The Great Ocean Road, The Bellarine & on to the Yarra Valley

Tuesday 12 December 2017

The Western end of the Great Ocean Road starts around Allansford, which is a short drive to the East of Warrnambool.  After a few kilometres of rich dairy country, suddenly the Southern Ocean appears and around Peterborough, the stunning coastline of the Bay of Islands leaps into view.  A pretty impressive start to the road.

The Bay of Islands near Peterborough is a stunning start to the Great Ocean Road on a cloudless sunny December morning.

Nearby was the Bay of Martyrs and the Grotto, pictured to the right. 






By this time I was starting to notice an increase in Tourist traffic at the many parking and viewing points along the coast.  I stopped at Port Campbell for an early lunch.  What a beautiful spot with a sandy protected swimming beach.  I was tempted, but the breeze was still a bit on the cold side for me.

 Sheltered swimming at Port Campbell

The jetty is still in active use and like many of those in South Australia has a long history.

From the start of the jetty looking back to the Surf Club and town.








Not far to the East is the famous 12 Apostles, which is a huge tourist attraction.  It can be reached in a day trip from Melbourne, so there were a lot of Chinese and other International Tourists on site and driving parts of the Great Ocean Road and inland short cuts for the trip back.

I believe there are now only about 7 Apostles left, with the other stacks having collapsed since the original naming.  Part of the nearby London Bridge collapsed 25 years ago temporarily stranding some tourists on one of the stacks.  They were lucky as they could easily had plunged to their deaths.

The World famous Twelve Apostles

Stunning coastline next to the Apostles.

Above is a tourist collage for your entertainment.  A bit overwhelming for me

with 3 helicopters on site and at least 2 or 3 others a short flight away.

Thanks Kris for the tip on Picasa and how to make a collage.  Still easier in Facebook, which does it automatically.......

Eventually the road approaches the Otway Ranges and turns away from the coast for a while into steep and hilly country.  A bit of a challenge towing the Bushtracker, but there were enough roadworks to thin out the tourist traffic and plenty of turnout bays to allow room for others to pass me when needed.  Otherwise I just plodded along easily so that I always had good control of the van, especially on some of the steep descending bends.  I continued the journey to Marengo, just outside of Apollo Bay where I stayed for several nights in a very pleasant small caravan park right next to the Marengo Reef Reserve.

 What a beautiful view looking towards Apollo Bay from Marengo Caravan Park.

Wednesday I spent catching up on the washing and a trip into Apollo Bay for some shopping and a look around.  Lovely town with great beaches, lots of restaurants, cafes and plenty of tourists.

Thursday 14 December 2017

I drove back into the Otways and the Greater Otway National Park to visit the historic lighthouse at Cape Otway.  The first sight of Australia for many of the early settlers.

 
 












 The old telegraph station (above) is located not far from the lighthouse.

The keepers cottages now include some accomodation options and quite a large cafe that had surprisingly good coffee and interesting looking food for an isolated facility.



 





Rugged coastline at Cape Otway.  Many shipwrecks along the coast as vessels passed between the mainland and King Island.

On the way back to Marengo I took a drive to the North into the forest towards Beech Forest settlement.

Parts of the magnificent Eucalypt forest reminded me of the Karri trees in the Boranup Valley near Augusta in WA, but many more amazing ferns.

A beautiful drive through the forest with not too many logging trucks along the way.

 

 

 Hopetoun Falls was one of the spectacular sites along the way.

As was a spectacular picnic spot next to a grove of large Californian Redwoods alongside a beautiful river valley.

Stunning ferns along the river valley.

On Friday I continued the journey East along the Great Ocean Road.  From Apollo Bay the road again hugged the coast with sharp bends and endless ocean vistas.  Very spectacular, with parts of the road in poor condition from landslides and heavy tourist traffic.  I took a short journey to Wye River where I stayed a couple of nights on the recommendation of Phillip Blacklock who had seen the Big 4 Park there on TV some time in the past.  The caravan and cabin park was located up the river valley from the narrow beach and had lovely grassy sites, protected by the steep valley.  Lovely spot.

Quiet (before the holiday season) and grassy Big 4 Park at Wye River. 

Wye River Beach from the front verandah of the pub.  Nice spot for a beer.

Sunday 17 December 2017

Today I completed the Great Ocean Drive with a pleasant journey along the coast through Lorne, Aireys Inlet and Anglesea to Torquay.  Approaching Torquay you pass by the famous surfing spot at Bells Beach.

Not a lot of decent swell at Bells Beach today.









