Coastal Life

Sorry, for the delay, but the last two days, internet was very spotty or almost non-existant in the mountains.

It's been a lot of driving on Saturday: from Apollo Bay west to Portland, around 265 km. Still: no kangaroos, no koalas,,, with the exception of more roadkill of both. And, it's rather cool and rainy on the South Coast of Australia. 20 deg C was the max today for a short period of time. But,,, the coast, and, especially the Twelve Apostles, were fully worth the drive - see photos below.

After breakfast in Apollo Bay in a little café - we got to love these delicious Australian almond croissants, sliced and smeared with almond butter! – we drove 15 minute inland to stop at Mait's Rest first. Being part of the Great Otway National Park it gives a good idea about the look of a rainforest. Over a wooden boardwalk we passed tree-fern gullies, huge myrtle beech trees, eucalyptus, and moss-covered roots of ancient (some 300 years old!) rainforest trees - a completely different ecosystem! A pleasure for all senses! We weren't lucky in regard to fauna, e.g. koalas living in the trees. 

 

 

Mostly inland we drove on for an hour on the pretty bumpy B100 (Great Ocean Road) to Port Campbell National Park's Gibson Steps (below), offering views of sea stacks from either the lookout or the beach below.

Absolute highlight of the day: The Twelve Apostles in the The Twelve Apostles Marine National Park - and: for a change, the sun came out and we had beautiful light! The 12 Apostles are a collection of limestone stacks rising up to 45 m above the water of the Southern Ocean. Only seven or so remain due to erosion. The dramatic coastline and high waves, the color contrasts and the wide horizon let us forget about the crowds around, only taking selfies ,,, 

There is a long pier built to the main observation point:

The Loch Ard Blowhole on Great Ocean Road is a deep cut into the landscape at Loch Ard Gorge. A new lookout provides only opened last year, a new experience in the shape of the Southern Right Whale.  

London Bridge - only a short drive along the Great Ocean Road from the Twelve Apostles was originally a natural archway and tunnel, but collapsed in 1990 and became an isolated arch no longer connected to the mainland. They say that little penguins come ashore on the protected beach below and in winter whales are passing on their migration north.

 

On to Warrnambool- a prime spot for whale watching in summer. Unfortunately, it rained (as it did most of the day) and we only made some short stops: first, to see one of many murals in town (see pic), second, to check out the Maritime Village on Flagstaff Hill.

The road continued mostly in the "hinterland" (they really call it like that!). The drive from Warrnambool to Port Fairy was rather boring, but, at least, for the first time today, I could switch on the cruise control and let the car roll at 100 km/h, though often on uneven surface. Port Fairy is a fishing village at the end of the Great Ocean Road, and famous for its 19th century cottages and its location on the  Shipwreck Coast. Without being planned we "fell into" the Port Fairy Folk Festival and Street Fair  the whole town seemed to be out and about and parking was a bit tricky. Checked the vendors and boothes and drove down to the harbor.

One more hour to Portland, our homebase for the night. Not in Oregon, but in Victoria - in the Portland Bay. Through the 19th century Portland developed to become an important fishing port and still shows beautiful houses (photos below), especially hotels from the old days.  The port dates back to 1800 when Lieutenant James Grant sailed the Lady Nelson into what he named Portland Bay, which became Victoria’s first settlement in 1834. In the 20th century aluminium smelter became important, woodchips and logs are another main article for export as we got to know at the Portland Maritime Museum (baby whale on the photo). 

Due to the weekend, many shops and restaurants were closed (shops generally close at noon or early afternoon on Saturdays in Australia) and several of the buildings were standing empty. Therefore, we decided to go shopping at Woolworths and just had a roasted chicken with bread, cole slaw, avocado and cheeses for dinner in our rather modest, standard hotel room we had booked (it had been difficult to find anything at all because of the long holiday weekend!).