Wednesday 23rd February
This morning we are starting by soaking up the atmosphere of the Stanmorr bed and breakfast. More birds came to see us this morning. We then went inland for a while to the Erskine falls. We went up into the national park and climbed up into the hills. There were two waterfalls. One was a big drop whilst the other was more of a slide down the cliff face.
The Erskine Falls |
From there we drove back to Lorne and stocked up on a few things. Again there were a few firsts. There was the phone to recharge, we are used to having a contract. The other was the ATM. We do not personally use them in the UK. We also discovered that there are high charges for changing travellers' cheques. The charge for using the ATM was a lot smaller so it had been a good move to get a PIN before we left so that this option was open to us.
As time is getting on we had better start our travels for the day down the Great Ocean Road. We stopped off at the Kennet River to see koalas in the wild it took a while to get used to looking for them but eventually you started seeing them. First you have to look for a Eucalyptus tree then look for the koala. They sleep high up in trees at the fork of a branch.
We then went off to Apollo Bay. We were stopped at various sets of road works so we had a chat to the people who were doing the stop go signs. We looked around Apollo Bay for a while and then went off to where we are staying in Marengo Bay just outside. We were recommended to try them by the staff at Barwon Heads. The accommodation is very similar in that we are staying in a beach chalet with views out to the sea. Jenny took the opportunity to have a swim in the sea. I thought that it was about as warm as the sea off Norfolk and left her to it and walked down the beach. We then found out that it is so cold as the currents are coming from the Antarctic. It was lovely clean sand with no flotsam or jetsam to bother you. We have now swum / paddled in the Southern Ocean.
We are getting through plenty of Anthisan. Some of the insects here are quite vicious. Several people have asked to use the Anthisan as it is not available in Australia. You can get steroid cream over the counter at a pharmacy though.
We exchanged texts with Harry and Elaine and found that they were staying only a few miles away. We decided to go out for a meal together. First though you have to go to the liquor store to get the wine for the meal. It was very generous of them as they offered to drive us so I was able to have a drink. It was a lovely place that they had found with views out to the sea as the sun slowly dropped. We then went back to our chalet for coffee, chocolate and a chat.
OK so what are we going to do tomorrow? We are slowly losing track of the days. We know what day we have to be back at the airport. So we need to make sure that we get back on the right day but also get to see all the things that we want to.
