The Great Ocean Road

Our walking and wildlife spotting continued in abundance when we left Sorrento and set out to drive the Great Ocean road, Victoria's famous southwestern coastal route which extends 285km west and was built with the idea of constructing a scenic road of world repute, equalling California's Pacific Coast highway. Our first stop along the road was Otway national park and we stayed in the only caravan park in the area which was called Bimbi park. When we arrived we were greeted by a Koala crossing our path with a baby attached to its back - a baby Koala that is. We had read that this was a place to 'sleep under the Koalas' and this was absolutely the truth, the trees above us were full of them, eating, sleeping and making the most unlikely noise you'd imagine from something so cute - imagine a donkey with a sore throat laughing and you've got something quite similar. Our Eric loved them too and we got back one day to find him playing with a couple just by our pitch.

Not far from Bimbi park was Melba Gully, a place known as "the jewel of the Otways". Jewel is an apt name because the Gully comes alive after dark with its large population of glow worms, something we had to see. We decided to walk the route before it got dark so that we could get our bearings for later. Mid way round we were minding our own business looking at a waterfall, or flower or some other thing you look at in a national park, when we heard someone charging towards us. We turned around to see a kangaroo heading directly for us at full speed - possibly the most frightening experience I've ever had. I jumped up on to a small bench beside us (as if that was going to help) and Matt stood still (through fear I say, to show no fear he says) and the Kangaroo hopped right up to him, face-to-face, turned on his heels and then charged off again. Our legs were like jelly but we thought it was hilarious and were just about recovered when we heard the noise again and turned to see the (not so) little bastard coming at us for a second time. This time Matt was up on the bench as quickly as I was and once again it hopped right up, had a look and then turned and cleared off.

By now it was getting very dark and we hadn't done a full circuit of the park so, with a maverick Roo on the loose Matt and I kept very close to each other and went glow worm hunting. It was well worth it as they were spectacular and lit up the sides of the paths as we walked through and fortunately we didn't come across Skippy's sinister sibling again either. I tried to take a photo of the glow worms so you could appreciate just how magnificent they were too.

Next stop on our route was Port Campbell, our base for seeing the Twelve Apostles - gigantic limestone pillars that rise out of the ocean. The scenery around this area was stunning both during the day and at sunset when we went back to get more photos and to see more little penguins who come up onto the beach once it starts getting dark. Whilst these are by far the most iconic rock formations in the area we explored many others through the various clifftop walks around.

After here we made our way to the Grampians National Park (thanks for the tip Kat) to partake in more of our favourite new hobby, bush walking. We spent a couple of days exploring the area and taking walks to the most noted features, namely The Pinnacle, the Balconies and Mackenzie Falls. Again the scenery and views were breathtaking and it definitely ranks as one of our favourite walks we've done so far. We also drove Eric down a very long dirt track to see some Aboriginal rock art (at Matt's request) and the fact that he nearly fell apart getting us there was well worth it, as I'm sure you can see by the one photo we got!



The caravan park we stayed in was brilliant, very basic but again full of wildlife, kangaroos bouncing by and emus running around. We spent hours one night just sat around our fire watching them all around us, eating our packet noodles and we couldn't have been happier.

One night, whilst sat outside Eric gazing up at the stars, we noticed a strange red light, moving very erratically in the sky, going in all manner of directions and we couldn't fathom what it was. We joked that it must have been a UFO and thought nothing more of it until we walked past the local notice board the next day.

Oh yes, we are now in contact with the Victorian Ufology Society and as their latest UFO spotters we have lodged our sighting and filled out forms detailing our paranormal experience, all very silly but funny nevertheless.

Next stop Melbourne, but if you haven't heard from us again soon be sure to contact James Molesworth for we may have been abducted by an extra terrestrial called Bruce.