Remember what I said yesterday about doing crap you're too old for? That.
Slept ok (again with ear plugs because the aircon was so damned loud). Took our time getting ready. I walked to the main street to take some photos of the Grampians in the morning sunlight, and picked up some heated croissants for breakfast. Ended up leaving the motel right on 10am.
View of the Grampians from our motel room
The Grampians from Halls Gap
The Grampians from Halls Gap
The Grampians from Halls Gap
Got some petrol before heading south. The clouds came in, so didn't get any nice photos of the Grampians south of Halls Gap in morning sunlight.
Lake Bellfield from near Dairy Creek
Mount Abrupt at the southern end of the Grampians
Mount Sturgeon (I think) at the southern end of the Grampians
I did find a lookout near Dunkeld that we stopped at in 2001 though so that was fun.
Mount Sturgeon and The Piccaninny at the southern end of the Grampians
When we hit the Southern Ocean we turned right and went into Port Fairy. We drove around for a little bit and stopped on the southern end of town overlooking the Southern Ocean and the sweetie's spirits picked up (he loves the ocean). Then we headed up to East Beach and got a big bag of greasy fish and chips goodness. We sat in the car to eat it (it was super windy right on the water). We may have had an audience of dozens of sea gulls. We didn't give them anything until right at the end, and then they had to fly up to take it out of our hands if they wanted it. A few did :)
Fish and chips and calamari greasy goodness at East Beach at Port Fairy
Seagull hoping to be fed at East Beach at Port Fairy
Seagulls had to take it out of my hand to get any chips
The seagulls followed Stu all the way to the bin
Port Fairy Bay
Stu on the beach at Port Fairy
Then we passed through Warrnambool to the Great Ocean Road.
Sign on the western end of the Great Ocean Road
First stop was the Bay of Islands.
Cliffs at Bay of Islands
Cliffs at Bay of Islands
Rocky island at Bay of Islands
Rocky island at Bay of Islands
Rocky island at Bay of Islands
Cliffs at Bay of Islands
Cliffs at Bay of Islands
Then there was Massacre Bay, Worm Bay and Bay of Martyrs.
Beach near Massacre Bay
Rocky islands near Massacre Bay
Cliffs near Massacre Bay
Rocky island near Worm Bay
Cliffs and bay at Worm Bay
Cliffs at Bay of Martyrs
We stopped at a bunch of little places that weren't marked on maps and I hadn't been to before, but they still had nice views.
Wild Dog Cove
Rocky islands at Wild Dog Cove
Rocky islands at Wild Dog Cove
Cliffs at Wild Dog Cove
Then to the big ticket items.
First, London Bridge (the sweetie was getting tired so we skipped the Grotto until tomorrow).
London Bridge
London Bridge
Cliffs near London Bridge
Cliffs at London Bridge (where the arch fell down some years back)
Stu and me at London Bridge
Then The Arch.
The Arch
The Arch
As with The Grampians, now a lot of the Great Ocean Road lookouts are fenced off and you can't just go out to places you could in the past. Not that I would have wanted to with some of them (like the tiny little rock I have a photo of Dad on near The Arch). But others there were definitely missed photo opportunities because you just can't get to them anymore.
We also stopped at the scenic lookout near Port Campbell.
Port Campbell Suspension Bridge from Scenic Lookout
Port Campbell from Scenic Lookout
Port Campbell from Scenic Lookout
Then we finally arrived at our motel (none of us had the energy to do the afternoon shots of The Twelve Apostles in the lovely afternoon sunlight).
Instead, we checked in, then I walked into town (shoulda driven) to pick up supplies (read: beer/dinner/ice cream). But at this point, even though we'd barely done any walking today, and then only super easy flat walks, my ankles were *aching*. I'm guessing still leftover pain from yesterday. See aforementioned note at beginning of post: apparently you're too old for this crap.
See also my panoramas from Day 7.
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