6.1.19 Great Ocean Road: 12 Apostles, London Arch & Emus

Just before 7 am, I manage to get up and by 7:30 am, I'm at the bakery, then I pick up my things from the hotel and by 8:30 am, I'm already on my way west. Today, I continue to follow the Great Ocean Road and today the famous highlights like the 12 Apostles are supposed to be along my route. It's cloudy, windy, and 14°C. So even the South Australian midsummer isn't always hot... Luckily, I have attached zip-off pant legs to my pants, I'm wearing a thin fleece jacket, and I'm rolling along the fairly empty coastal road. After a few photo stops, I arrive at the 12 Apostles with a sky that is now turning blue.

There are only 8 of these limestone columns, which are up to 60 meters high. There were never more than 9 to begin with, so it's not quite clear why they're called the 12 Apostles. Anyway. The erosive power of the sea will surely ensure that eventually, not even the 8 that can be seen today will remain. By the way, the 12 Apostles are the second most photographed attraction in Australia after Uluru - who would have thought? I would have bet on the Sydney Opera House.

There are crowds of people here. An asphalt path leads down to a few viewpoints and every now and then the sun breaks through the clouds and bathes the rocks in photogenic light. It's now 17°C - I can take off my jacket, walk around a bit more, see a wallaby, and then continue. There are two more rock formations here that you can visit, but I skip them (Lord Ard Gorge and some "Grotto"). However, I do stop at the rock formations "London Bridge" and "The Arch". The London Bridge, or London Arch, used to be a formation with 2 arches, of which the front one - the one with the mainland connection - suddenly collapsed in 1990. Two tourists who were walking on the front part had to be rescued by helicopter. So today, the remaining part, now called London Arch, is just one arch, but it is located in front of a beautiful, sandy beach and since the sun is shining so beautifully, I enjoy the views here a little longer.

A little further on, there is the Bay of Islands - oh yeah, they also have that in New Zealand - so let's see what it looks like here. Oh, it's quite different from New Zealand. While in New Zealand, it's really an area with many inhabited, wooded islands off the northeast coast of the North Island, here it's more of a coastal section with small rocky islands. I meet two Germans who are traveling the world on their motorcycles. It's amazing what people do.

I arrive in Warrnambool at 3:30 pm and first go to a viewing platform overlooking the beach. You can see whales from here between April and October. Not today though. But the beach is gigantic, the waves are beautiful - the sun is shining at 20°C.

The Redwood Manor Hotel is really amazing: an apartment of about 80 square meters with two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, living room. Actually for 4 people. I quickly drop everything off, make myself a coffee (because they have that here too and there's milk in the fridge) and then drive 12 km to the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve. It's deserted here, the visitor center is already closed (since 5 pm). I start by walking the boardwalk through dense reeds. Although the park is called "Hill", it is essentially an extinct volcanic crater filled with water. You can see lava rock everywhere here. So you walk on a boardwalk through dense reeds, see swampy ground, and hear more animals than you see. But in the end, you reach a eucalyptus forest and there are koalas sitting high up in the trees, although very far away. Suddenly, there's rustling to my left in the reeds, and two emus enter my path at a short distance.

After an hour, I'm back at the visitor center and decide to hike another loop - this time around one part of the crater lake. The path is initially easy to walk, the light is slowly becoming mild and warm, and I bravely walk uphill. Unfortunately, the path becomes sandy, more like a beach, so walking becomes more difficult. In addition, I'm really completely alone here and now I have to climb over huge roots and squeeze myself under low tree trunks growing sideways. So despite the encounter with a startled kangaroo, I'm quite relieved to reach a slightly more civilized form of hiking trail again, without encountering a snake in this thicket. Phew! My feet in sandals look like I've been on the road for 3 months without taking a shower. After seeing a kangaroo, another emu, and several rabbits, I'm back at the car. Hungry! Google Maps shows me a Chinese restaurant in Warrnambool, which turns out to be a rather - well - unusual take-away. The atmosphere is like a GDR police station. For $12, I get a bowl of everything that's available from a mixed buffet, drive back to my hotel, and I'm stuffed when I finish it. The usual evening program: showering (mountains of mud after cleaning my feet in the shower tray), backing up pictures, writing in my diary, charging batteries, and calling it a day.

Tomorrow I will leave the coast and head into the mountains.