 Not much further along the coast is Barwon Heads, where the River meets the sea after flowing South from near Geelong.  Another old friend Geoff Geary had told me about Barwon Heads so I decided to stay for several days and explore the area around the Bellarine Pennisular which extends to the South and East of Geelong, one of the Southern outposts of Melbourne.
 

 There is a very large caravan park right on the coast and next to the township and the bridge over the Barwon.  An interesting park with a large number of "permanent caravans and annexes" along with some new cabins, boatsheds, lots of grassy and shady sites as well as tennis courts and a football oval.  It too was quiet, but a number of sites were being prepared for the Christmas madness about to happen.

Barwon Heads and the surrounding area at Ocean Grove and along the coast to Queenscliffe are busy holiday weekend and day trips from Melbourne.  Lovely area, but very busy on weekends and holidays.

 Great sheltered beach and swimming at Barwon Heads.

 This is part of the Melbourne Surf Coast.    At The Heads restaurant and bar is next to the jetty, just a short walk through the caravan park.  Very busy, with scenic views.

During the early part of the week leading up to Christmas I had a look around the area including the Bellarine towns of St Leonards and Portarlington, with a trip into Geelong.  Parts of Geelong are very pretty with and nice bay side, but oh so many people and very difficult to find parking.

I found Queenscliff and the Point Lonsdale coast much quieter and very pretty to visit.

Very slick looking marina at Queenscliff Port with restaurants and expensive looking shops.

Queenscliffe coast looking back towards Port Lonsdale .

 Sorrento, across the entrance to Port Phillip Bay.

Port Lonsdale Lighthouse.

 

The jetty at Port Lonsdale.









Queenscliffe is full of beautiful old buildings, hotels and guest houses.  It would be a great place to stay for a holiday.  Unfortunately parking was tight, so I didn't manage to get any photographs.

Thursday 21 December 2017

After a few very relaxing days around Barwon Heads, I packed up the van and drove back to Queenscliffe to take the 10am ferry crossing to Sorrento (on the Eastern side of the Bay), avoiding the busy traffic and freeways from Geelong to the West and North of Melbourne.

I was first on the ferry.  A very slick operation with drive through, unlike Kangaroo Island in South Australia where I had to reverse on board.

The whole front of the ferry opens up for vehicles, right up to large truck size.

 Everyone is on board.  Looking back over the terminal with the Marina in the background.

Passing the other ferry mid-crossing.  A beautiful morning to be on the water.  The crossing takes about 40 minutes and was a very relaxing way to start this journey.

After disembarking at Sorrento, I took a drive out to Portsea and the Mornington Peninsula National Park, before turning back to the East and heading up the Mornington Peninsula towards the South Western suburbs of Melbourne and the traffic and the freeways and the Eastern Tollway.  Fortunately middle of the day, traffic flow was slick until I exited around Ringwood and continued my journey North & East to Lilydale, which is the end of one of the railway lines into Melbourne and a gateway to the Yarra Valley.

I had booked into a caravan park for the night to give me a chance to have a quick look at the surrounds, before heading for Yellingbo and Geoff Elliott's farm for a couple of weeks stay.

On Friday morning 22 Dec I took the fairly short drive through to the farm and caught up with Geoff, who had been busy finishing up jobs before departing for a family holiday up to the Murray River in NSW.  Geoff gave me a tour of the farm and after setting up the van next to his large shed, we had a drive back into town for a number of errands.  Geoff and his family have a beautiful 100 acre property with rolling hills, sections of remaining forest with heaps of green grass and dams everywhere.

The front drive and paddocks.

Plenty of water and great pasture.

So much water compared to our property at home.

On Saturday 23 Dec, Sandra and the boys joined Geoff to pack up their Bushtracker and get ready for the holiday.

 Meeting of the Bushtrackers and an opportunity to give mine a wash as well.

After a long busy day, Geoff and the family returned to Melbourne so they could spend Christmas Eve at there other house and I was left in charge with the dogs to keep an eye on me.

Silva and Sammy.  My new best friends.








I had a very quiet Christmas & Boxing Day 2017, without getting past the front gate.  It was very pleasant to have a quiet, uncomplicated couple of days to get the washing done, walk with the dogs and and explore the property in the farm RTV - I know Jean wants one of these already.

A very useful vehicle for the steep slopes and pastures that get very boggy in the Winter.














 I think Jean would also like Geoff's new Kubota tractor with front end loader.  A man of many toys.

Dogs have a choice of swimming holes, but this is the favourite.

The Bull and companions up front and most of the cows and calves are knee deep in grass down the back of the property.

Boxing Day was a real stunner.  Not a cloud in the sky and quite warm by the afternoon. 

 The sunset was also beautiful.  View from the door of the caravan.

