Falls in front of us. Nick found this still moment especially enjoyable.
Unfortunately, our journey did not continue as planned. The trail was blocked due to flood damage! But I would not be deterred! No, I did not go past the barrier. I got out my handy map and found a way to include the other sites by starting from another location. So we headed back down the trail to our car and drove a bit further to the town of Lorne to begin our journey anew!
Now, Lorne looked like a very cool place. It had an awesome beach with parks and pools and trampolines on the grass by the shore! Of course, it has the usual seaside shops as well and in the back, green mountains full of wilds birds and waterfalls! Wow, what a special place!
We started on the trail and were in for a real treat from the get go. We walked along a creek and into some private property – part of the trail – with an apple orchard. As we walked through this area, we saw a lot of birds fluttering around and realized they were wild cockatoos! We whipped out the binoculars and the camera and were so entertained by these birds congregating together high up in a tree, squawking and looking down at us with their black eyes. We counted ten of them up there, flirting with each other and climbing along the branches. I was hoping they would go flying around again but they stayed put, probably a little nervous about us and feeling safe so high up.
As we were watching the cockatoos, a lady came out of the little cottage with her cute dogs and asked if we were looking at the cockatoos. She explained what a nuisance they are because they come and eat her apples, taking a bite out of one and then a bit out of another. I figured as much. I told her how jealous I was of her place – an apple orchard with wild birds and horses and a cute cottage by the creek with waterfalls and trails nearby and a beach and cute town just over the hill! Honestly, what more could you ask for, I very much wanted to live there! She smiled and wished us well, a very cute lady.
We moved on and got a bit lost, finding some very cute cottages and red mushrooms along the way. The same lady came out and directed us on the right path – I suppose that is the one downside to living there, idiot tourists wandering through who can’t read signs – and we found ourselves trudging up yet another set up hills. Nick and I were about ready to drawl on our hands and knees, these hills were so steep! Man, we were burning, but it was so pleasant with the breeze to cool us off. Nick mentioned how fun it would be if we could take a Big Boy Slide back down the hill. Indeed!
We found our next falls called Phantom Falls. I really liked these falls because of the rock formations around them. There was a sort of column going up the middle of the falls with huge square-shaped rocks stacked up to the top. The whole thing looked like something set up for a king in ancient South America or something! The creek is flowed into was also particularly fit for rock-hopping. But, alas, we were running quite short on time with much yet to see!
From the falls, we continued – yes, uphill – to the canyons. I was not sure what to expect, really. It just said Canyons so I had kind of pictured something similar to the canyons in Southern Utah with dry red rock climbing up above me. Wow, I was so off and instead found something so enchanting it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip so far!
We came to a place where the rocks sort of tumbled down into this hole with a bridge crossing the chasm. You would think you go over the bridge, but instead you go down into the hole! We climbed down and found ourselves in another world! Not only we were walking through the canyons with high walls of stone on either side, the thin trail we traveled was surrounded on either side by moss-covered trees and rocks and caves. It was like our hikes the day before but twice as green and twice as wild! All I could do was say, “This is so awesome” again and again. I wish I could describe it better but the best I can do is to say it was like walking through the Avatar world with jaw-dropping wilderness.
From there, we ran into Fern Gully, which continued our journey through the wild and the green and the damp and the muddy. Indeed, it was very muddy as we both slipped a few times, though not enough to muddy up our clothes, thank goodness. We walked quietly through this area and I was drinking up the experience. I love being in the wild and just listening to the sounds.
We came to a fork in the road and had to decide whether to go a bit further up the trail and see Henderson Falls or head back the other way to loop around to our car. As we were running short on daylight, I opted to skip the falls as we had seen so many anyway. We did see one last falls – Won Wondah, but you could hardly see it through the trees and it was very small. Still, seeing six falls in two days seems like a pretty good deal to me!
We booked it back to the car – and were finally going downhill! – and headed to Torquay, our final destination on the Great Ocean Road. We were staying at a very big trailer park called Torquay Foreshore Caravan Park, and had a spot just by the beach. We were very excited to have facilities once again so we could laundry and shower. After laundry, we went to the nearby McDonalds so I could use the free wifi there but the laptop we have is so dysfunctional and slow – worse than computers I have used twenty years ago – so I was hardly able to get anything posted on the blog. It made for a disappointing close in the evening but I was happy to have a warmer night’s rest in clean clothes!
Pictures:
We start with some seals from Apollo Bay plus a restaurant and golf course there. Then we see the Shoeak Falls and Swallow Cave with a salamander. And, no, that is not just a tree. Look closely for the cockatoos up there (click to enlarge)! Then we have a pristine mushroom, Phantom Falls, and the Canyons.
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