The Great Ocean Road

Tuesday 30th January
Last night hundreds of large white cockatoos had settled in trees all around us, so this morning they had a huge chat and arguments about when to leave. By 7.30 they had all gone and peace reigned. Off on the GOR where our first stop was Port Fairy, voted the most desirable place to live in Australia in 2017. We walked around Griffith Island, home of a huge Shearwater colony - the birds make their nests in warrens in the sandy ground. This time of year babies are in the nests and the parents go hunting for food during the day. We would never have known the babies were there as they made no noise at all.

Our journey continued towards Port Campbell National Park where we stopped several times for fabulous views of iconic rock formations in the sea such as Bay of Islands and Bay of Martyrs. We also saw our first close up Wallaby that sat still for long enough for a photo. It is very windy when we reach our site in Port Campbell, but the sun was shining.

Wednesday 31st January
It was pretty cold last night. Hard to believe that just a couple of days we were stifling in the heat, but this morning it was only 14 degs and felt so cold with the wind. We continue on the GOR admiring the beautiful sites along the way - The Arch, The Grotto, London , Loch Ard Gorge and the famous Twelve Apostles (though there are not 12 rocks and never were). We drove inland for a while and had lunch at Lavers Hill where they really needed some heating on, especially as it was high in the hills. A very popular spot with local agricultural workers as many came in for lunch.
By late afternoon we reached the Kennet River Holiday Park and settled in. What a brilliant spot for birds and koalas. Koalas were in trees right above

our van and the colourful lorikeets were happy to settle on our hands or head, especially if they thought we had food. Even the kookaburras sat on a fence by us, not at all scared of humans. We went for a long walk along the river bank, taking care where we walked as there were warnings of snakes - we didn't see any. We did see more koalas though! We had supper in the Kafe Koala just outside the camp site. We were the only people there, took our own wine in and had a very tasty Thai curry. It is very cold, even inside, so a walk to the nearby beach was very brisk.

Thursday, 1st February
A noisy awakening by all the birds, plus Jim was seriously growled at by a koala who was swapping trees right above us. We drove on to Lorne and spent a bit of time in the info centre where there was a very informative exhibition on how the Great Ocean Road was constructed by returning soldiers after WW1, as a memorial to all those who had lost their lives during the war. It took 12 years to do this road by hand, using picks, shovels and wheel barrows. A great feat.
Heading towards Angelsea we stopped at the historic Fairhaven lighthouse where we had a great cup of coffee and met 2 lovely Americans - Bonnie and Fred. They agreed to come along to the Angelsea Golf Club and try and organise 9 holes of golf for the 2 men. Unfortunately, the course was busy until after 2 so we just had lunch together. Jim played 9 holes with Tricia as his caddy and we walked around amongst hundreds of kangaroos, many with babies still suckling from their mothers. Quite a distraction for golfers!

We learned that the best surfing beaches are in this area all around Torquay. Bell's Beach was made famous in the film Point Break, but the surf wasn't good when we were there. We stayed in a huge but well organised site (back to civilisation now) and, after a long walk along the sandy beach, had pizzas in a nearby Italian restaurant.