Great Ocean Road Trip

In November, 2008, I found myself job hunting in Melbourne. I had been in Australia for over a month and it was time I started earning some cash. I can't remember how I found out about the position (I think it was from the SWAP office (Student Work Abroad Program) in Melbourne), but somehow or other I wound up on a coach to Apollo Bay, population 1, 200. I was going to work as a housekeeper in the YHA Eco Hostel, quite a change from teaching, which I had done for four years prior to taking a year's leave, and lifeguarding, which I had done as a university student. My first day there I met Tiia, who would become my roommate, co-worker and friend over the next two months. We hit it off immediately and laughed a lot during that summer spent making beds, cleaning rooms and folding sheets. Gil and Gay were the managers of the hostel and we couldn't have asked for better people to work with. They helped us find second jobs (Tiia worked in the restaurant of the hotel down the road and I worked at LUV Juice Bar), shared tidbits of Aussie culture with us and pointed us in the right direction when we wanted to explore the area by bike, hike, kayak or car. Apollo Bay became a second home and I knew that one day I would return.

A little over 4 years after leaving Apollo Bay to drive Great Ocean Road with Tiia, I returned in the dead of winter with Mom and Dad. On the Solway Lass there was a couple from Melbourne who had said the city was experiencing a mild winter, so we were hoping for cool, sunny days. Flying from Hamilton Island, we arrived after lunch to grey skies and rain. We found our rental car and with Dad as navigator and me in the driver's seat, we managed to successfully exit the airport and find our way onto the Princes Freeway. We decided to stop for lunch in Geelong before continuing to Torquay, the official start of Great Ocean Road. Unfortunately it continued to rain steadily all afternoon, which made our drive not as scenic as I had thought it would be. I had been on this stretch of Victorian coastline several times before and loved it, but I was sad that Mom and Dad were missing out. I insisted we get out for the photo opportunity under the Memorial Archway, built as a tribute to soldiers from the First World War. We then continued on to Lorne, where we stopped to pick up some groceries before driving the final 43 kilometres to Apollo Bay in the dark. We were almost home.

Hurry up and take the picture! We're getting wet!

I was a little nervous about seeing Gil and Gay again, but as soon as we walked in, it was like old times. While I had booked myself into the 4-bed dorm, they surprised me by giving me my own room (thanks again, Gil and Gay!). After giving Mom and Dad a tour of the Eco-Hostel, we settled in the upstairs communal kitchen to prepare dinner. I have many fond memories of that kitchen, including making my first (and only) roast chicken with Tiia for Christmas (served with corn on the cob cooked on the barbecue and a salad~ it was delicious). Because it was winter, the hostel wasn't very busy and we had the kitchen to ourselves. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be at night, although I did need the heater in my room. We weren't in Karratha anymore!

The next day we left just after 8am, heading west toward the Twelve Apostles, the most well known stop along Great Ocean Road. The rain had stopped, but it was still clouded over and quite windy. We bypassed the Cape Otway Lighthouse (we would return the next day) and continued on to the Visitor Information Centre at Port Campbell National Park. This is where all the tourists were. There were hundreds of people stopping to view the Twelve Apostles, a collection of limestone stacks just off the shore. Originally there were 8 stacks (there never were 12, despite the name), but in July, 2005, a 50 metre stack collapsed into the sea, leaving only 7. They were still formidable, however many there were.

The Twelve Apostles. In the foreground,
you can see the remains of the stack that fell in 2005.

Dressed for the weather. The high for the

 day was around 14 degrees Celsius. 

Love these signs!

