victoria: great ocean road

From Bimbi, Cape Otway, we headed west towards Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road. 

This country is quite remarkable. You can be driving through the dense coastal shrub and rainforest ten minutes later, through farmlands and back on the coast with views like the Twelve Apostles (of which there are now only eight). 

I feel so lucky to be seeing so much of Australia. We've already seen so much and there is plenty more to see. 

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. 

victoria: great ocean road, Otway NP, kennett river

Our kids are so lucky (though they don't quite appreciate it yet). We've seen more koalas in the past week than we've seen in J and my lifetimes combined. 

We had booked four days in Kennett River with dear friends but unfortunately they were unable to come at the last minute. It was something we'd all been so looking forward to but these things happen. 

We decided to go anyway. Kennett River CP is well protected in southerlies. The beach was great for our kids and we had the park almost to ourselves after the weekend. 

We also met some really lovely locals - who we ended up staying with for two nights! It's amazing being on this adventure. We just don't know what each day will hold and we know we'll stay in contact with our new friends. 

One eventful (and very wet) evening, on our return from Lorne for dinner, we pulled over because a koala was sipping from a puddle on the side of the road, and making its way closer and closer to the road. We hesitated but decided to move it. A few people stopped to help persuade it to move (unsuccessfully) but a local pulled over, grabbed it by its rump & the back of the neck and took it off in to the bush. Despite what we'd predicted the koala wasn't fazed at all and certainly not aggressive.