Mozzeenet

I wish I could maintain that holiday feeling of relaxation after the holiday.  It’s funny how your mind just clicks into another mode.

We had a wonderful week away, camping for 3 nights at Cape Otway with Nick, Zaida and Marta then 2 nights by ourselves at Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road.

The week started in Melbourne gathering all our camping gear, grocery shopping and experiencing a huge hail storm the day before we left which did not bode well for sleeping in tents.

Sunday morning was raining so we were already a bit muddy setting off – the possums had pooed in the driveway overnight so my hikers were well and truly (re)christened getting into the car.  Nick, Zaida and Marta had camping gear packed all around them in the back seat so it was an interesting exercise every time we wanted to get out.

We took a leisurely drive down the coast stopping for devonshire tea and other goodies at Aireys Inlet lighthouse and then lunch at Lorne.  Playing some word games initiated by Nick and Marta made the time pass quickly.

We saw the first 3 of about 25 koalas in the wild driving into Cape Otway. That area has an abundance of them and by the end of the trip, it was a commonplace occurrence to see one cuddled up in a tree.

Andrew and I have stayed at Bimbi Park before so we knew it had a good kitchen and facilities. We were offered 2 camp sites to choose from and after some perusing, we selected the bush camp because, being a long weekend, the other area was jam packed.  It was amazing the difference on the Monday though when everyone cleared out.

Setting up the tents was “interesting”.  We left it a little late, not anticipating a couple of hitches… It was at this point that Nick realised his tent was not with us. We were puzzled, wondering if it had been left on our driveway, but Nick felt sure he had seen Andrew pack it into the car the previous night.

Luckily we found that the tent I had borrowed from our friends was very large and Nick, Zaida and Marta could very comfortably share it.

It took us a long time to put up the borrowed tent, not being familiar with it, and the weather was not looking good.  It started raining whilst completing this task but luckily we were well on the way to getting the tent up by then. Nick and Andrew did a stellar job of securing the large tarp we had bought to trees and tent pegs to keep the rain off.

When setting up their beds, Nick and Zaida noticed they had an extra sleeping bag. They then deduced that this is what had been brought down instead of the tent which was still in Sydney.

We then had a wonderful few days, managing to dodge the rain for the most part while we were out and about. The wind did howl around the tents at night though.

On a long 4 hour walk through the bush to Station Beach near the campsite on the first day, we did get soaked but the sun soon reappeared and we quickly dried off.  We were glad that we decided to persevere because being up close to the pounding waves of the Southern Ocean on the deserted beach was spectacular. We walked along the beach to Rainbow Falls, limestone rocks with water flowing from a spring, down to the rocks beside the ocean.  The cliff rock is interesting in colour and texture. Nick and Marta took a dip under the falls while I soaked my feet in the cool running water and enjoyed a massage from smooth pebbles underfoot.  It is a great memory.

Other wildlife we saw around the campsite included tawny owls, millipedes invading our tent, bull ants biting poor Andrew in our tent, spiders, dragonflies and kookaburras.

Another highlight was toasting marshmallows by a fire organised by Nick and on our last night, Marta’s delicious hot chocolate cooked on the stove with melted chocolate, cocoa and some interesting additions of pepper and ginger to spice it up.

On another day we visited the 12 apostles, Gibson Steps Beach, Port Campbell and Loch Ard Gorge.  These never fail to impress me and make me wonder at our existence.  It was a windy day which makes it even more spectacular.

Nick, Zaida and Marta departed mid-week and Andrew and I then spent 2 nights at Apollo Bay in a lovely apartment, about 20 mins from Cape Otway.  After camping, we really appreciated the soft bed and spa! There was a view of the ocean and a BBQ on the deck – so relaxing.

We did another bush walk to Lake Elizabeth where platypus live but didn’t see any (unlikely in the middle of the day). Tree trunks protrude from the water of the lake which was created about 50 years ago after a major landslide dammed the river. The trees preceded the existence of the lake. We also did a tree-top walk near the Otways.

On the Friday, we headed back home inland via Dean’s Marsh in the hinterland behind Lorne, stopping at a berry farm to pick strawberries and blackberries. We also purchased some tomatos and zucchini at a farm-gate stall. The tomatoes tasted so good!  It’s an honour system so we just put the money into a tin left there for that purpose and took the produce. We also stopped at an olive farm.

It was a fantastic break away and will stay in my memory for a long time to come.  Thanks Nick, Zaida and Marta for sharing it with us and hope you like the photos.

View the photos from our Otways trip.