Great Ocean Road

The weather continued to be a bit unseasonably cool but it was brighter today with some sun and cloud. We started from Port Fairy to follow the Great Ocean Road to Lorne. This highway was built as a First World War memorial by returned soldiers and sailors and completed in 1932. A few kilometres down the road we stopped at Tower Hill Game Reserve where we were assured we could see some Koalas in the wild. It didn’t take a lot of looking to find this little fellow sleeping in a gum tree.

The first encounter with the coast on the Great Ocean Road was at the Bay of Islands near Peterborough.

Our next stop was at The Arch, apparently really spectacular at high tide but still a nice view when we were there.

The biggest tourist attraction of this drive are The Twelve Apostles, limestone pillars along the bluffs.

We were able to descend to beach level for a closer look.

The Southern Ocean surf was running today...

From here, we decided to drive to Cape Otway to see the lighthouse. This was a 30 km diversion but it took us down an access road that was lined with gum trees and we were able to spot numerous koalas.

We saw a mother koala with her youngster riding her back as she climbed a tree. 

As cute as they are, here is the aftermath of a large koala population, lots of dead gum trees after they eat all of the leaves….

The Cape Otway Lighthouse dates back to 1845 and provided an important navigational aid for boats traversing the Bass Straight.

Some nice views from the observation deck…

We were now running a bit late to get to our accommodation and we discovered the road was very twisty. The road turned inland through a forest for a while and we had some nice overlooks of the surrounding hills after climbing a ridge.

From here to Lorne, the road met the sea and wiggled its way on the cliff side next to the sea. This reminded me of the California Pacific Coast Highway but with a lot sharper corners and a narrower road.

We arrived in Lorne and checked into our Hawaii themed room. 

We called our daughter Jenn who is in Hawaii with the family for a spring break vacation to share our experience. As Chris was talking on the phone, this huge cockatoo landed on the balcony railing of our room! Chris tried to invite him in for a glass of wine but he declined. Said he wanted a Margarita, not wine...

We walked down to the beach at sunset to watch the surfers getting in their last runs of the day.

We had some Thai food at a cafe on the main street and headed back to the Hawaii Suite to watch a DVD.

We have no wifi at this location so the blog will have to wait for another day to publish.