Koalas, Birds, Waterfalls, Coastline, Part 1 -- Mon., Dec. 3, 2012

Today was a jam-packed day from beginning (8:30 a.m.) to end (2:00 a.m.). Let me start at the beginning.

Bob went out for a 1-1/2 hour walk this morning and enjoyed getting to know the town of Lorne. He especially liked the history of the pier. When he got back to the room, I took a quick walk along the Erskine River to see the suspension bridge near our hotel.

Erskine River with a suspension bridge.

Best Western Lorne Coachman Inn.

Pedestrian suspension bridge.

Boardwalk trail along the Erskine River.

Lovely early morning reflection.

Caravan (RV) park across the fence from our motel.

To start our sightseeing today, we went to Stony Creek Lily Pond Reserve to take a short walk to the cascades. Ha! No cascades here today, only a trickle of water going down such a small incline it looked flat in my photos, so I'm not including a pic, just the trail and the ocean on the other side of the road.

Stony Creek Reserve Trail.

A walk under the road from the Stony
Creek Reserve brought us here.

We continued along the GOR (Great Ocean Road) to Sheoak Falls where we did a 20-minute round-trip hike to the falls.

 

Sheoak Falls Trail.

Bob at Sheoak Falls.

After talking with the German couple last night while waiting to see the glowworms, we learned koalas live in the campground where they're staying. Today we stopped and, sure enough, found koalas in the trees.

But just as much fun and much more interactive were the birds! A very generous Asian gentleman shared his birdseed with us and immediately we had birds all over us! That experience was another fun surprise on our trip. [Note to any RV friends who want to stay here: Be prepared for tourist buses to stop next door. The tourists overrun the park to photograph koalas, feed and photograph birds, and use the toilets.]

Where the koalas and birds are.



Two koalas snuggled together sleeping.

Crimson rosella.

Too much fun--Australia king parrots.

For our RV friends, this is the
campground at Kennett River.

So cute!

The next stop on our whirlwind day was Carisbrook Falls Lookout, a five-minute hike up a hill to the lookout, then a quick trip down again.

 

Carisbrook Falls.

We then had to make tracks to our next destination, Cape Otway in Great Otway National Park to see the lighthouse. On the way down the road to the lighthouse, we saw many cars parked. That usually means there are animals nearby. Sure enough, the trees in the area were populated with koalas...not just one or two but a lot. One huge tree had five koalas sleeping in it. All over the area, if you looked up, you saw koalas.

Momma and baby (the baby is
darker--held in front).

Mom scratching--you can
see the baby better.

Another koala in the same tree.

Baby and mom koala eating leaves side by side.

I just couldn't get enough of the koalas, as Bob will tell you. He had to drag me away so we could get on with the day.

At Cape Otway, we found there is a charge of $18.50 per person to go through the gate and walk up to the lighthouse which I think also includes a tour. We thought that was exorbitant. There was a short hike to a viewpoint of the lighthouse for free. We did that instead.

Cape Otway lighthouse.

Continuing along the GOR, our next stop was Castle Cove Lookout.

At the Info Centre in Apollo Bay, we checked to see which waterfall trails were open and which were closed. We found we could hike to three waterfalls, but one of them was a longer hike than we had time for today, so we went to two of them: Hopetoun and Triple Falls.

Hopetoun was a two-minute hike to an overlook. Easy!

Triple Falls was 45 minutes round-trip on a loop hike through a spectacular, lush rainforest. Here we are enjoying the cool, scenic trail.

 

This old mountain ash is really big!

Triple Falls.

Close-up of the right side of Triple
Falls--a beauty in itself.

History about early logging of the area on our Triple Falls hike:

 



Click the photo to enlarge for reading.

Timber bogie.

 

 

Steam boiler.

That finishes up our day until about 4:00 p.m. This blog is over-full of photos. I will make a Part 2 blog for today to finish up our Great Ocean Road tour and drive into Melbourne.

 

Travel Bug out...to be continued.

The Great Ocean Road-- Sun., Dec. 2

AKA Chance Encounters with Glow Worms.

We had a nice night in The Lakes Entrance. Bob was up early and did a walk along the Cunningham Arm Inlet from the Tasman Sea. He saw the staging area for a triathlon to be conducted a little later in the morning, and dolphins swimming and spinning in the inlet.

From The Lakes Entrance, we headed west on The Great Ocean Road and stopped in Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia for brekky (breakfast). The Court House is historic with beautiful architecture. Breakfast was unremarkable.

Court House in Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia.

We continued to the town of Sale to see The Swing Bridge. The Sale Swing Bridge is the only swing bridge left in the world that can swing 360 degrees. This site was very picturesque, not only for the bridge but also for the Sale Common River Heritage and Wetlands Trail. This was a good stop to stretch our legs and learn the history of the area.

