On the next day we had the most English day we had in Australia. Like any proper English day it started with gray skies.
Since we weren't too excited to visit all the scenery of the Great Ocean Road while it is gray, we decided to visit some of the local attractions. Natasha and Fredrick told us that there is an interesting event that day going on in the town. Sheppard's dogs from Australia and New Zealand compete in organizing and leading sheep. It sounded odd enough, and it had dogs, so we had to go watch. The event was very English, and new to us. Hundreds of people gathered in their day off from work, and watched different dogs chasing three sheep, that didn't had a clue about what was going on. The sheep were just minding their own business, which is eating grass, and were really surprised and frightened to see the dog, but 3 seconds later they discovered the grass once again and forgot all about the dog.
The dogs were really smart and knew exactly what they were doing. We saw the performance of two dogs, and we got the main idea, so we decided to move on. Not before we had an English lunch, Fish & Cheeps.
On the way to the Great Ocean Road we stopped in a very good cheese factory and tasted few delicious cheeses.
The skies became even grayer as we approached the first attractions of the Great Ocean Road, and it even became rainy from time to time. But our luck didn't leave us in those important moments. Each time we stopped in a lookout and wanted to take some pictures, the sun peeked out from the clouds and gave us a great photo opportunity. That was the case in most of the places, in others we had to wait a bit for the right light. The lookouts were very interesting, lots of different rock formations sculptured by the powerful ocean.
Even though the road was not very long (about 150 km) you can spend few days there if you stop at all the attraction points and visit all the small towns on the way. Since we started late that day we managed to go only half of the way. Finding a place to stay wasn't as easy as we thought. Someone directed us to a free resting spot near the beach about 30km from the place we were, but only after we drove most of the way we saw that the rest of the road is unsealed, which we can't do with our rented car. When we returned to the main road it was already dark and the rain got stronger. The only open place was a strange tavern, so we went inside and asked the friendly bartender. Apparently, they had something they called a campsite in the back of the Tavern. We set our tents on the wet grass and had our dinner in the dark. But afterword we joined the already drunk locals for a beer in the pub, which was fun.
On the following day we returned to the Great Ocean Road. As we were advised by the Israeli couple we met in the Grampians, we made a short detour in the direction of the lighthouse in Cape Otway, but the lighthouse wasn't the reason for the detour. On the road south there were supposed to be loads of koalas. We tried to go as slowly as possible in order to spot them. We stopped in the first possible place and Oren found his first two koalas of the day, there were plenty more ahead of us. It got better the further we went. Till that day we saw less than 10 koalas, and only after working really hard to find them. This time we stopped counting the koalas after we reached 30. In some spots, close to the lighthouse, there was more than one koala on a tree, every tree. These koalas were larger than the ones we met in Queensland. In one stage we saw all the cars stop, and people went out of them. Then we saw that a koala with a baby on its back was crossing the road, accompanied by a crowd of photographing tourists. It didn't seem to mind though, after all it was the safest way to cross the road.
When we finally got to the lighthouse we discovered that the entrance cost almost 20$, so we decided that we enjoyed the detour enough even without the lighthouse. The rest of the road was nice, but not as the first part.
Our next destination was the Wilson Promontory. We got the idea of going from a couple from Melbourne we met few weeks before. They said that there are heaps of Wombats there, and we didn't meet any till then, so we had to go.
In order to get there we had to cross all Melbourne during the rush hour. It was a good feeling to be stuck in traffic in a large city, after all the time we spent in the wilderness. We got to the Prom. (Shortcut for Wilson promontory) on the next day.
We asked at the local information about walks in the area and where was the best place to spot wombats, and wildlife in general.
We climbed to the peak of Mt. Oberon. The climb was a bit boring and didn't look promising. Only at the very top you are rewarded for the effort, the view over the south parts of Australia were really nice.
When we returned from the climb we hurried to get to the place that the lady from the information recommended, since that was the best hour for watching wildlife. The spot was just along the main road. In the first spot we saw two wombats (the reason we came there), one of them was trying to cross the road. Once he found himself two photographing tourists as body guards he was safe to cross the road. It really looks like the animals, at least the smart ones, found themselves a way to benefit from the presence of all the tourists. Later we stopped in another field which was a home, or at least the place for dinner, for a large family of Kangaroos and few Emus. Oren wouldn't leave until he had a picture of all the members of the family, which made the kangaroos jump around the field in order to avoid him. When it was too dark to photograph we headed back to the campsite. On the way there was a magnificent sunset, maybe the best sunset we've ever seen. The sky was colored in deep red, the reddest sky we've seen. We desperately tried to find a place to stop the car, and eventually we found it. It was a bit too late, though, the skies were much paler then.
When we got back to the campsite our wildlife experience continued. On the main lawn there was a rather large wombat mowing the grass. He was really concentrated in what he was doing and didn't care for all the passing tourists with their cameras. We spent half an hour just watching him, we named him Bob.
When we were eating dinner we found a possum in our pan. They are nocturnal creatures and apparently like pasta with mushrooms. Later a guy from adjacent site asked us if we can give him a lift to the beginning of the trek he and his friends were planning to do on the next morning. We didn't mind in general, but that meant that one of us had to get up early enough to take him at 7am. Lilya was picked for that mission. But it didn't make any difference, because Oren woke up in the same time because of all the screaming of the nasty gulls around our tent.
We visited a beach in the area and drove back to the rainy Melbourne.
Picture Album Galleries
Tip 1: The detour in the direction of the lighthouse is very recommended if you wish to see koalas in the nature. The entrance to the lighthouse itself is expensive (around 20$), if you have to see a lighthouse, you can do it for free in Aireys Inlet.
Tip 2: If you are starting the Great Ocean Road from the west, you can visit the cheese factory. They also have wine.
Tip 3: We recommend visiting Wilson Promontory, especially if you like wildlife.
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