After taking lots of photos, we hopped back into the car and continued west a couple of kilometres to the next stop, Loch Ard Gorge. The gorge is named after the clipper ship Loch Ard that ran aground on a reef on June 1, 1878. This part of the Australian coastline, from Cape Otway to Moonlight Head, is known as Shipwreck Coast as approximately 638 ships met their fate here. At this stop, you could also see Mutton Bird Island, the Thunder Cave and the Blowholes. I liked Thunder Cave, which I think must have been louder than usual as the wind had picked up and the sea was quite rough. When Tiia and I had visited the first time, it was a blowing a gale and pouring rain. We got soaked running from site to site, taking photos while trying to keep our cameras dry. This time it didn't rain much, but it did threaten and it was quite windy. Gil said his favourite time to see the Twelve Apostles was when it was stormy and the sea was raging, and I have to agree that it's quite picturesque. It's also beautiful during sunset, which Tiia and I had the second time we visited, five days later. We didn't get much of a sunset this time around as there was too much cloud.

Loch Ard Gorge 

Continuing west a few kilometres, our next stop was the Arch.

Another couple of kilometres down the road, was London Arch and the Grotto. London Arch used to be known as London Bridge, as it was a complete double span natural bridge until January 15, 1990, when the part closest to the shore collapsed, stranding two tourists who then had to be rescued by helicopter. No one was hurt when it happened, which is quite amazing.

 London Arch

The Grotto

Driving through Peterborough, we turned around at Bay of Islands, which was lovely. No other tourists had ventured this far at that time, so we had the place to ourselves. I didn't get any good shots at the beach, however, as we had lost what little light we had had earlier and most of my pictures are quite dark. Heading back toward Apollo Bay, we stopped at the Twelve Apostles again, hoping to get a sunset shot, but it was too cloudy. It was time to head back. I love driving Great Ocean Road. It's very windy and hilly, and you never know what's around the corner. It was getting dark and foggy, and I knew kangaroos might be out and about, but I still enjoyed it. Beats driving down to Calgary or Coral Bay any day.

Our wheels (beats my Holden Astra, 

but I wish we had hired a sports car...)

The next day I drove Mom and Dad up to Marriners Lookout. When I lived in Apollo Bay I used to walk most mornings from the hostel to the base of Marriners Lookout Road, climb up to the top, admire the view and walk back down in time to start work at 10am (check-out time). All up I think it took close to 90 minutes and I loved it. When I wasn't walking the hill, I was walking along the beach, which was mostly deserted at that time of day. We parked at the top and walked the final 15 minutes to the viewpoint. Saw lots of sheep, but no baby goats (there were two the summer I was here). The sun had come out and we were rewarded with a great view.

 Showing us the way.

Apollo Bay from Marriners Lookout

A little piece of Canada at Marriners Lookout.

We headed back out west, this time taking the road down to the Cape Otway Lighthouse. On this road you are guaranteed to see koalas (but not for much longer as the gum trees they eat are dying)~ it was the one Australian animal I promised Mom and Dad they would see in the wild (we lucked out though and saw an echidna and some kangaroos in Karratha~ see my post Exploring the Pilbara from August). There weren't as many as I remember from 4 years ago, and at first they were hard to spot, but we did end up seeing more than a dozen. Most were high up in trees, but one was quite low down, I could almost reach out and touch him (her?). It was very exciting when they moved, as most were quite lazy and sleeping. My parents were both quite excited, especially as it's easy to photograph them and they don't run away. We easily spent half an hour taking pictures of them. For the record, koalas are not bears, but marsupials (like kangaroos) and their closest living relative is the wombat (an underrated Australian animal if ever there was one~ I'll never forget bottle feeding the two orphaned wombats while in Tasmania, a definite highlight).

 How many koalas can you spot?

Down the road from the koalas was the Cape Otway Lighthouse. Beautiful views are to be had looking east towards Apollo Bay from the top of the lighthouse. It is regarded as the most significant lighthouse in Australia and it was the first sight of land for many immigrants who had been sailing for months from Europe. In operation since 1848, it is the oldest, surviving lighthouse in mainland Australia. There is a lovely cafe there as well as accommodation in the head light keeper's or the manager's houses. We had lunch at the cafe (scones with clotted cream and jam for me) and returned to the Twelve Apostles to see if the sky and sun would give us better shots this afternoon.

