The Long and Winding Great Ocean Road: Lorne to Port Campbell

Situated on the coast, Lorne has beautiful scenery and some good restaurants but doesn't seem to have much more to offer.   I spent some time on the beach, despite the occasional light shower, and was reminded that sometimes it pays to look back - I turned around and saw a rainbow arcing over the town.  

My very first wild koala sighting!

A short sidetrip out of town led to Erskine Falls.  I love that Australia is great about warning you of the potential dangers but then letting you decide whether or not to take the risk.  In Canada, we tend to have made adventure and exploration very tame with board walks, "safe" areas, etc.  That said, I wasn't too keen when I saw this sign with the snake warning!  The only way I managed to move beyond that was to remind myself that it's winter and cold out - not good weather for snakes!  No need to tell me if I'm wrong! ;-)

Driving from Lorne to Kennett River was an experience!  Lonely Planet describes part of this drive, saying the "Great Ocean Road snakes spectacularly around the cliff-side" - I don't think I could describe it any better!  The views were amazing - I'm thankful for many spots where I could pull over to get out and take photos.

Kennett River is another small town along the Great Ocean Road but it has something that no other spot had yet offered - koalas!  I almost missed the best viewing spot as I drove through town but a small crowd around a tree caught my attention.  I turned around and parked by a roadside coffee shop and then walked over to the crowd.  A fairly active, determined koala was making its way from branch to branch in a small gum tree right beside the road.  The way he moved reminded me of the way sloths move through the trees.

I went into the coffee shop and grabbed some lunch.  While I was eating, a koala walked across the parking lot!

Kookaburra sits in the old gum . . . wait a minute . . . 

There was also a very brave and curious kookaburra who came to sit on the fence of the coffee shop patio.  He let people get very near to him and if you spoke to him, he turned his head towards you as if he knew that you were addressing him.

A short walk up the side street led to many more koalas and lots of colourful birds.  The same area has glow worms, but I needed to keep driving.

It is impossible to do justice to the rugged beauty of this stretch of coast.  The rocks, the waves, the flora, the fauna, the rainbows - incredible!

I stopped in Apollo Bay for gas.  The previous day, they had seen a whale just offshore so I watched for a little while without success.

My next stop was Maits Rest Rainforest Boardwalk.  Walking through this rainforest-gully was like stepping back to the time of the dinosaurs:  fern trees three times my height, old growth forest, a preternatural quiet, rain dripping off the leaves. . . you could just imagine the prehistoric creatures wandering around.

On the way to the Cape Otway Lighthouse, you drive a stretch of road known for koalas.  Getting out of the car, I spotted at least 20 or so koalas in trees just alongside the road.  I was making my way to a better position to take a picture of one koala sleeping high in a tree when I glimpsed movement out of the corner of my eye.  Only a foot or two higher than my head, in a tree only a foot or two away, sat a koala just looking at me - I couldn't believe how close he was!

The Cape Otway Lighthouse grounds are fairly large.  At the lighthouse, Pat, the former lighthouse keeper, was an informative host, sharing the history of Australian lighthouses, in general, and specifically the history of the Cape Otway Lighthouse.  There is a WWII bunker that was used for surveying the waters off Australia for Japanese war ships.  There is also an aboriginal cultural centre.  I was there near dusk and found the paths through the woodlands rather hard to follow - hard enough that I was a little worried at one point!

As night was falling, I made my way to Port Campbell and found a hotel to stay at for the night.  Dinner was fish and chips from a take-away place called "Frying Nemo".

Nemo, Jaws and Overcoming My Fears

I will return to my tales of the Great Ocean Road in the next day or so, but need to rave about my experience at the Great Barrier Reef today first!

I spent the day out at Michaelmas Cay and Hastings Reef with the crew of the Seastar and about 30 or so other tourists, including a lot of US Navy personnel and their wives, in town after completing manoeuvres with the Australian Navy.  There was also a couple from a town 20 minutes away from where I live back in Canada!

The Great Barrier Reef is beyond description!  The coral in all different types, colours, and sizes.  The giant clams.  The sea turtles.  Nemo.  Schools of fish swimming around you.  The parrot fish.  It just amazes me!

A giant clam

This was my second visit to the Reef.  Last week, I had the opportunity to snorkel and SCUBA dive while sailing in the Whitsunday Islands.  I loved the snorkeling but wasn't too keen on the SCUBA diving.  All our lives we are trained that we can't breathe under water and to hold our breath.  SCUBA diving demands that you let go of that training and conditioning and accept that the alternate is true.  That takes a leap of faith - especially after signing your life away on all of the release forms required to SCUBA dive!  My instructor was really good and let me take my time adjusting to the water as I was psyching myself out more than a little bit!  Overall, it was a good experience, but it ended with my mask filling with water and being unable to clear it.  Not the most positive note to end on - especially with an activity that scared me to begin with.

Even before I left Canada, I had planned to go out to the Reef again while in Cairns.  After the experience in the Whitsundays, I wasn't too sure I would dive again but I also knew that if I didn't try again fairly soon, I might never try again - time would allow the fear and the bad memories to grow.

Michaelmas Cay

So today, I screwed my courage to the sticking place and tried again.

A friend had recommended the Seastar, having had a great experience with them the previous week.  He had also told me how, at the second dive site, there is a coral cave that you can swim through and that it was absolutely amazing.  I went out on the Seastar having already signed up for the first dive and willing to consider the second dive, depending on how the first one went.

My instructor, Ash, was amazing.  He literally held my hand (almost) the entire way through.  He was calm and encouraging, even when I was psyching myself out.  This time, it was less about being able to breathe under water and, reasonably enough after my last experience, more about my mask filling with water.  He kept giving me a new mask and adjusting the fit until I was comfortable.  I enjoyed the first dive enough that I immediately signed up for the second dive.  I even swam through the coral cave my friend had told me about.

SCUBA diving was an incredible experience.  I don't think I will ever be confident enough to do it on my own - the hand-holding kept me grounded and calm.  But I am so glad I got back in and tried again - that I didn't let a mostly good experience clouded by a bad experience at the end stop me from trying again.  I would have missed out on some cool sightings (giant clams, finding Nemo and, thankfully, not finding Jaws!) and experiences (swimming through a coral cave).

You can check out some of my photos from my time snorkeling here and photos taken by the Seastar crew here.

I found Nemo!

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