Wednesday 17/01
Vlog by Jules: see below.
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By me:
We wake up quite late: 9am; quite a good night actually.
We leave quickly, to go and take our breakfast (around 11am) at a lookout above Bells Beach, from where we can see experienced surfers tackling the big swells. This world-famous beach is the venue for the Rip Curl Pro, one of the most sought after title on the surf World Championship Tour.
But for me this sport looks rather frustrating: you must be on your board probably only 10% of the time you spend on the water…
Weather is perfect: great sun but temperature of 22C.
We don’t resist and we go down on the beach to “swim” in these great waves. The force of the waves is impressive and I don’t let the kids go further than me in the ocean.
We walk a little bit further, to the end of the beach, which is another renowned surfing spot, still on Bells Beach, where the final scene of the film Point Break (with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze) is set. It’s the beginning of Point Addis Marine NP.
We stop at Anglesea Golf Club, where we can see kangaroos on the fairways; they even organized guided walking tours to spot them… Kangaroos are very nice animals when they are on their 2 rear legs but they look like big rats when they walk on their fours…
We are on the famous/mythical ‘Great Ocean Road’, one of the world’s most scenic coastal drives. It starts in Torquay. The Great Ocean Road is a 243 kilometres stretch of road along the south-eastern coast, between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Allansford, near Warrnambool. It was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932.
There is also, since 2004, the Great Ocean Walk, which connects 104 km of walking trails that follow the coastline near the Great Ocean Road, stretching from Apollo Bay to the 12 Apostles.
The road is amazing. We want to stop at each of the (many) lookouts. The colour of the water is so nice. We (Isabelle) even spot a seal in the ocean.
We stop for lunch at a place where there are usually koalas (Kennet River) but we don’t see any. We eat a salad (it’s already 4pm!) on a bench, in the sun.
When I say that we eat a salad it usually means that we prepare nice salad bowls in which we put plenty of good things: carrots, avocados, lemon, tomatoes, salad, rucola, (sun)dried tomatoes, chickpeas, apples, bocconcini, rucola, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cucumbers, walnuts, …
We stop 30′ later in Appolo Bay to eat an ice cream. The ice cream shop that Isabelle found (thanks to Google Maps) is great and has won many awards and trophies.
Kids are quieter in the camper than in a car. They have more space. Ludivine reads a lot for the moment; it’s good.
We are lucky with the camper: it’s new and everything works well. I find it a bit noisy when we drive though (there’s always something making noise).
We make another stop in a place where we can spot seals on the rocks (Marengo Reefs Marine Sanctuary). We walk a bit along the ocean to see them but we don’t see any. Back in the beach, we sit a bit (Jules loves to play in the sand) and Isabelle spots a few seals on a nearby rock on the ocean, thanks to the binoculars (even with the binoculars I hardly see them…).
While driving in the forest, we see a koala on the road! It’s quite big. We follow him into the forest, where he climbs to an eucalyptus tree.
We continue to the camping site of tonight, ‘Bimbi Park’, located in Cape Otway. We set up the outdoor tent and take a quick shower before going on the road again, this time to see glowworms. Ludivine prefers to stay at the camping.
We drive 10 km until the place where we can see them. We see kangaroos on the fields.
The walk is a very nice (and as usual very well organized) path in the forest. The forest is nice. It’s quiet; we can only hear the noises of the forest (sometimes a bit scary). We see a few glowworms, all at the same place.
We come back around 10pm at the camping. Some of us eat toasts (we have a toaster in the camper! – at least when we are connected on the 240V) and the others eat instant noodles.
Everybody is in bed at 11pm. Jules sleeps in the tent with Isabelle tonight. We are only 3 in the camper, each with a “double” bed. What comfort…
I sort out pictures in my laptop and then write the summary of the days in my iPhone. There is no network in this place located in a national park.
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3