OH MY GOODNESS

Looking down at the Rain Forrest on the Right Hand



And down across the hills on the Left




Well, it finally happened. On the run from Port Campbell to Kennett River I ran out of superlatives. Over the past 24 hours I must have used the term ‘Oh My Goodness’ at least 100 times. Surely Tassie can’t be any better than this! In fact we have met up with a couple of Victorians along the way who have assured us Victoria is better in many ways. Time, will I guess, tell the story.


Out of the Forrest and along the Ocean



Enough to Drive You Around the Bend!

Once again, I won’t bore you with my rhetoric but let the photos tell the story. In short, we left Port Campbell around 9am yesterday morning, travelling alongside the Apostles until the road left the ocean. Almost imperceptibly we climbed, and very suddenly we found ourselves deep into The Otway National Park and lush rain forest. We soon discovered what all the road warnings had been about as the road twisted, turned, climbed and plummeted amongst the towering trees and fronded tree ferns. It was truly amazing and I really felt for my Daring Douglas as he towed Jezzy on that roller-coaster. He seemed un-fazed and in fact I think he enjoyed the challenge. My ears popped and un-popped constantly as we climbed up and down that range.

Igneous Rock and Stunning Ocean

Looking Down on Top of Gian Tree Ferns

We were very fortunate with the traffic, most of which was going against us, meaning we didn’t have to pull over more than once or twice to allow faster traffic to overtake. We did have one scary moment when a large semi coming the other way decided he wanted more than his share of the road. The road incidentally is only two lanes all the way – almost entirely double white lines. We did encounter some places where the road is delineated with one continuous white line – we have never encountered this before and are not really sure that it means. The powers that be have done quite well placing little ‘pull-outs’ at strategic places. These are just small bays, just barely big enough for us, where the vans and trucks can pull over briefly to allow for passing traffic. Apart from a lack of prior notice, they work quite well.

Across the tops to the sea

When we hit Apollo Bay we heaved a sigh of relief as we seemingly left the precarious winding roads of the forest behind us. Too soon we relaxed as the road, when it left Apollo Bay, clung tenaciously to the very steep cliffs and hills that dropped dramatically into the turquoise ocean on our left. I have never been very good with heights and found myself clenching pretty much everything as we swung along that road. The views were stunning of course, and once again DD was amazing in his calm approach. The ocean was interesting with pretty sandy beaches interspersed with black igneous rocky coastline along the way. It would appear that this region was extremely volcanic in the dim distant past as much of the coastline is lined with the debris of ancient eruptions.


Asleep in the tree next to the van




You woke me for what?


Eventually we pulled into the pretty little seaside hamlet of Kennett River. This is our sort of park – a tad rustic and just full of God’s creatures. When we backed into our bay we discovered the gum tree right behind our van was occupied by a large Koala. He was not a particularly active type and had much to contend with as DD and the blokes parked behind us directed tourist after tourist to have a gander at our special mate. It seems he and his friends kept our neighbours awake most of the previous night and our neighbour had decided it was pay- back time, disturbing our furry friend as much as possible. Needless to say, this morning our Koala had moved to a quieter tree. I am really looking forward to our stay here. Until next time be quietly confident - Steph



Comin' at ya!




Hm, per'aps not.