Great Ocean Road Part 2

25/3/2015

Yesterday evening I watched the ICC Cricket World Cup Semifinal South Africa vs New Zealand in the common area at the campground. Was quite funny as it was an entertaining match and there were a lot of older Australians around who were already in high spirits thanks to the wine and beer they consumed, and everybody had opinions about the cricket. Quite a cool match, ending in a win for New Zealand. Let's hope the Aussies make it past India on Thursday to play the final as well. Alex M, who I'll visit in Melbourne as well, will be working at the MCG at the finals this Sunday. How good is that!

Left Peterborough after a healthy breakfast and visited the London Bridge again, as the weather was slightly better than yesterday. Looks so much better with some light and a bit color and contrast!

London Bridge - take 2

Next stop was at Loch Ard Gorge. Quite impressive.

Then I visited the 12 apostles – what a shocker, mass tourism! But looks really cool.

The Lonely Planet has got a nice story about the 12 apostles: Until mid last century they were know as Sow and Piglets (Schwein und Ferkel), but then tourism people thought in order to market them better they need a more suitable name. Somehow they chose apostles. As Apostles in the biblical sense usually come in a dozen (12), they decided to go with that, despite only ever having 9 of them at any time, one of them collapsed in 2005. Even all that background information doesn't take away from this natural beauty.

The "12" Apostles

"12" Apostles with a hint of blue sky in the background

I stopped in Apollo Bay for coffee and stocking up on veggies for dinner. Found some crafty benches in the park:

The bench in the park, carved from a huge tree in a very artistic way

After Apollo Bay, the road becomes winds around the rocks and is quite fun to drive, I was using up all the horse power that I could find in the Ford (by far not as many as in my previous Holden!).

I'm staying at Kenneth River today, a lovely park full with wild life. There were several wild koalas around, one in the tree next to my camper van, munching away on the fresh Eucalyptus. They got also heaps of parrots and other colourful birds, quite a paradise for photographers. When I went to the toilet block I spotted two young wallabies grassing on the lawn next to the facilities.

The Koala in the tree next to the camper van

They are easy to photograph as they aren't the quickest of animals!

Colorful

Different Koala, different tree

Did I ever mention that I really like the Canon "L" lenses? Some people suggest that "L" stands for Luxury...

Climbing down the tree, only 2 meters away from me

Koala in difficult light

Walking to the next tree

And the Koala found a new tree

In the evening after dinner, I had a chat with Brian and Sue, two older Australians traveling together who are my neighbors tonight and had a glass of wine at their table. Was fun talking to them and got invited to visit them when I'm in Bowen, Queensland. Great!

Kenneth River - lovely spot on the Great Ocean Road

Awesome

Tomorrow night I'll meet Maika and Ken, Shannon's parents, in Geelong. Haven't seen them since the Talbots Block wine tasting by Bill & Alex in their apartment in Perth, an event that resulted in great acquaintances and a fantastic time in Clare Valley!

Distance traveled: 135km