Great Ocean Road (Port Campbell-Peterborough) & off to the Grampians

Today it worked out: the apartment had to be cleared by 10:00 am and we left at five past. Before that, quickly go to the supermarket, buy bread and other things and watch the runners preparing for the 'Mountain to Surf' race.

Everything packed and on the road again through the countryside to Port Campbell to start the next stage of the Great Ocean Road.

Today with a bonus: refueling. It's actually quite simple when you know what kind of fuel to use and (equally important) how to open the damn fuel cap. Since there was no information about diesel fuel anywhere, our first problem disappeared into thin air. Now to the fuel cap (damn thing): find the hook in the driver's footwell and pull (explained to me by a super nice and helpful Aussie who saw us struggling). Funny enough, said Aussie was the son of a Berliner who has been living in Australia for 58 years and (as it turned out) was sitting in the passenger seat and quickly got out to chat (she was born in '39, by the way). Nobody cared that a whole line of fuel pumps was blocked by that...

Arriving in Port Campbell, we went to see the Twelve Apostles again (this time in different light) and it was spectacular as always!

Next to them are the Gibson Steps, which lead down to the beach. It's incredibly impressive to see the sea roaring and to see everything from 'below'. Ursula and I walked all the way to the water (barefoot for me, hiking boots for her) - as you can imagine, the next wave came crashing over us so quickly that my pants were soaked up to my knees and hers too... including her shoes - a little loss is always inevitable 😉

Afterwards, we continued to the Arch and the London Bridge (unfortunately, the latter is now only partially intact because at some point in the last few years erosion thought: breaking it is more beautiful - or something like that) - both beautiful, each rock formation in its own way, everything simply amazing!

Tired (from all the great sightseeing) and hungry, we ended up at the beachfront in Port Campbell (at the 123 Café or something) to then drive to Halls Gap in the Grampians Range (almost 3 hours and it was already half past five...).

We also went to see the Grotto, which was again totally spectacular.

In our heads, we dismissed the next 'lookout' with 'oh no, not another one', only to call out 'turn around' in unison as we drove past 😂

In Peterborough, there is the Bay of Martyrs, and it was soooo beautiful that we made it the crowning finale of our journey on the Great Ocean Route. One might think 'rocks in the water are nice, but once you've seen one, you've seen them all' - far from it!!!

After almost 3 hours, we arrived in Halls Gap this evening and moved into our new, cool domicile: the Mudbrick Cottage (Pioneer Cottages). Rustic, in the middle of nowhere, and around us, kangaroos big and small, in light gray, medium brownish-gray, dark whatever, behind the fence and right on the road.

Tomorrow we have to get up early again: it's going to be hot (38 degrees Celsius) and our hosts suggested that we should be back from our hike by 10:00 am. I'll keep you posted...