Another sign, although not as dramatic.

View from the cafe.

We also visited Gibson Steps, which is one stop before the Twelve Apostles, as we skipped it the day before. You take the Steps down to the beach, which has great views in both directions. I was proud of both Mom and Dad for climbing the steps. It was well worth it.

 The beach at Gibson Steps

Our flight to Alice Springs was leaving early Wednesday morning, so the next day we had to drive back to Melbourne, where we had booked a hotel close to the airport. Our last morning in Apollo Bay I went for a run (so nice to run along a beach~ can't do that in Edmonton or Karratha) and then Gil and Gay took us to Cafe Nautigals. We had a wonderful time catching up. It turns out I couldn't have timed my visit better as they were leaving Apollo Bay at the beginning of August to caravan around Australia. I'm so glad I got to see them again and I wish them the best as they make their way around this beautiful country. After taking some photos on the beach, we headed off, this time going east, back to Melbourne. We stopped in Lorne for lunch and to see Erskine Falls, and then Torquay to see the sundial and Bells Beach, one of the most famous surf beaches in the world.

 Erskine Falls

So, you might fall down a hole, slip on rocks, 

a tree might fall on you, or a snake could bite you.

 Why are we down here again? 

The final hour driving into Melbourne in rush hour traffic, something I haven't had to deal with since leaving Edmonton, was not much fun, but we made it. The next morning was even worse, as we had to drive to the airport, get gas/petrol and find the entrance to the parkade where the rental cars were kept all before 8am. There were five (6?) lanes of traffic going into the airport and no one, including me, had any idea what lane they had to be in. We did several laps, as Dad and I argued about how to get to the parkade without having an accident, but we finally made it and made our flight too. Next stop, Alice Springs and Uluru!

Sailing in the Whitsundays!

The Whitsundays are located 1100km north of Brisbane and 630km south of Cairns, right in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef. They are a group of 74 islands off the Queensland coast in the Coral Sea, 66 of which are left in their natural state with no buildings or resorts. I had visited the Whitsundays in September 2009 on my way down the east coast before heading home and I absolutely loved it, which is why I had to bring Mom and Dad here on their whirlwind tour. We were all looking forward to four days of sailing, snorkelling and sunshine, we just had to get there first.

Source

On the map of Australia in the upper left corner, Karratha is almost 

directly across from the Whitsundays, on the west coast

After spending the night in Brisbane, we boarded our early morning flight to Proserpine, home of the Whitsunday Coast Airport. Airlie Beach, our base in the Whitsundays, was another hour away by bus, but we had an entertaining bus driver and it passed quickly. I had stayed in Airlie Beach before, but in a youth hostel. This time around, we were staying at the lovely Airlie Beach Hotel right on the Esplanade. Our ship didn't sail until the next day at 7pm, so we had a day and a half to walk around and get acquainted with the 'drinking town with a sailing problem'. I remembered there was a terrific boardwalk from Airlie Beach to Cannonvale Beach, about 7km return. We walked past Abel Point Marina, where our ship the Solway Lass was docked, and ended up at Cannonvale Beach at low tide. I ran most of the boardwalk the following morning, as it hugs the ocean most of the way and you can't beat the scenery. We also took a bus to Shute Harbour, which also has beautiful views of the Whitsundays. It's a gorgeous part of the world and I'm lucky to have visited it twice.

