Day 50 - The End of The Great Ocean Road and Tour Two

Our first stop of the day was the view of the Twelve Apostles from the west. Along the path the this viewpoint we were shown two other stacks called Tom and Eva (named after the only two survivors of the Loch Ard ship that crashed further along the coast.) We then saw a couple of the Apostles that weren’t visible from our sunset lookout yesterday, along with more named limestone shapes: Razorback and the Salt and Pepper Shakers. Looking at big bits of limestone sounds dull but they offer pretty amazing views really; this GOR is definitely a place we could’ve killed a lot of time just chilling out along.

Tom & Eva - Don't know which is which

We moved on to the Loch Ard Gorge, which was the site where the Loch Ard was shipwrecked, and went to various viewpoints and the beach area in the time we were given.

Then it was a quick toilet stop where we’d watched sunset and the penguins last night and, for a few of us, a quick power-walk to take a picture of the Apostles in the daylight.

Next was the Otway Fly treetop walk; a walk along a bridge system high up in the forest, with a trip up the tower there which gave us a nice view from 47 metres up off the ground. As the whole bridge system is suspended in the trees Danny took the opportunity to test its strength, and Corrie’s temper, by rocking the tower from side to side… We’re writing this blog so needless to say it’s fairly safe. Danny also went on to rock the cantilever bridge that extends out into the forest, before making himself feel queezy and stopping!

We stopped at a café for lunch where we then had the chance to spot more wild koalas (we passed one casually sat in the road, chewing on some eucalyptus leaves.) We spotted a few of them but the main attraction turned out to be the various multi-coloured birds that swarmed the trees as soon as people approached them. A couple of the girls with us discovered that the birds love museli and so the group took to holding out their arms with handfuls of the stuff, not having to wait long before a bird would land on you to tuck in. Our guide says that, as usual, you shouldn’t feed the wildlife but she also said that people have been feeding these birds for years now and so it probably makes no difference. This is probably their main source of food now and it keeps, not only the birds, but the people who come here happy also.

We then moved down the road to get pictures by the Great Ocean Road sign, along with being able to view the lighthouse (used in the 90’s kids show Around The Twist) further along the coastline.

The last stop before arriving in Melbourne was Surf City; a place where all the big names in surf wear are located, as well as their outlet stores. These outlets still offer their goods at stupid prices and so we didn’t make any purchases here.

We had a bit of a walk to find our hotel… yes a hotel for once, and probably one of the nicest places we’ve stayed on our travels - If this place had free or cheap Wi-Fi then it would be perfect.