Wednesday 27 December 2017

Another cloudless blue sky morning and supposed to get up to around 34 deg C today.  Today I pull my finger out and start to explore the area a little and that will be the beginning of a new chapter in the blog.  Thank goodness.  I was beginning to wonder if I would ever finish this one.....However first, the dogs get to escape from their enclosure for a while and we will go and visit the cows and calves.........

Clare Valley to Warrnambool - Nov / December 2017

Monday 27 November 2017

On the move again.  From Clare down to the Sturt Highway via Tarlee, Kapunda, Koonunga to Truro on the edge of the Barossa Valley.

 Harvest time north of the Barossa.  Cropping country as far as the eye can see.

I drove East along the Sturt Highway to Waikerie on the Murray, where I stopped for some lunch.  The local Lions Community Group have set up an excellent park along the banks of the river with shelters, ablutions and adjoining cabins and camping sites.
 

 


The small paddle steamer Julie Fay was moored nearby.








From East of Waikerie, I turned South onto the the (limey) gravel and headed for Kurlana Retreat, a 1000 acre Mallee Heritage plot owned by Lifeflow and used as a Meditation Retreat (http://lifeflow.com.au/).  Caught up with Ric and Ann, who were staying in the old farmhouse, on their way to Mildura, then Orange (in NSW) and Sydney for a Wedding.  Always great to see them again and I look forward to spending more time with them in the Adelaide Hills on my way back to Perth in the new year.

Ric & I had a walk around some of the Mallee regrowth area, whilst Ann spent some time with a local State Gov Environmental Heritage Officer.  Hot and plenty of flies around.  That evening we had a meal of Thai Chicken & rice that Ric & Ann had brought with them.

In the morning, we packed up and headed for Mildura via Moorook on the Murray.

 On the river at Moorook, I managed to sneak in a photo of Ric & Ann staring intently at the Murray.

The drive to Mildura was HOT and I booked in for 3 nights at Buronga Riverside Caravan Park, right next to the river in NSW, directly across from Mildura (in Victoria).  I had been here last year, on my way back home with the new Bushtracker.  A beautiful spot.

Ann had booked a special Birthday dinner for Ric at Stefano's formal restaurant in the cellars of the Grand Hotel and I was invited to join them.  The meal was a 5 course "Italian Masterpiece" with local wines.  Just excellent!  Worth a trip to Mildura just for the dinner and followed by a "wee" tour of the wine cellars by the attentive wine waiter.  Had a great time and walked across the bridge and back to the caravan afterwards.

Ric & Ann resumed their journey in the morning and I spent a couple of very hot days (& nights) catching up on washing, a bit of maintenance and a haircut at Joe's Gentlemens Hairdresser.  Another icon of Mildura.  My second visit for an excellent haircut from Joe, who doesn't know how to retire.  He must be in his eighties and still plugging steadily away all day.

Plenty of wildlife along the river.

















Beautiful calm morning on the Murray, right across from the Rural City of Mildura.





 

Buronga Riverside park is an interesting facility. It covers a large area and has many beautiful grassed sites, as well as cabins, a bit of an old caravan storage graveyard and a few surprises.

 The chooks look happy.

Goats as well.  Don't think I have ever stayed in such a diverse commercial environment.  Highly recommended if you visit Mildura.  Not to mention a Seniors Discount.





After three scorching days & nights in Mildura, the weather changed with a violent thunderstorm at around 4 am on Friday (1st Dec) morning.  The weather forecast was dire, with Thunderstorms, heavy rains and flood warnings for most of Victoria over the weekend.  I was wary, but decided to head South towards Horsham in the Central West.  It turned out the West was spared most of the heavy rain & I had no problems at all.  However there was some very heavy rain in Melbourne and flooding in the NE of the State.

I had a small shop at Aldi in Horsham and spent Friday night on the edge of the town, before heading down the Eastern side of the Grampians to Stawell (some of you will have heard of the Stawell Gift - if not see Mr Google), then on to Halls Gap in the Grampians.

Saturday 2 Dec 2017.

I checked into the Big 4 Grampians Parkgate Resort on the edge of Halls Gap for a few days.  A beautiful park on the outskirts of the Village, where I managed to be allocated a large grassy site in an uncrowded section.  Almost like free camping but power, water and spotless extra facilities.  Very quiet with the grim weekend weather reports.  Had a drive into town and then up into the hills in the mid afternoon.  The gap reminded me a little of Wilpena Pound in the Flinders in South Australia, but is much more commercial with many accommodation options, shops and other tourist traps. There is also Brambuk, a National Park and Aborginal Culture Centre in the Village.