Abel Point Marina 

Abel Point Marina at sunset

Shute Harbour the next morning

Shute Harbour

The Solway Lass in its berth

At 6:30pm on Tuesday, we got on a bus near our hotel with close to 30 other travellers for the short drive down to the marina. We then boarded our home for the next three days, the Solway Lass (www.solwaylass.com). After being introduced to our crew of five and given a tour of the tall ship, we settled in for the evening. We were sailing for a couple of hours before anchoring for the night. While the weather had been mostly good during the day, the wind had definitely picked up now that it was dark and the sea was choppy. While I don't usually get seasick, I was glad I had bought some ginger tablets that afternoon. They would definitely come in handy over the next few days! We anchored for the night in Macona Inlet at Hook Island around ten, had some delicious, made from scratch vegetable soup by chef Eddie and headed to our cabins and bed.

We awoke to more wind and some rain. With temperatures in the mid to high twenties, hardly any wind and less tourists, July is supposed to be the perfect time to sail the Whitsundays. However, the forecast for July 9-12 was showers with patches of sunshine and that's exactly what we got. Breakfast was at seven and then we took off for Whitsunday Island and the world famous Whitehaven Beach. That morning's sail was the roughest I have ever experienced. Our ship was listing up to 33 degrees to either side and several waves broke over the sides and soaked the deck. I normally don't get seasick (one of the only times I can remember is crossing from Melbourne to Devonport on the Spirit of Tasmania on the Bass Strait~ that was so long and awful, when I was done touring Tasmania I chose to fly back to Melbourne from Launceston instead) and while I didn't throw up like some others on board, I did feel absolutely nauseous and couldn't wait to set foot back on land. This trip couldn't be over soon enough. After ~3 hours, we anchored in Tongue Bay and had lunch. I managed to choke a bit of food down before we took the tender out to Whitsunday Island. After a short hike, we arrived at Whitehaven Beach. 

Whitehaven Beach was awarded two Travellers' Choice Beach Awards by TripAdvisor in 2013: No.1 beach in Australia and No.3 beach in the world.  It is definitely one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been on and on this particular afternoon we had it all to ourselves. It was a bit cool and quite windy, but the sun had come out and it wasn't raining, so that was a plus. We walked along the the length, taking photos while other people in our group donned stinger suits (to protect themselves from jellyfish stings) and went for a dip. We had been warned not to take any of the sand from Whitehaven Beach as the fine was very steep (steeper than if you were found carrying cocaine!). It's 98% silica and since none of the local rocks contain silica, it's thought that it was brought to the beach by prevailing sea currents over millions of years. The bus driver had also mentioned that NASA used it in the creation of the Hubble Space Telescope. It is very fine sand, a danger to cameras and other electronics~ could be why my first digital camera's shutter needs a flick to open after I visited in 2009. No mishaps this year though! 

 The waves were a little too quick for me...

 Mom and Dad on Whitehaven

We met up with Brandon, our barman on the ship and our guide for the afternoon, and the rest of the group to hike up to the view point. Hill Inlet is different every day and I wish I had photos of when I was up there 4 years ago (they're on my older laptop) to compare. Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time before we had to return to the boat, so we quickly snapped a few shots (I think Dad got better ones with his DSLR) and made our way back down. I wasn't too eager to get back on and sail to our next anchorage (I still felt a little queasy and the tender only held ~10 people), so I stayed on the beach looking at the coral that had washed up (the entire beach was made up of bleached coral). Brandon and the tender returned for the final trip and we said goodbye to Whitsunday Island.

 The view of Hill Inlet

Another view of Hill Inlet

Coral

We had a much gentler sail on our return to Hook Island. It was still a bit rough (especially considering that the waters around the Whitsundays are usually as flat as glass), but it was much more manageable. We overnighted in Nara Inlet, just to the west of Macona Inlet, where we had anchored the night before. While waiting for our dinner, some dolphins were playing around the ship; they seemed to like the light from the torches/flashlights. Dinner was Thai green curry chicken~ it was quite amazing what Eddie could cook up for 30+ people in a galley only slightly larger than my bathroom. He had Emma, a Canadian(!) volunteer, help him with cutting up veg and cleaning up, but he did the bulk of it himself and it was always high quality. Well done, Eddie!

