Day 16 – 18. We left Ian and Michelle’s wonderful hospitality at Geelong and headed west, with an obligatory stop at Bells Beach (average surf, but lots of surfers out), before hitting the Great Ocean Road (Sam asked “why’s it so great? It’s just a road”). Kris read out loud the fascinating WWI digger and then depression construction history of the road to the boys whilst I tackled the curves and hills. This really is a stunning drive, even with a 1.5 tonne fat, white elephant chasing your every turn!
Bells Beach
We passed through pretty little Lorne, noting the adventure playground as a spot to return to with the boys, before arriving at Cumberland River camp site, just west of Lorne.
Cumberland River campsite.
I had already prepared myself for the sticker price shock, $93 a night for an unpowered site, with hot showers extra at 20c for 5 minutes! Price gouging to the extreme. Other campers around us agreed it was extortion, even if they close for 3 months of the year due to poor weather. It was almost full the first night we stayed but luckily for us with school holidays at an end most people cleared out on the Tuesday morning.
Boys in their “tree house” at the Cumberland river.
The location was beautiful, with vertical cliffs catching the sun all day, a pretty little beach to walk to, and a lovely walking trail that follows the river to a series of swimming holes.
Jebb’s pool on Cumberland River
Rock hopping.
We visited the 30m high Erskine falls, which we all enjoyed, as well as some smaller local ones. Lorne has a very upmarket feel to it – reminding us of Terrigal on the central coast. Neat and pretty, great playgrounds, lot’s of cafes, and a stunning coast line.
Erskine Falls
Playground fun.
The weather has remained blustery since arriving on the south coast. After the 37C day in Melbourne, the temperature has hovered around 22C every day, with gusty winds and lots of cloud. Nice for walking, but not warm enough for swimming. All was going perfectly until a gust of wind toppled my SLR and lens into the river taking night photos. First time I’ve dropped a bit of camera kit in 45 years.
Oh dear, another camera bites the dust! Did you manage to retrieve the pictures, time to use the backup.
Good to see Sam and James are enjoyng the rock climbing and stepping along the waterfalls.
Now you have settled into the Van routine, is there time for school work?
I think we have a new boarder (for a while).
Cheers, Grandpa
Am enjoying receiving your progress reports. Julian, you would enjoy The Imitation game, based on the life of Alan Turing at Bletchley Park. Kirsty treated us to a very enjoyable dinner last Saturday. The James Craig was scheduled to visit Hobart for the wooden boat show, however very strong southerlies forced her back into Sydney, Love, Dad
Thanks for the great write up of your time with us in Melbourne….we loved having you, and hope we might be able to see you again at the end of your great adventure. As I write this, it is 37.3c outside (Frii 3pm). I had light winter clothes on earlier in the week!
Continue to enjoy your journey, and travel safely.
Love, Adrienne and Christopher.
Day 8 and 3/4
Left Tathra after rain. Previous day rain. Day before rain. Drove to Nowra….forcast (surprise) rain. Lovely sunny south coast of nsw. Decided to visit Janet and dale but the buggers have gone travelling.Read the jksj blog instead. Looks like they are having better weather than us! Love to all☺