Day 90 - Wednesday 3rd April 2024

Day two on the Great Coast Road in Victoria, I awoke with the alarm to the sound of rain against the roof. I checked the forecast (which has been spot on since I arrived in Australia) and it said that the rain would clear from 10:00.

Packed up and on the road once more at 09:00 in the rain, I decided that Marriner's Lookout may be a little damp, so I headed out along the Great Coast Road, through Apollo Bay and beyond.

The first target for the day was Castle Cove Lookout 45 minutes up the road, and when I arrived the rain had just about stopped. 

Onwards once more, and the scenery that the Great Ocean Road is so well known for. First I stopped at Gibson Steps for a view along the coast before moving on to The Twelve Apostles.

The Twelve Apostles is a bit of a misnomer; there were more, but a few have fallen and there are currently 7 sea stacks to admire. These will go at some stage in the future as they are soft limestone, but the sea will provide more as it erodes the coastline backwards at a rate of 2mm per year.

All parked up, I took the path under the road, and to my right the rock columns that I've been picturing myself visiting were set before me. Into the viewing platform, and I was able to get my photos and videos with no need for sharp elbows; the inclement weather seems to have kept the riff raff away!

After about a half hour admiring the views, back onto the road for a few minutes until I reached Loch Ard Gorge. The staircase down to the beach was closed because of a dangerous cliff, but the other tracks were open, so I explored these and found some fantastic viewpoints along the Shipwreck Track and also the Razorback Track. The Thunder Caves track was also closed, so I couldn't explore that.

Back into the car, and again just a couple of minutes down the road found me turning onto a gravel track to The Bakers Oven; a pillar out to sea with a hole drilled through by the waves and fantastic views.

Next I took another gravel track to Sparks Gully; somewhere I found myself with not another soul in sight. Down a dirt track which had turned a little muddy due to the rain of the last few days, and onto a peninsula with a drop each side; the information had said to be careful .... which I was as I didn't fancy becoming a statistic! Looking back towards the mainland, a large cavern had been carved into the cliff, and the views along the coast were stunning.

Back to the car, and after a change of footwear (and not entirely successful attempts to clear the claggy mud from the bottom of my hiking shoes) I moved on to another of the famous landmarks on the coast. London Bridge was a series of arches leading out into the ocean, but one day one of the arches collapsed leaving a beautifully isolated island and arch out there. I explored all of the lookouts to get my photos and videos.

Once more, just a few minutes up the road was the next stop, and The Grotto. Along the path, and down some stairs bought me to an arch through the rockface, perfectly framing the ocean beyond. A stunning location that I didn't even know existed before an unplanned turn off the main road.

I'd been told that the Bay of Islands was a worthwhile stop, and just past a road sign for the area I turned off at a sign for Bay of Martyrs. Another gravel road for 400 metres, and I very nearly turned straight around and came back out due to the muddy paths, but I spotted a glimpse of a view through the bushes right beside the car park, so stopped for photos from the top of a staircase to the beach, and I'm glad I did. I was treated to another stunning view up the coast. 

Just a few hundred metres further on, and there was the Bay of Islands car park, so I pulled in and explored all of the lookouts and the wonderful views.

The Great Ocean Road now left the coast for a while, and as I travelled inland I was playing a bit of fuel roulette again, and I stopped to check the app I have to find a fuel station. There was one on the way to my overnight stop at Warrnambool, so I stopped and refuelled before the 20 minute drive into town. I arrived at my motel just after 15:00, and was soon settled in.   

My accommodation is a way out of town here, so I wandered up the road to the nearby shopping centre to see what was there; about all that was open was Domino's, so I ended up with a pizza for my dinner today while I watched some IPL highlights on the telly.