Today was time for more driving, more amazing views and more hot weather!
We took a detour off the Great Ocean Road to drive round Cape Otway, including the Cape Otway Lighthouse, which was quite an impressive sight. This bit of coastline was apparently fairly treacherous in bad weather in the 19th century and many a wreck is to be found on the rocks around the area. Therefore, a lighthouse was built, accompanied by a telegraph station. And that was pretty much it as far as the community went. It’s been turned into a very good museum now, which tells the stories of the various families and people that passed through the two houses. When the occasional survivor of a shipwreck turned up, they’d sometimes stay for months on end while return passage etc was being sorted out. And at other points, the lighthouse keeper and the telegraph operator would be in dispute about something and would have to write to the colonial powers to get it resolved (good old neighbourly disputes never change!).
The drive to and from the lighthouse was through the Otways National Park and the road was lined with eucalyptus trees – and yes, quite a few koalas! I got quite good at koala spotting and they are really quite cute!
Later that day, we arrived at the Twelve Apostles, one of the most well-known sites along this stretch of coast. The apostles are sea stacks, formed through erosion of the coastline and are a pretty impressive sight. Unfortunately it was about 38 degrees when we arrived at them so we didn’t hang about too much to absorb any spiritual significance or anything!
And finally, we reached Port Fairy, our stopping point for the day, where we ended the day with a lovely seafood platter for two and a nice bottle of white. Mmmmm.
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