4 Feb: Finally Leaving The Bellarine: Geelong to Apollo Bay

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The whole purpose of taking a couple of weeks to travel to South Australia was to slow down and see some of the places we'd just zoomed past or through on previous trips.  In this spirit of going slow we left Geelong and stopped at (almost) every place that there was to stop on the way to Apollo Bay, turning a 125km drive into an all-day undertaking.

We didn't travel far to start with, stopping for the compulsory 1000 coffee at Danger Point, Torquay.


 We passed through several little town as we made our  way down the coast, stopping at every settlement and some of the lookouts.

 

Here's Angelsea, a quiet river with peaceful path. Once out of the orbit of Torquay the holiday traffic diminished and we could relax a little bit.

A beach. Somewhere.


And another ocean lookout..



We visited Split Point Lighthouse at Airey's Inlet and walked around the bottom but didn't want to pay the price to get to the top.  We were saving ourselves for the Cape Otway lighthouse.

The crowds were back at Lorne, where we forlornly toured the foreshore to find a spot for lunch.  We found one in the end, and then had to protect our lunch from a cockatoo buddy who badly wanted to share it.

I want your food.

Shortly after Lorne we drove under the arch and started on the official Great Ocean Road. No photos of the arch.  Believe me it sounds much more impressive than it is.

Great Ocean Road views.


Classic Great Ocean Road curves at Sheoak Creek

We stopped at Sheoak Creek to walk to the waterfall, the walk being complicated somewhat by the large, dead, and very smelly kangaroo in the gully. Not to mention the steps up which we panted and puffed, only to descend back to creek level and have to do it all again, complaining bitterly all the while, on the way back.

The falls were pretty though.

We stopped at a lot of lookouts.  This was one of them.

Finally we rolled into Apollo Bay, our home for the next couple of nights, and enjoyed a very pretty and delightfully mosquito-free sunset.

Home with water view, Great Ocean Road Holiday Park, Apollo Bay.







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