Entry 18 – Victoria’s Great Ocean Road 10th to 20th Nov 2022
Finally, some good Aussie weather put in an appearance with a burst of warm sunny days. It felt positively delightful with our inner bodies, buzzing from the vitamin D fix. Alas two days later we were back to cloud covered skies, with the monotonous regular down pours of rain. Summer was nearly upon us and we were still waiting for the arrival of spring with its invigorating warmth. Once again, it felt unenthusiastic waking to a wet wintry morning.
Viewing the weather radar images showed we were likely to experience a constant wave of showers throughout the day and for the extended duration for the 7-day forecast period. We decided to head west, along the coast line. Not to venture down any of the many dirt side roads, normally tempting us for exploration along the oceans edge.
We did stop at several official paved parking areas viewing some special scenery with catchy names, London Bridge, The Shipwreck Coast, the Bay of Martyrs, the Groto, Bay of Islands and more.
At times we would sit nice and warm in the caravan waiting for the rain to subside before venturing out to view the scenery. At one extended period of shower activity Mary put together a nice warming meal.
We were in no hurry, happily meandering along. It felt enjoyable, ducking and weaving between the showers. Our bodies appreciated acquiring some exercise and viewing some nice vistas in-between showers of rain.
We were still needing to be on the lookout for water hazards across roads and damage to the road surface from flood water damage. This area of Australia has a large concentration of international tourist’s, with many unaware of etiquette actions, including driving. At one stage a hire motor home, parked with its front partly under the sloping departure angle of our caravan. If it hadn’t been for the rain effecting vision through our windows, we suspect they were close enough to seen the freckles on our faces. Unbelievable.
On one of our escapades away from the busy main tourist locations we spotted a swan tending to its nest while keeping its occupants warm and snug. It seemed to be a wet area with plenty of lush green grass about with paddocks and more paddocks crowded with dairy cows.
It’s always good when you locate a nice vista to park up for the night, especially when there is no one else about. We were nearby Childers Bays, about 30 kilometres from the nearest town, with no buildings in sight. A beautiful bush setting.
Our view overlooked the ocean. We spent late afternoon within the comforts of our caravan with a magnificent view of a white washed ocean below and a turbulent cloud covered sky. The heavens regularly lit up from bolts of lightning, accompanied with claps of thunder and the constant patter of rain on our roof. It was a fabulous, special comforting setting with a constant background noise from the roar of the surf.
Early evening a vehicle pulled up in front of us sounding its horn several times. Steve casually walked to the front of our vehicle and said gidday. A rather tall solid looking male got out of this vehicle and started to carry on we couldn’t stay there. Steve responded, “Oh, sorry, would you like us to move.”
The male went quiet for a while. It appeared he wasn’t prepared for this type of answer.
Eventually he recomposed and said it was ok for us to stay. He then wound up again telling us to move early in the morning before the rangers arrive and fine us. He carried on they were horrible people, wanner be’s for another occupation.
He then abruptly asked Steve what he had done/did for an occupation. Steve casually replied that other occupation. The poor man went silent. We were left alone to enjoy our night with a beautiful setting. We did depart at first light, avoiding any further attention from funny officious acting people.
We continued down the road on the lookout for things of interest. One spot near the harbor mouth at Port Fairy, in between showers we walked around Griffiths Island.
The regular appearance of rain on and off with cold windy conditions continued. It was getting harder to keep up a positive frame of mind, more so with the diminishing accessible nice vistas. It seemed like our much appreciated short-lived boost from a vitamin D fix complements of some sunshine was wearing off. We headed inland enjoying some quiet back road scenery.
We spent time catching up with Mary’s sister near the town of Naracoorte.
The constant rain coupled with an uncomfortable chilly wind was becoming wearisome. We headed to the Corryong Region in south east South Australia. The driving conditions were energy sapping with heightened hazards due to very wet roads and the added wind factor moving us about.
We spent a night at a place called “The Granites,” a few rocks in the ocean. It was a nice setting or should we say, nice stormy ocean setting. We attempted to walk along the beach but the constant waves of showers chased us back to the warm confines of our caravan.
We drove along the Corryong looking at a couple of locations. At a spot called 48 mile crossing we walked along a 1 ½ kilometre trail through the sandhills to the ocean.
The sand-hills provided protection from the strong cool ocean winds. Our bodies were feeling hot from the exertion, walking along the sandy track. It felt like we were over dressed for protection from the anticipated cold wind. Though once we were on the beach we appreciated the extra clothing.
We continued along the Corryong stopping at a spot called Jacks Point. It was publicized as a pelican viewing location. As soon as we turned onto the side track, we spotted several waves of pelicans flying across the sky, bringing warm smiles. A couple of kilometres or so across the water we could see a location with what looked like hundreds and more of pelicans gathered.
We had initially hoped for another month of travel. Unfortunately, with the ongoing flooding, restricting access and the constant cold wet conditions inhibiting outdoor activities we decided to return to the comfort of our home.
Once back at home we thought we would have provided incentive for the beautiful Australian spring weather to show up. Then we thought we could head out again to enjoy the Australian great outdoors. On publishing this entry, we had been home nearly a week and there was still no sign of any spring weather. Depressing. After some deliberation we finally accepted it was time to return to home duties, attending to those never-ending necessities.
