Saturday, April 11, 2015

victoria: the great ocean road, bimbi park, cape otway

Where do you get your travel tips from? 

I've got a scrap book and we've written down suggestions from Facebook caravan and camping pages, from friends, from travel guides and we also use ideas of people we meet on the road. 

Our new friends (whom we met at Kennett River) suggested that we stay at Bimbi Park in Otway National Park - near Cape Otway. This was a magic place. And so interesting. 

What would you say if I told you that as you drive to the Cape you pass through acres of dying forest due to koala habitation? It's a skeleton forest really. 

Cape Otway grounds costs $20/adult to enter and it's a great day out for a family. The money is going towards the establishment of a permanent dinosaur museum on the site. Fossils were discovered nearby. While the lighthouse is the dominant structure, the headland also houses other buildings - a telegraph station, accommodation, cafe, bunkers. There is evidence of the site being used as a place where people have gathered to eat for thousands of years. As well as Indigenous links the place has a dark history of shipwrecks and (mis)adventure. The coastline is known as Shipwreck Coast for a reason.

Ever since I spent weekends at Greencape Lighthouse (near Eden) as a child I've been fascinated by lighthouse communities. What sort of characters worked in those isolated conditions? I imagine eccentrics and resilient people and families. 

I loved the book, The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman and I've just picked up a secondhand copy of The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx. 






Bimbi Park is a beautiful park which has sites for campers, caravans (water limited) and cabins. There's a camp kitchen, laundry, amenities and a playground for the kids. 

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