The next day, after an early breakfast on the deck, we headed north to Hayman Island, which houses a 5 star luxury resort currently undergoing a $40 million revamp. Rates in the off-season start at $590 and go to $8000 (for a 3 bedroom owner's penthouse) per night. Not quite in my price range, which is why I was sharing a ver small cabin with my parents. There was room for a double bed with a single bunk on top and about 2m x 0.5m space in front of the beds. The Solway Lass anchored in Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman's northwest side and Braydon, one of the deckhands, make several trips with the tender to drop us off on the island. Mom and I put on our stinger suits (very attractive!) and our masks and snorkels, and waded into the ocean. Close to shore there wasn't much sea life or coral, but the further out we ventured, the more we saw. Every time I go snorkelling I wish I knew what I was looking at. We saw lots of fish, many of them multi-coloured, quite a few clams (some were very big and their 'lips' were a bright blue or purple) and lots of different kinds of coral. No underwater camera this time, so I just tried to absorb as much as I could. It was amazing to see the variety of sea life~ there were so many fish and they came in all different kinds of colours and patterns. So happy Mom got to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, it really is an extraordinary experience. Reluctantly we joined Dad in the tender and returned to the ship. It was time for lunch.

That afternoon we sailed around Hayman and headed to Maureen's Cove, on the north side of Hook Island. Here we had another opportunity to snorkel and I jumped at the chance. This time we had to get in the water from the tender, and the water was cold! The coral here was more colourful than it had been near Hayman (green! blue! purple! pink!), and there were more kinds of fish here as well. The wind had picked up, but as long as you kept your face in the water, it was fine. Mom and Dad stayed in the glass bottom boat and got to see the reef from above. They saw a sea turtle, which I missed, but I had swam with one last time I had been to the Great Barrier Reef. After being pulled back into the tender, we returned to the ship, where some of our group were using the rope swing. Everyone was in a great mood after having had such a successful day on the reef and we had a great sail to our last night's anchorage in Baird Point on Hook Island.

On our last day at sea, the wind conditions were just right and the crew opened all the sails. We had had had some of the sails open on some of the other days, but today all the sails were open. They enlisted some of the passengers to help, and I got to hoist one of the sails (possibly the jib? I can't remember...) while Brandon yelled at me to "HEAVE!" and to "Put (my) back into it, sailor!" Nothing like a little encouragement... We sailed to South Molle Island to hike Spion Kop Track, a lovely hike through eucalypt forest, rainforest and open grassland. We had great views of the islands around South Molle, including Hook, Whitsunday and Hamilton. We had done a more difficult hike 4 years ago to an amazing viewpoint overlooking the Solway Lass in an inlet, but this walk had great views all around, especially from the platform at the end. The rain held off while we were on the island and the sun even came out for awhile. Back on board the ship, we prepared for the journey home.

Some of the steps on our walk

 The Solway Lass is the one closest to the centre, with the dark hull

 Some of the 74 islands of the Whitsundays

 One of my favourite flowers, a hibiscus

 Grass trees!

Being a sailor is a lot of work! 

Brandon and Braydon taking down one of the sails.

Watching the crew take down the sails was quite the show. Wearing harnesses that hooked into the rigging, the climbed up the ladders and balanced on ropes while folding the sails neatly and tying them up . This was made a bit more difficult due to the wind and rain, but they worked quickly and efficiently, and they received a round of applause once they were done. After another couple of hours of sailing, we were back at Airlie Beach. Our captain, Reese, had the onerous task of backing the ship into its berth. After saying goodbye to our new friends, who came from Holland, Norway, Wales, Byron Bay, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Canada (Ontario), and to the crew, we returned to our hotel to shower (only 2 minute showers were allowed on the ship and mine was lukewarm at best) and pack. Part two of our holiday was over and it was time to prepare for the second half. We would be flying to Melbourne in the morning, the starting point of our road trip. Great Ocean Road, here we come!