A late start today. We’ve finalized the plans for the end of our trip. We’ll leave Apollo Bay tomorrow and head to Portarlington and stay a night with Mum and Dad. Then on Tuesday, we’ll head home.
There is only one path to walk the dog from the park – along the beach – and we did that yesterday, So today I put Leo in the car and we drove to Apollo Bay to walk around the town. Very few people around (although it was 9am on Sunday morning – when I came through later the town was buzzing). Apollo Bay has a fantastic foreshore with quite a few art pieces and impeccably manicured gardens. We walked back along the main strip shops. I passed 5 cafes, all with patrons inside having breakfast. Not full, but I’m sure they will be in a couple of weeks.
One of the cafes’ menus stated their bread was from a local bakery, La Mana, so I made sure to find it. One of my tasks as well as walking the dog was to find some fresh bread for lunch. Most of the nicer bread (wholegrain etc) was already sold out, so I got a plain loaf and a french stick.
After lunch, Teresa wanted to recover ready for the long car trip home over the next few days, so I decided to head out to a few walking tracks. I wanted to visit the Otway Fly (a skyway over the forest) and the Otway Lighthouse, so I planned a round trip through the mountains going through Skeene’s Creek then up to Stevensons Falls, the Otway Fly and the lighthouse before returning home. Here is my trip:
Stevensons Falls was my first stop. To get there, followed the signs off the main road and onto a gravel road that quickly changed to a one lane road winding down the mountain side. It was quite picturesque (even if slow).
Would you believe I got stuck in a traffic jam? I have the picture to prove it! I gather there were four cars in convoy (as they all turned off together) but the front car was so slow, I had to finish the journey at slower than walking pace.
Just before the falls was the Stephenson campground. There were a number of tents and interestingly 2 caravans parked. Definitely free camping – no power and a composting toilet.
The convoy turned off at the campground while I continued to the falls. There is a small carpark (only one other car there) and a 1km walk up the river to the falls. As I got closer, the sound of the running creek slowly morphed into the roar of water over a waterfall. The waterfall is 122 meters high and because of the recent rain there was lots of water cascading down.
Backtracking to the main road (not taking as long thankfully), I headed to the Otway Fly. On the map, the road looked like it had a few bends, but I wasn’t quite prepared for how many and tight they were! My first warning was a sign that read “Road not suitable for coaches or caravans” and the name of the road was “Turton’s Track”. The road quickly narrowed to a single lane (just like the road to Stephensons Falls) and signposted at 40km/h. At least this time the track was paved. Fortunately I saw only three other cars in the whole 10km track.
While the road was narrow, the country I drove through was absolutely spectacular! Dappled sunlight shone through multiple layers of branches in the rainforest. I couldn’t completely admire the view because I had to concentrate on the road, but I did stop a couple of times just to look around.
I arrived at the Otway Fly a few minutes before 4pm, which was good timing because the treetop walk takes an hour and the close at 5. The walk takes you into the rainforest, along the ground first. Half way into the walk, they have provided elevated gantries that take you into the mid level of the forest, as well as a tower to the treetops.
The walk was quite well done with lots of information panels describing parts of the rainforest, or to highlight something in the local area. The total length of the walk was around 2km.
I took quite a few interesting detail shots of the forest too.
I finished just before 5, which meant the Otway Lighthouse would be closed by the time I got there. So I headed home finishing my circuit. I’ll come back to the Lighthouse another time.
Teresa’s afternoon was filled with washing (she LOVES having a washing machine in the caravan) and she’s worked out a really quick way to dry clothes… She hangs the clothes in the shower along with the portable dehumidifier we bought for her cookies. A few hours later (depending on the humidity in the air), the clothes are dry! It’s allowed us to wash in the morning and put the ‘dryer’ on before we head out for the day. When we get back, everything’s dry and we don’t have to worry about showers or rain.
Tomorrow we finish the Great Ocean Road. Mum said it’s a very winding road, but it can’t be as bad as the track from today!