Leaving our new favorite Australian city, Melbourne, we headed towards the Australia we came to see, The Great Ocean Road, Lake Eyre, The Nullarbor Plain and distant Western Australia, only half way through that now, we have found so much more.... Winding along the Great Ocean Road, we found a little bit of green New Zealand in Australia. We walked through a temperate rain forest in Otway National Park and ended up staying for three days in a fabulous horse/kids camp, Bimbi Park. Bimbi Park is home to a massive, some say too large, population of Koalas. We saw them running form tree to tree, sleeping, slowly chewing and my favorite, just starring at us as we set up our tent below them. Leaving the Koalas and the warm fire, it was hard to push on to the West. We were quickly swept away as we neared the section of the coast with the famous Twelve Apostles. Walking on one of the many beaches I found cuttle bones from the Giant Australian Cuttlefish that breeds along the south coast of Australia... more on that later. The coast had many treasures to offer, massive caves, 'petrified forests,' moon like landscapes, vineyards and loads of bird life.
We camped out on the shores of Lake George, a freshwater lake, very close to the ocean, where heaps more birds squawked away, I imagine the sounds there would have sounded similar to the time when dinosaurs roamed, it felt prehistoric. Coming from a land of plentiful water, to me this looked like an old salt pan, with a very light dusting of water, I was surprised to see the birds actually floated, it looked like they were touching the bottom!
We passed through many old Victorian settlements along the coast, founded during the whaling era. Some were more charming than others, our favorite was a tiny place called Robe; where we had some local tuna pies and I bought a new book from a charming bookshop.
Next we headed to Mclaren Vale, a small town near Adelaide where we went on a walking wine tour.
Julian found an article that lead us on a detour to see the Giant Australian Cuttlefish. Whyalla, a industrial, charmless town, where the cuttlefish come to breed. Unable to rent wetsuits, we jumped into the frigid water with our snorkel gear, hoping to see the amorous cuttlefish. Eventually we worked our way into the water, swam around, started shivering uncontrollably and to our dismay didn't see anything so we decided to head back in. Just as we did, Julian sighted a foot long cuttlefish amongst the rocks and seaweed a few meters below us. Another male, rapidly morphing colors at his neighbor, hovered below in a splotched green/brown color, with blue/silver spots on it's mantle.
Suddenly, noticing us, it magically shifted to a nervous brownish red, as it glided under the safety of a rock ledge. Eventually the cuttlefish regained it's confidence and slowly came out from underneath the rock and starred at us curiously. The look struck us with an unworldly intelligence. Julian and I were so engrossed we didn't notice that we were surrounded and being stung by jellyfish. Being Australia, where everything kills you, we decided to get out of there fast {Don't worry you Mums, the sting wasn't strong}. Fueled by an adrenaline and excitement high we headed north toward Lake Eyre, were the desert awaits!
One of the many koalas at Bimbi Park
Near the twelve Apostles along the Great Ocean Road
The beach was littered with cuttle bones
Lake George
Vineyards at Mclaren Vale