The Manna House: From Robe to the magnificent Great Ocean Rd

We really enjoyed our 3 days in Robe, walking on the beach after dinner, lunching out (me) painting (Marnie) and loving the cooler weather.We left for Mount Gambier and enroute, stopped at Beachport which boasts a healing pool called the pool of Siloam. Of course we had to take a look. It is a natural spring fed pool, close to the ocean, but 7 times saltier. Even though it was a cool day, Marnie couldnt resist taking a dip. She did appear to be floating and declared her whole body to be stinging when she emerged 5 minutes later.On arrival in Mount Gambier, we went straight to the Blue Lake, which is the city's water resevoir, grey in winter and blue in summer. It was once a volcano and has the most incredible colour, almost as if the water has been dyed, even when the weather is overcast.
Our van park was close to the city, but being Sat arvo, everything was closed. That of course, applied to Sunday as well. We walked a long way down the main street to find the markets that were advertised. Need'nt have bothered as they were not the best! The day was cold and wet, so we hunkered down for most of the remainder of the day, reading.
A slight improvement in the weather the next day, spurred us on to visit Umpherston sink hole, which is a facinating sunken garden, again thanks to a volcano.(see pics)
Nelson was our next destination. Enroute,We had slipped quietly back into Victoria and had to change our clocks back by 1/2 hour.Nelson is a tiny town, with pub, general store and boat hire (as it is on the Glenelg river) and a national park. The van park we stayed in was out of town, but really delightful, bushy and close to the river. On our walk to the river, we spotted a Kangaroo and found a small river beach and decided to hire a boat the next day to see more of the river. There are many little houses/boatsheds, fishing verandahs, built out over the river which we though might warrant closer inspection . A few more Kangaroos visited us in the park that night. The next morning it was overcast but not windy, so good for hirering a boat. Not wanting one of those tiny putt putts, we opted for a half cabin cruiser, not quite as grand as it sounds, but bigger that the former. All went well as we cruised down the river, turning after 1/2 hour to come back. Things went a little pear shaped as we approached the spot that we were to steer to boat into.As you know, boats dont have brakes, or power steering so what are you to do, when the thing doesnt go where it is meant to. Thankfully, as we were about to crash into the next door boat's motor, superman came to our rescue. He was from the boat hire place, and came out of nowhere. He leapt onto the front of the boat we were about to collide with and stopped us in our tracks, putting his hands out and shoving us into the desired position. Oops, catastrophy averted! Phew, no wonder they ask for a large deposit!
Driving further into Victoria, things began to green up a little. We passed vast tracts of pine forrests, almost all the way to Portland, where drove on through as it held little appeal , then on to Port Fairy for the night.The park was huge and almost full to capacity, sitting nicely between the beach and river, with a delightful town just 15 minutes walk away. We checked out the shops and stayed in town for dinner.
We were finally heading for the Great Ocean Road, and on our way, stopped at Tower Hill, to inspect the extinct volcano, which is now a wild life game park with many bush walks and easy to spot, kangaroos, emus and koalas, picnic areas and an excellent souvenir shop.From the floor of the crator, you can see the rim all around. Facinating stuff. Woornabool was really big, but we stopped briefly, for lunch and a visit to the regional art gallery. We have been mostly in small towns so cities seem almost overwhelming now and we pass through quickly. Just out of town, it was hard to resist stopping at Cheeseland and as luck would have it, just in time for some cheese tasting. Twenty minutes later, and armed with a bag of cheeses, we headed for the much anticipated drive along the Great Ocean Road. The first iconic lookout was The Bay of Islands and then the Bay of Maryters, both very spectacular. We were nearly lifted off our feet as it was blowing a howling gale and we even had difficulty holding the camera steady to take pictures. Hoping for better weather the next day, we stayed overnight at Peterborough, ready to view the best of the Great Ocean Rd. So, how blessed were we, when we rose to a glorious sunny day. And what a difference the sun makes to this incredible scenery. The water is aqua blue and the limestone cliffs look wonderful bathed in sunlight.We ooed and ahhed our way along the coast, stopping at every lookout and viewing platform, camera snapping madly at The Arch, The Lock Ard Gorge, Mutton Bird Island and finally the piece de resistance, the 12 (more like 5 now) Apostles. Let me tell you, this is hard work on the legs, with an amazing amount of walking to view these icons. We were utterly exhausted after 4 hours of viewing, but remarkably satisified that we had seen something truly special.
We spent the night in Princetown and drove all the next day (today) most of the remainder of the Great Ocean Rd, trying to find somewhere to stay. We had forgotton it was the eve of a long weekend and every van park was full to overflowing. Finally had success at Anglesea, where we will stay for the next 2 nights.
Then we are off to Melbourne.
Vicki