Brambuk National Park Information Centre and Cafe.

The Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Brambuk.  Stunning building, with a shameful history story of Australia's relationship with indigenous people.





Most of the visitors in the Halls Gap area seemed to be either European backpackers or Chinese Groups.  I guess most Victorians had battened down for the Weekend.

MacKenzie Falls from an upper lookout.

 MacKenzie Falls from below.  I have to admit the climb back (up very civilised steps and paths) was quite a heart starter for PJ.  Very unfit these days..... 

 Reed's View, looking out over the Grampians

Another stunning view from Reed's Lookout.  The wind was blowing at about 30 knots and "freezing" cold.

Sunday (3rd Dec) was a cold (17 deg) showery day, so I stayed in and finally completed all my annual invoices as Treasurer of the Gidgegannup Community Website. (http://www.gidgegannup.info/).  Good to have it done for another year.....

Monday 4th December 2017.

 Another fairly grey and drizzly morning, but time to do some more exploring of the area.  Back up into the hills and a short walk up a rocky creek bed to "Grand Canyon".

A view of Halls Gap, and the lake / reservoir from Boroka Lookout to the South towards Dunkeld.

 From Boroka Lookout, I took the dirt (Mount Difficult) road, which loops around Lake Wartook and rejoins the blacktop not far from MacKenzie Falls.  A very pleasant excursion in the Landcruiser.

The Balconies near Reed's View,

and still more beautiful alpine scenery back at Reed's View.

I continued on, dropping out of the Hills to the Wartook Valley, then climbing again via Roses Gap and the Mount Zero Gap Road to the North, before turning to the East and returning to Halls Gap down the Eastern side of the Grampians again.

On Tuesday, I drove East via Ararat to visit Mount Langi Ghiran Winery.  It was very quiet so I had an individual tasting and gossip at the Cellar door, which was very low key and enjoyable.  Bought a few bottles for future reference.....

 

 On the way back I drove along part of the Western Highway, passing through Great Western, home of the historic Seppelts Great Western Champagne and Sparkling Burgundy (Shiraz these days).  The car park was half full of "Western Ag" utes, but the Cellar Door was empty.  Western Ag was holding a Company seminar in a very nice meeting room in the winery.

 

 The Seppelts Cellar Door with part of the very large winemaking and bulk storage facilities in the background. A very large operation by my standards with extensive, storage and distribution facilities as well as many, many big tanks.



 






The old original owners grand residence is also part of the extensive grounds.








Inside the large cellar door, there is a cafe and large tasting area.  I discovered there was an hourly tour of the cellars with a sparkling tasting to follow.  I booked for it and thought I was going to be the only participant, but a family of four from Melbourne turned up just as we were about to set off.  The tour was an absolute eye opener, with an excellent run down of the winery history, followed by extensive tour of some of the older storage and winemaking areas, before venturing down into the huge cellar area.

Many of the old barrels in the top level of the cellars in an area supported by massive old Oregon beams and supports.  Similarities to Seppeltsfield in the Barossa.

 The cellars were just amazing.  Carved out of weathered granite over many years.  There are about 3 km of cellar tunnels, with the older parts covered in (non-toxic) black mould and many old bottles still in situ.

You can tell that these bottles have been in place for some time....

There is a locked section containing the senior winemaker's

 historic selection  of various vintages.  Very impressive.

 

 

 Within the cellars a number of locations for special events have been set up, like the long table above and the dining table left being set up for a Melbourne Company Board celebration meal.  Just amazing.





Seppelts as a winemaker have a long history of sale and takeover.  The group has been part of Southcorp, Fosters and most recently Treasury Wine Estates, a large multinational company.  To me it is a shame that despite the large facility in Great Western, wine is no longer made here.  Some grapes are still picked from the vineyards and then shipped to the even larger Wolf Blass facility in South Australia for processing and winemaking......Economies of scale.  Fortunately for the local area, the Cellar Door and some corporate use of the old winery still provides a few jobs.

Wednesday 6th December 2017

Time to move on and I took the road South through Halls Gap on to Dunkeld and then Hamilton.

                            Mount Abrupt, not far from Dunkeld.  Very impressive.

 

The Southern Grampians are also quite spectacular and it was great to see some sunshine as a contrast to most of the first week of Summer in Victoria.


Dunkeld is a very nice small rural town with the Grampians in prominent view.  I had a great walk around in the sunshine, including a very enjoyable early lunch at the Old Bakery.  Chicken curry pie with fresh salad and home made relish followed by an excellent strong flat white coffee.  Traveller bliss with more "food porn".