The Sale Swing Bridge.

Bob's happy face. He liked this stop!



 

The mechanism swings the bridge 360 degrees.

Sale Common State Game Refuge.

Both of us enjoyed this stop. The day was pleasant and this spot was a welcome relief in a long road day.

Our goal today was to get past Melbourne in light Sunday traffic, spend the night in Lorne, and drive The Great Ocean Road on Monday. I got one photo of Melbourne traffic as we were driving through. And, yes, that freeway decor is supposed to be askew. More on Melbourne when we spend the night there in a couple of days.

Today a lot of time was spent driving through the plains of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. Yes, it was flat and, as the lady in the Info Centre said, "You can only see so many gum trees." She recommended we make a fast trip of it.

After finding our way through Melbourne freeways, we took the edge off with a fish and chips lunch. We took lunch to Point Danger in Torquay and ate at a picnic table in a howling, chilly wind while we watched surfers and a kiteboarder.

Torquay, Victoria, Australia.

We then made our way to Bells Beach where the Rip Curl Pro surfing tournament is held each Easter.

Surfers at Bells Beach.

Always a good reminder.
 

The above signs are posted frequently along the Great Ocean Road.

Torquay is the eastern starting point of The Great Ocean Road. We headed west and passed by the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch. The road was hand built by returned World War I soldiers in honor of their fallen comrades and officially opened in 1932, it is also the world's biggest war memorial.

The first part of our day was lots of driving, but from 4:00 p.m. on, we had a jam-packed afternoon and evening. At Aireys Inlet, we stopped for a short walk to see Split Point Lightstation and some viewpoints of the coastline.

Split Point Lightstation.

 

Our stop for the night was Lorne, Victoria, Australia. We arrived with enough daylight left that we had time to drive up to Erskine Falls and hike a short trail to the upper falls. (The lower falls trail was closed for repairs.)

Erskine Falls outside Lorne, Victoria, Australia

We also drove up to Teddy's Lookout on the recommendation of the clerk at the Best Western where we stayed.

Teddy's Lookout.

The setting sun was dramatic!

With daylight keeping us company until almost 8:30 p.m., we drove around Lorne. Here's a photo of the historic Grand Pacific Hotel.

Grand Pacific Hotel, Lorne, Victoria, Australia

Upon our return to our hotel, I noticed two laughing kookaburras sitting on the railing of the hotel balcony. They were not the least bit afraid of me and I got to within three feet of them.

The best things in life are free. Tonight we had a chance encounter with glowworms. When we planned our trip to Australia, glowworms were not on my bucket list of things to see. However, two of our tourist maps made passing reference to going up Gray River Rd to the picnic area to see the glow worms after dark. Okay, I'll bite.

We drove about 15 minutes west to the little village of Kennett River, then up Grey River Road approximately 6 km. Along Grey River Rd., we saw a wallaby standing by the side of the road, and a kangaroo bounded across the road a little way ahead of us. 

When we arrived at the Grey River Picnic Area, a van was there. Bob went up to the car and talked to the couple. They are visiting from Bavaria in Germany and are on a three-week caravan (rented camping van) trip. They, too, were there to see the glowworms. It was about 9:00 p.m. and there was light left in the sky.

We stood chatting outside until it got dark at 9:30 p.m. (and we're talking REALLY dark--no streetlights or moon about). One of the interesting tidbits we learned from our new German friends was that koalas live in the campground where they're staying in Kennett River. They said koalas are all around and come down from the trees and roam around the campground. We'll be checking that out tomorrow on our way west.

Time to set off in search of the glowworms! The directions Bob read said to head back down the road we came in on and cross the bridge. That's where Bob and I headed. The other couple went the other way on the road. We had to be completely quiet and could not use flashlights or other lights.

I found the glowworms. What an eerie sight! It's like a bunch of eyes looking at you from a completely dark forest.

The other couple hadn't found any and were getting in their van to leave. Bob ran over to tell them we had found them so they came over. We all oohed and aahed and marveled at what a wonderful sight they were. Bob thought they looked like stars in the night sky.

Apparently, glowworms are usually seen in caves, so these glowworms in this part of Australia are unusual. We feel so fortunate to have seen them.

Interesting facts about glowworms: Glowworms are not worms but rather the larvae of fly-like insects called fungus gnats. Larvae produce threads of sticky silk, their glow attracts prey which are ensnared by the sticky threads. Where does the light come from? The end of the abdomen is luminous. The light is actually emitted from tiny tubes (malpighian tubules) which open into the gut of the larvae and are visible through transparent skin at the end of its body.

Wow, what an end to the day. I'm worn out.

Travel Bug with lights out!