When we camp at these random places, we tend to have breakfast at 6 and leave at 7. Today there are some displeased people being told to get up a half hour earlier than expected, as they hadn’t realised that the clocks moved forward by that much as we crossed into Victoria yesterday.
Today we drive along the Great Ocean Road, stopping at several places to observe the spectacular scenes from the disintegrating limestone cliffs and rock stacks of coastal Victoria. The Bay of Islands is like an archipelago of isolated platforms rising from the sea. There is a menacing elegance to these scenes, the ocean waves crashing and swelling up the rocks. Then there is what is now called ‘London Arch’, having been billed as ‘London Bridge’ until 1990 when the double archway became a single one as the narrow arch connecting them to the mainland collapsed into the sea.
Later there is a stop in Torquay and the weather is very Torquay like too. After seven months travelling through Hampshire, we have made it through Dorset to Devon in double quick time. In that time, everyone in Devon has converted to driving mopeds and the dialect has taken a funny turn.
The most mystical sight of our journey today is ‘The Twelve Apostles’, who have, alas, lost some of their brethren, the necks of some of the large Merlin’s head rock towers having given way to the power of the ocean. There must have been some hefty crashes along the way. Unfortunately, some of the remaining Apostles, of which there are eight, may not be long for this world either, although while they continue to defy gravity they are the sight to see on the Great Ocean Road journey.
There is a reason why this part of the coast is referred to as the Shipwreck Coast, and Loch Ard Gorge, another limestone stack feature, is named after a clipper ship that wrecked here in 1878, killing all but two of the fifty one people on board. There is also a cemetery on the walkway through the scrub where remains of some of those recovered from the wreck are buried.
However, the atmosphere of the brutal coast line is somewhat dissipated by the warning signs and fences that line the walk through the scrub land. Health and Safety has scarred the landscape. In the defence of such maintenance, it does allow rich vegetation to grow, supporting lots of wildlife like birds, voles and, not so welcome to these other animals nor to humans, tiger snakes. Having said that, the presence of these snakes provides a natural disincentive to trampling through the plant growth.
On the road again, we see an Echidna crossing the road, otherwise known as a spiny anteater, a hedgehog like creature with an elongated snout. Our guide Steve mentions that this is only the third one that he has ever seen that wasn’t already road pizza.
We bush camp near a petrol station just far enough from Melbourne to avoid being at a real campsite. A couple who did the UK to Oz trip before and who are now living in Melbourne come out to meet us, and they are induced into doing the cooking for us.
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