Great Ocean Road drive (Part 1)

On Saturday morning I was off on an adventure. I packed my bag and set off for Geelong on the train to meet up with Michelle. It was pouring with rain and cold and I was seriously regretting what I had packed, but remained confident that I was going to spend the next week sightseeing and slobbing out on the beach with a book. At Geelong we had lunch and discussed our options - the least worst weather was at Apollo Bay so we booked a cabin by the sea on-line (Michelle's words of 'there will be plenty of choice' ringing in my ears as we struggled to find anywhere at all!).

The beach outside our cabin - the family

huddled up in the tent must have been British!

Fortunately we landed on our feet as the cabin had 2 spacious bedrooms and a balcony which had a view of the sea. It turned out that there was a seafood festival in the harbour, so we walked down there and saw what was left of it and listened to a couple of bands whilst drinking a delicious, locally distilled gin - things were looking up. We also treated ourselves to fish and chips. We tried a fish that they were barbequing called a leather jacket which was brightly coloured (it seemed a shame to eat it really). It was a bit tough but quite tasty.

Back at the cabin I was forced to put the oven on to keep warm whilst I dreamed longingly about the lovely warm jumper I had back in Melbourne.

The following day it was dry with gale force winds! We decided to go to the Cape Otway Lightstation and go on a koala hunt - we weren't disappointed. On the way we saw a mother with her baby

It was lovely at the lighthouse - it reminded me of home (Portland Bill). Built in 1848, it was decomissioned in the 1990's when a modern, non-manned light was installed. Its purpose to guide shipping through 'the eye of the needle' between the mainland and Tasmania en route to Melbourne

A view from the top of the lighthouse

I climbed up to the observation deck where I had 

to cling on for dear life due to gale force winds!

We continued our search for koalas and found this big boy slouching in the trees

It's exhausting just watching them!

and another...................

Just in case you thought that there are koalas in every other tree, we had to drive several miles to find these beauties - and it was well worth it, they are gorgeous!

On our way home we went to Mariners Lookout just above Apollo Bay

Me, or is it me?

The campsite where our cabin is

The town