Apollo Bay to Port Campbell
(written on February 6)
We left Warronga Farm for a 10 AM helicopter ride around Apollo Bay. Drew and Noah had never been in a helicopter before and we thought it would be cool. They both loved it even though it was only 10 minutes total. We got to see the area from the air and it was pretty nice. Noah got to use his GoPro which we used the suction cup to attach it to the windshield of the helicopter. Our pilot, Garrett, was very nice and we landed and got back in the car for the 2 hour drive to Port Campbell.
If you are driving the Great Ocean Road one of the highlights is a rock formation just off the shore called The 12 Apostles. These are a set of rocks that are in the shallow portion of the ocean and tower over the sea. Over the past few hundred years the 12 rocks are down to 7 or 8, depending on who you ask 🙂
The Apostles were about 7 miles before we got to Port Campbell, so with a full car we decided to go to find our AirBnB stay for the evening, grab some lunch and then head back to the rocks, which is what we did. We had a nice simple lunch on the beach in the middle of town with some left over food from the past few days and some chips and bread we bought at the grocery store. After lunch everyone, except for Noah, was excited to go see the Apostles.
We parked in the small parking lot by the first two formations and went to take a look. There are a long set of stairs heading down to the beach but the kids were hot and were a bit sunburned from the day before, so we passed on the stairs. I started talking with a nice woman from Switzerland, named Ursula, at the top of the stairs as she was waiting for her husband to come up. We had a great conversation and she was excited for us to see Switzerland on our travels around Europe. I gave her a card and we will see if she gets a chance to reach out.
We went from the first viewing point to the second, more populated viewing point which allowed you to see the first two Apostles to the east and 5 or 6 more to the west. The views were pretty spectacular, even if they are just a bunch of big rocks in the ocean. I can see why people find them fascinating, even if Noah didn’t J
We headed back to town and put on our bathing suits and headed to the beach. Drew did a long swim out to a dock while Ilise and Noah watched a bit. Drew is still not feeling great, but that was a really good bit of exercise for her. We spent about an hour or so on the beach as the water was pretty cold. We are hoping for warmer water temperatures in Sydney and heading north to Byron Bay and the Great Barrier Reef. We are currently at the airport in Melbourne after a travel day back from the Southern Ocean.
We left Port Campbell early so we could meet up with Josh and Amelia Wood. Noah left an oversized tennis ball he purchased at the Australian Open in the apartment in Melbourne, so Josh was able to pick it up from the landlord who lives pretty close to his house. We got to the Wood’s house around noon and headed out for lunch at a local chicken restaurant called Nando’s. The chicken was pretty good and Josh recommended we get the dipping sauce, which was pretty good. We left Josh and Amelia and headed to the airport pretty early so not to be rushed getting on our flight. We should be boarding in a few minutes and it’s off to Sydney for a week.
Looking forward to getting to know Sydney, visiting a few Rotary Clubs and a meeting with a Cisco friend on Friday. Saturday morning we rent a bigger car and head north for close to a month. We have been told that the drive to Byron Bay and the Gold Coast is really nice and the people are great. I’ll let you know if we agree J
To a life well lived!
Larry Kesslin 