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Flying the Otway Oct 23, 2009

Friday October 23, 2009 – The Great Ocean Road

Flying the Otway

TGOR turns inland after Apollo Bay to cut through the Great Otway National Park. There is a spur to the Cape Otway light station (the most southerly tip of the Great Ocean Road and almost the most southerly point in Australia) but we didn’t take it.

We had a different destination to start our day: The Otway Fly! Adding to the fun of our various experiences in Australia which require Pat to ascend; descend or simply peer over a parapet into thin air is the Otway Fly Tree Top Walk – an opportunity to navigate a 600-metre long series of ‘rocking’ steel walkways suspended 90 feet over the forest floor; in the midst of a primeval forest.

The highlight is the ascent a further 90 feet to the top of the Spiral Tower in order to come (almost) face to face with the canopy of the many giant Mountain Ash eucalyptus trees (the dominant species). The fun part is the 60 foot long cantilevered section, held only by cables, which sways and swings and rocks and rolls.

Pat was a very good sport and handled the Tree Top Walk just fine. As his prize, we spent the rest of the day trooping out to a variety of precarious precipices and look-out points to see some astounding natural wonders named: “Gibson’s Steps”; “The Twelve Apostles” (formerly “The Pig & Sows”); Loch Ard Gorge; and “London Bridge”.

The Great Ocean Road easily rivals the rugged coastlines of Cape Breton’s Cabot Trail and the Oregon Coast. The major difference were the road signs that reminded us that in Australia we drive on the left and warning us that the next “X” kilometers are (variously) Kangaroo Crossings; Wombat Crossings; and Koala Bear Crossings. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

After a picnic lunch in Port Campbell we visited Cheese World in Allansford. It is just outside Warrnambool and well, what can I tell you? It’s Cheese World! Cheese World! Party on, Garth!

Then, onto Port Fairy. Pat & I felt that we kind of had to go there today, given our interest in the National Wool Museum yesterday. We scouted out a place there for dinner but didn’t actually return as we ended up having dinner a little further down the line in our home for the night: The Codrington Station Gardens B & B.

The place is eccentric. So is the owner (Geoff). His wife (Yuan) seems normal; although it’s hard to tell if she speaks English. Before becoming chief, cook & bottle washer at this B & B, he was a property developer – small residential projects he says – in places as far flung as Port Vila, Vanuatu (recall “Survivor”?).

The “Bed” part of the B & B was located in a railway car (for us) and in a former stationmasters building (for Pat & Elaine). Given that we’re traveling by train next week, we thought it would be a good ‘test run’ to see how well we would be able to sleep on a train. Of course, in this case, the way it works, see, is the train stays here and the station (or minivan in our case) moves.

Wearing his cook’s hat, Geoff whipped up beef bourguignon and potatoes au gratin for dinner and delicious scrambled eggs for breakfast. A gaggle of elderly Aussie friends on their annual walkabout were the other guests for the evening of our stay and so we were able to trade some travel ideas with them in the dinner/breakfast room.

And that wasn’t the strangest thing either – at least for me. It was the two alpaca’s in the paddock guarding the 3 sheep that were the weirdest. To go with the chickens in the chicken coop (some that lay eggs; some just for show); the cockatoo caged outside the dining room (that greets you with “Hello” and “Goodbye”, in that order); the 3 cats and 2 dogs; and the 5 peacocks just for good measure.

A very interesting site to end a day full of interesting sights.