Thursday 18/01
Vlog by Isabelle: see below.
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By me:
We wake up around 8:30am.
After breakfast, Jules and Ludivine enjoy the climbing wall while Isabelle and I go and explore the back of the camping site to find koalas. Isabelle managed to spot 2 of them; it’s not easy. They are sleeping and hardly move.
Today is a very hot day; they announced 40C. Consequently, it’s a ‘no fire day’. It’s the second time it happens when we are in a wild camping at night so we haven’t done any fire yet.
We have a very short road today.
We first stop at Cape Otway lightstation. Built in 1848, the lighthouse known sits 90 metres above the pristine ocean of Bass Strait. Otway Lighthouse was the second lighthouse completed on mainland Australia and it remains the oldest surviving lighthouse in mainland Australia; it is considered the most significant. It is one of the leading attractions on the Great Ocean Road. Hundreds of lives were lost along this shipwreck coast, which led to the building of the Lightstation on the cliffs edge. For many thousands of 19th century migrants, who spent months travelling to Australia by ship, Cape Otway was their first sight of land after leaving Europe, Asia and North America.
Interesting visit. But very hot (too hot for the kids).
We reach our camping site for the night around 1:30pm. This large campground is nestled behind the dunes at Johanna Beach It’s a ‘nature’ camping site, i.e. there’s nothing else than toilet on the site. We have space and we are very close to the beach. Nice!
We eat lunch inside (to avoid flies).
We do one homeschooling session. Not easy with this temperature (the a/c in front works with the engine and the a/c behind only works when we are connected to the 240V, which is not very convenient…). Jules is not particularly focused (he’s the one who suffers the most of the warmth) and it obviously rapidly impacts everybody in such a confined space (even if we took the biggest camper).
Around 5pm we go to the beach. Great beach but full of sand flies. We quickly go into the water to get rid of them. I play in the waves with the kids who love it. Waves are coming diagonally to the beach, in both directions. Very nice!
Kids go back to the camper (they can’t bear insects…) while Isabelle and I walk a bit on the beach. Nice setting but sandflies spoil the moment.
We take a nice aperitif in the sun.
Beautiful sunset around 8:30pm.
We eat pasta outside. The temperature is nice again; it drops rapidly when the sun disappears due to the cold wind. We even put our jumper/sweater.
We are in bed around 10pm. I sleep in the tent with Isabelle tonight.
