Lavers Hill

Day 19 – 20. We moved on from our riverside campground to higher ground at Lavers Hill.  The drive  via Apollo bay was again spectacular.  We stopped at the fabulous Maits Rest rainforest walk for lunch and enjoyed playing in the enormous Beech trees.

Beech tree cubbies.

Beech tree cubbies.

Mait's rest

Mait’s rest

We then called in at Cape Otway and climbed the light house at the junction of Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean.  The boys freaked Kris out by racing around the top of the lighthouse without any apparent regard for the 20m drop to the ground below.

Cape Otway lighthouse.

Cape Otway lighthouse.

Lavers Hill Caravan Pk??

We arrived at craptacular Lavers Hill. Well – the fanciest car park we’ve stayed in so far.  It had a toilet and electricity!  The pub owner, Paul, quoted me $50 a night on the phone the night before.

When we turned up, I rang him and said “mate, I’m standing in the gravel patch you call a caravan park, I’ll give you $30 a night, take it or leave it” – he took it (he actually asked me ‘Jules, why do you want to stay here?’).

It was actually not too bad, and served as a base to visit the excellent Tree Tops forest walk. Basically an elevated walkway and viewing tower that takes you through, and then over the top of the spectacular rainforest.

Otway Fly treetop walk.

Otway Fly treetop walk.

James was loving it until he dropped his activity book marking chalk to the ground 45m below – “don’t worry mate” I said, “I’m sure there’s a growing pile of chalk from other kids who’ve done exactly the same thing” – He didn’t find it at all funny.

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After dinner, we went down the road to Melba Gully to walk through the rainforest at night and spot the resident glow worms – nice, but the boys found it a bit creepy walking through the forest after dark (which, I might add, doesn’t happen here until after 9:30pm!). As always, the journey is part of the gift, and in this case I met some Americans in their 60’s who were riding pushies from Warrnambool to Brisbane – all in 7 weeks. Kris also chatted to an Austrian and German who were going to be leapfrogging us all the way to WA – we’ll keep an eye out for their Landcruiser.

5 thoughts on “Lavers Hill

  1. The Cape Otway lighthouse we found spectacular, however somewhat amazed to see the current light to be an almost temporary fixture powered by solar cells. Did James find his book? Cheers, Dad

  2. You all look a bit high or at significantly elevated in these pics!

    (Find the bad pun or two in the last sentence)

    Looks like heaps of fun being up where the birds soar and the leaves rustle.

    Massive tree trunks…could they be ents in disguise? Seen any hobbits?

  3. I hope you’re all having a lovely time! We told the Joeys you guys were traveling around Aus and that your last post (at the time) were in Melbourne! There response was just “wow”

  4. Hi JKSJ,
    I guess what happened two weeks ago seems so far away now!
    J – trust you have a new camera (with safety strap) and anchor.
    K – unfortunately the boys have ‘no fear': pick up a teashirt or two with this slogan, and hope S & J make it!
    S – is your windup torch and radio usefull when it is really dark.
    J – did you have enough money to buy a new chalk for your activity book.
    While you were wandering around the bush in the peace and quiet last Saturday 7th, I went to see Sprint Cars racing on a dirt oval – very fast, noisy and dirty: 24 (900hp each) cars shift a lot of dirt and mud, and with their roof top wings actually create a ‘wind’.
    Love Grandpa