The Great Ocean Road and The Grampians

Saturday morning started off with a slow stroll along the beach and rocks of Blanket Bay as we waited for the sun to eventually shine through the clouds. After slowly packing up and saying goodbye to all our koala mates we headed out to enjoy the last few stops in the Otway National Park. This involved stopping at Maits Rest and Melba Gully for a couple of rainforest walks and a quick morning tea break at Johanna’s Beach campground – where we saw our first up close and personal snake of the trip! We headed further along the Great Ocean Road to Wreck Beach, where I proceeded to have a shower in the car park and Michael set out on a walk that involved 732 steps in total to see an anchor – for his troubles he also got rained on, so I think I got the better end of the stick. We then headed back to Melba Gully for a BBQ at sunset then strolled through the freezing cold rainforest to spot glow worms all around, a rather magical experience. After we left the gully we headed towards Princetown and ended up sleeping in some random car park a minute out of town, good times!

The Beach at Blanket Bay

The nest morning we were total Muppets and decided to get up at stupid o’clock to see the 12 Apostles at sunrise. Well we saw the Apostles at sunrise except the sun decided not to show… Despite this minor setback the Apostles were magnificent. We spent the next few hours continuing along the Great Ocean Road stopping at any and all walks and lookouts. We saw Loch Ard Gorge, Mutton Bird Island, The Arch, London Bridge (well what’s left of it),The Grotto (well worth a look even though it doesn’t make it onto a lot of maps!) The Bay of Martyrs and The Bay of Islands. As we were up so early we managed to do all of this by a decent time and headed onwards to Warrnambool. On the way  we stopped off at Cheese World – after all we cannot resist free food.

Just before we left some clouds cleared - The "12" Apostles

Once in Warrnambool we restocked and thanks to having my birthday recently Michael had a free muffin and I had a free coffee at Muffin break, everything tastes better when its free. Then we headed to a camping reserve in Killarney for what was to be the worst weather night so far on the trip! Picture gale force winds, torrential rain and freezing cold temperatures and you probably only have half the picture. We had to get up during the night to pull the annex down because we were afraid of it ripping or flying off Absolutely a horrible night. Upside the washing machine was free, downside it took a few days to dry…

The Bay of Islands

The next morning we headed to Port Fairy for a quick squiz.  It was still freezing and very gusty so most of our viewing was done from the car. We then headed to Tower Hill, the site of a very old volcano. Upon entering the park we saw emus and kangaroos, which was enough to tempt us out of the car. We decided to climb the highest peak in the park, usually a half hour walk, but upon reaching the top it pelted down rain so we probably did the walk in 15 minutes or so. Once we reached the car the rain stopped – of course! So we headed further into the park to do a walk and see emus and a couple of koalas. We left Tower Hill and headed to Warrnambool to get some thermals and a hot water bottle since we’d had enough of the freezing cold wet weather on the coast and planned to “escape”  to The Grampians. Even though it had an average temperature of 8, we knew what we were getting into and knew there would be less rain and wind there, so we headed off late in the afternoon. We had a quick stop over in Dunkeld for dinner then headed into The Grampians to make camp. The roads driving in were about as picturesque as it gets, gum trees in abundance and marvellous mountains. Even though it was getting dark we could see we had made the right decision – The Grampians are spectacular. That night we camped at Wannon Crossing, within a few minutes we had seen some wallabies and a brush tail possum.

One very "special" emu at Tower Hill

Wednesday we woke up and decided to explore this wonderland of mountains (which includes The Wonderland Ranges). We explored several campgrounds (Jimmy’s Creek, Boreang and Smith’s Mill), several dirt and soft 4WD tracks and a few walking tracks including Mackenzie Falls, Boreang falls and Mafeking Picnic Area – the site of the last Victorian Gold Rush where the largest nugget found was the size of a match-head. Throughout the day several roos and emus crossed our paths – emus we’re beginning to understand are definitely not the sharpest tools in the shed. We settled down at a beautiful camp ground called Plantation, made a brilliant fire and watched the roos surround us.

A typical afternoon in the office.

The next morning we had a bush shower (several of the camp grounds have them and they’re bloody brilliant) and headed off to see the Giant Koala at Dadswells Bridge (which is for sale…). We had a scallop sandwich and an ice-cream, walked round the carpark, thus seeing all of Dadswells Bridge (other highlights including, and is limited to, a turkey farm and an Indian restaurant with a cat as the only patron, who didn’t look happy with the service either). We considered climbing Mount Zero, but then looked at the sky and considered settling down and making a fire instead. This time we camped near Mount Stapylton. When we arrived there wasn’t a soul in sight, but somehow by the end of the evening 3 school groups had shown up to break the peace and quiet. This was still a great site and there was once again skippies and emus around.

The Giant Koala!

The next morning we decided we’d try a bit of a challenging walk and climbed Hollow Mountain. This walk involved rock hopping and at times literally rock climbing, there was no railings, and we only had a yellow arrow painted on a rock every now and then to follow – there was definitely no set track just rocks. It was challenging and for those afraid of heights or sheer drops this would not be ideal – at one stage I almost turned back but thanks to Michael and his outstretched arm I persevered to climb the most amazing and picturesque mountain. On top we had 360 degree views of the Grampians. It was well worth the hard work.

A cave in Hollow Mountain

The actual Hollow in Hollow Mountain

Nearly at the top of Mount Hollow - What a sight!

Next we headed to Wartook Reservoir, a massive 1000ha lake that supplies a ridiculous amount of farms in and even out of the area. We somehow stumbled upon Wartook Lookout and after a very steep scramble and again following a silly yellow arrow that kept pointing upwards even though it seemed like you couldn’t get further up – somehow we managed it and were rewarded with once again spectacular views of  mountains and countryside. We then continued to Boroka Lookout and once more splendored at the beauty of the area. We left rather tired and headed to Smiths Mill Campground for the evening. We met some lovely random people, shared some stories and found whilst doing this that crows had attacked our cornflakes (that were still packaged but pecked through!) they also, and to my great distress, took the last of our damper! Simply unacceptable! There wasn’t much we could do, so we went to bed and in the morning I threw water at any crows that came near – a small consolation!

Wartook Lookout

Boroka Lookout

And that takes us to today. Michael and I went to Reed Lookout and walked to The Balconies then took a small journey to the Grand Canyon! Well The Grampians Grand Canyon, which I’m assured is actually the real Grand Canyon and the American one was named after this one! So we walked – or rock hopped – through the Canyon. Our legs a tad tired from the day before, we decided to head towards camp and so now we’re in the south west of the Grampians National Park at a place called Strachans. Once more the rain has appeared, but we’re happily inside the camper sipping Port from Central Tilba and nibbling on Fine Dark Chocolate from Phillip Island, so all is well. Tomorrow we plan on heading back towards the coast and potentially by this time next week we may have crossed the next border – BUT who knows and who cares really, as long as we’re having fun and seeing all these amazing things time means nothing!

The Grand Canyon

Another lookout we stumbled upon overlooking The Grampians

Lesson of the week: Perseverance is key, even though something may be challenging usually the rewards are then tenfold.