A short drive from Dunkeld is the regional centre of Hamilton.  A couple of nights for PJ to do some shopping and visit some local attractions before heading South again to Warrnambool and the coast.

Thursday 7th December 2017

Yet again, I spent quite a bit of time importing photographs, reducing them in size and then updating the blog.  Facebook is so much easier folks.  The forecast is for a cold front & rain passing across Victoria this afternoon, so I thought a museum and art gallery visit might be a good idea.

First stop The Sir Reginald Ansett Museum, just as you come into Hamilton on the road from Ballarat and other places.....

MaIn part of the building is an old hangar from Hamilton, and yes there is an (old) aeroplane inside.

 

I don't remember the "Hostie" uniform on the left from the 1970s, but I certainly remember the 1990s version on the right.

A huge collection of memorabilia and items from the history of the transport company and airline.

 



 

Exhibits included Sir Reg's Studebaker Taxi from Hamilton and Australia's First Mobile Phone, which was installed in a Cadillac auto when he was at the top of his game still as the Chief Executive of Ansett Transport Industries.

 I still remember Ads like this when Ansett got it's first Boeing 747 and used it domestically (I think, but the memory is a bit hazy on that).

I really enjoyed an hour or so browsing around after watching an introductory video made shortly after Reg Ansett's death.  A very strong character.  While in the building the rains came down and it became much colder.

A short journey into town and I found the Hamilton Gallery that had been recommended to me by a lady in the Tourist Information service in Dunkeld.  In the foyer of the gallery I was absolutely "blown away" by Graham, who is visiting the gallery until Feb 2018.  Have a look at www.meetgraham.com.au  which gives some more detail of his origin, purpose and internal organs.  What an amazing story.

 




 You don't walk past Graham without noticing.

The level of detail of his personal features, right down to the hair on his legs is outstanding.

 Such a handsome character is Graham.

The artist, Patricia Piccinini is interviewed as part of the interactive aspect of the sculpture and also on the website link.  How can someone be that clever.........

Enough of an outing on what has been a very wet afternoon in Hamilton.  Back to the caravan park and unpack the ceramic blower heater so I don't freak out the near neighbours with the exhaust and external noise of a very efficient caravan diesel heater in the Bushtracker.

In the morning (Friday 8th Dec), I packed up and before driving on to Warrnambool, visited the Hamilton Botanic Garden on a cool sunny morning.

The gardens are recognised as one of Victoria's most outstanding regional civic gardens and an important part of the heritage of Victoria.  Plantings commenced in 1870, with the plans and design modified by William Guilfoyle from 1881.  The range of mature trees is impressive, ranging from English and other oaks, Bunya pines, a giant redwood from California along with cypress, pines and many other diverse plantings.  A beautiful oasis right next to the town centre.

Left above is a "huge" Monterey Cypress and right is a cottage garden with large oak tree in the background.

A beautiful spacious garden with some water features and a walk in aviary as well.

The drive South was very pleasant, through increasingly greening farming and grazing country.  In Warrnambool, I checked in to a small caravan park and holiday village close to the City Centre and a number of supermarkets.  Very convenient for lots of walking around and also for catching up with an old friend, Roy France who had just this past week started a new contract job (for several years all going well) with the Victorian Geological Survey studying the potential for onshore gas deposits through Southern Victoria, that may possibly be developed when the current Moratorium on onshore development.

On Saturday morning I took a drive to nearby Port Fairy, which I had  visited a few years ago when I still had the Kedron caravan.  A beautiful place, but because of that very touristy and fairly busy even on a drizzly cool morning.  I had a walk around the local markets, hoping to find the potter I bought a mug off last time, but alas he was not to be seen.  Instead I bought a small heavy sourdough rye bread loaf that will be the major part of my bread ration for the next few weeks.

I had a pleasant few beers and meal out with Roy on Saturday evening and spent the rest of my stay, walking around, washing, shopping and generally catching up before continuing my journey to the East.
 






 Flagstaff Hill Lighthouse and Keeper's Cottages.














The Tourist Maritime Village at Flagstaff Hill.










Weekend Christmas Market in the old village green in the middle of town.  Nothing to tempt PJ.  Still on a mission to buy no Xmas presents this year.  Too much commercial pressure on our "must have" society.

Warrnambool is a very liveable and pleasant place from what I can see.  Practically no high rise and wide well laid out streets with large roundabouts and plenty of angle parking.  A bit like Kalgoorlie if you come from the West, but appears to be a strong vibrant place, albeit probably not very exciting.

Finally time to end this Chapter.  Just starting to get dark on Monday evening (11 December 2017).  In the morning I take a short drive to Allansford, and the start of the Western end of The Great Ocean Road.