A place whose name has seemed to echo louder and louder the closer we got to Victoria was Johanna Beach on the Great Ocean Road, a free camping spot just behind the dunes and the place that I have chose as the spot to write my first blog post on.
We had broken camp at Apollo Bay at no great speed which we have been getting used to with a bigger group, organisation has gone out the window slightly but it is so much fun sharing our new life with close friends.
Mathius (Davies) had by this point decided that after flying up to Sydney for New Year's Eve, he would much prefer to be with us on the road and so booked himself a flight to Melbourne & a bus to Apollo Bay. We had just enough time to fit in a spot of off-roading before picking him up so off we set, hell for leather heading for Kennett River where I had noticed a dirt track heading off into the bush waiting to be explored. My plan was to drive to Kennett River on the bitumen and then hook a left onto the dirt and loop back into Apollo Bay ready to pick up Mathius.
It was great fun! One or two steep hill climbs to let Charlie prove his worth and a final steeper hill climb that Binko tiger decided was more than he could handle after watching the Troopie disappear over it's crest with Chrisitan hanging out of the window for ballast. We were having far too much fun and had to cut the off-roading short as Matt was due in town and Binko Tiger's fuel light had come on.
We raced back to Apollo Bay, fueled up (VERY expensive here $1.49 per litre), stocked up the fridge, collected Matt and hit the road heading for the site we had heard so much about.
Now with 6 people in the group, we were faced with 6 different opinions on which camp site best suits. After about 6 loops of the camp site we eventually all settled on one, and so we were then faced with 6 different opinions on how to best set up camp. Very funny! I'm sure we would have provided some light entertainment to passers by! Luckily, Amy was ready to show us all the way, while we were all off faffing around with tent poles and pegs, she brought us each an ice cold beer and all was well. Bugger which way the tent door faces, we were in paradise!
Chris had been very keen to have a bit of a surf. So, we grabbed the boards from the roof and set off for the beach. We passed no less than three signs on route to the beach, all revealing that swimming was not safe and listing all the dangers on offer to any 'would be' bathers; strong currents, submerged rocks, stingers, sharks. All good encouragement as far as we were concerned.
We were all bravado and smiles until we got to the beach, which I can only describe as a devil's cauldron bubbling and smashing against the rugged coastline with rips thrown into the mix. There were a handful of fishermen on the beach who all stopped to stare as we walked down to the water, our smiles evaporating into looks of fear and amazement.
We were all bravado and smiles until we got to the beach, which I can only describe as a devil's cauldron bubbling and smashing against the rugged coastline with rips thrown into the mix. There were a handful of fishermen on the beach who all stopped to stare as we walked down to the water, our smiles evaporating into looks of fear and amazement.
I sharply dropped the board, put my shirt back on and wandered over to one of the fishermen. "What are you fishing for?" says I. "Sharks!" says he!.... We didn't go swimming.
That night we all sat around and drank too much just enjoying each others company and a bottle of scotch that Chris had brought over from a distillery we both visited together while mapping in Scotland (Oban). It was so lovely to think about the effort each of us had put in to be sat there on a lovely stretch of Australian Coastline. I'm a strong believer that family and friends are the most important things in life and being sat there that night certainly made me very happy.
The next morning, I woke up long before Amy (no surprise there) and went for a walk along the beach as the sun was coming up which turned out to be a great success, firstly for finding Matt's flip flop which he had lost to the sea while we were doing a spot of drunken late night fishing the night beforehand (it was about 1km up the beach), secondly I found a fishing rod holder that had been left in the sand. Most exciting of all, I had my first confirmed sighting of a platypus. I had found Johanna Creek and chose to follow it inland a small distance. When I saw something disturb the water ahead. I watched it for a few minutes before I was sure it was a platypus not a fish or eel or log or anything else I would think it far more likely to be. I sat, fascinated for about half an hour watching it go about its morning business until the sun rose over a hill and it disappeared. They really are an incredible animal, being one of two mammals to lay an egg, (the other being the Echidna, also Australian) and also venomous (the male has has spur behind it's hind limbs).Johanna Beach will be one of my favourites not only for its beauty (and the fact it was a free camp) but also because of the people I shared it with. I will not however be telling everyone we meet to go there, some things are best kept secret.
Christian & I made a furry friend on the Great Ocean Road
Mermaid Chris...
No comments:
Post a Comment