Day 18 Moving on to Princetown

Having spent the night sleeping in the van with the top down and it was okay to sit at the table

And it was okay lying in bed so we eventually lifted the top to have our breakfast

Your sun actually started to come out

And by the time we were ready to move on there was a lot more blue sky around

We decided to drive just with the car down to the Lighthouse to check out the area so we left the van in the campground

A lot of the Manna gums beside the road down to the Lighthouse were looking very sad and dead

Past the turn off to blanket Bay

And took the road down to the Lighthouse

This notice at the entrance to the Lighthouse was interesting reading as it talked about the dead Manna Gums that we had noticed on the way down

There was no access to the Lighthouse as it was closed

Took this photo through the closed gate

We decided to go on this walk so that we could at least set eyes on the Lighthouse

There was a little sidetrack through the bush to a fence where we could see this cottage - the Lighthouse Keepers cottage which is I think where Ginetyck stayed when they were here

Pretty wildflowers along the side of the path

Several viewpoints along the way looking down to the ocean

The track was certainly well marked.

When we arrived there were only a couple of people around but then suddenly the area got quite busy, we passed quite a few people on our way back

We didn’t actually walk the entire distance of the track because we found a little opening where you could look out over to see the Lighthouse

On returning back to the car park we decided to take the walk the other direction

Spotted this bird on the side of the track

Lynda thinks that this may be a juvenile red eared finch

We headed along this track to the Lighthouse lookout which incidentally the track marker did not advertise this fact luckily I found this on WikiCamps

We stopped off at this part of the track because if we had walked to the light station from our campsite we would have come out here

We took the turn to the cemetery to check out the old graves

This sign was on the corner of the track heading to the lookout

Steps

And more steps - we are getting quite used to steps by now

Interesting information board

We stopped here and waited as there was a group already at the spot taking photos

We asked if one of them could take a photo of us rather than trying to take a selfie which they did

But then they suggested we had another one taken with our arms out

I pulled Bill‘s hat back on this one so that you could see his face his hat is normally down low to protect his face specially his nose from the sun

We came across a group of walkers

I spoke to teacher and found out that they are grade nines from a Melbourne private school and are walking sections of the great ocean walk and staying at one of the Aire River camps that we drove through

Lots of people arrived at the car park whilst we were on the walk including these big motorhomes

Drove back past the dead grey Manna Gums

I did this all trails tracking of the walk we did at the Lighthouse and forgot to stop it so it also showed us going back to the campsite to re-hitch the van to continue on our journey along the great ocean road

This shows the section of the walking that we did around the Lighthouse

On the road again after hitching up the van past open Green Fields

As we were driving along someone flashed their headlights at us and we didn’t know why and couldn’t work out why until we reached an area where there were a few cars parked and people on the side of the road looking into the trees and pointing

We soon worked out why, there were koalas in the trees, there is one in the fork of this tree high up

And another one lower down

And this fella right close to the road, not at all perturbed by us going close to get a photo

Reaching the junction we turned towards point Campbell

And headed for Lavers Hill

We went past the turn off to the road that we came back up on, on our drive yesterday

Past more green paddocks

Over the Aire river

Through Glenaire

Over the Ford River

Past the Castle Cove look at that we stopped off at yesterday

Through the turn off to Johanna

Views across to the ocean

Past the turn off to Blue Johannah Road that we drove down yesterday

And into Lavers Hill

We had thought that we would have lunch at the Perch restaurant as it had been recommended by Katrina but it was closed

So we went to the cafe over the road instead

Very friendly man serving us we chose to have pies and we sat inside to eat them looking out and watching the birds on the deck eating out of birdfeeders

A female liar bird was there feeding

I had several attempts at getting a good photo but every time I went near she flew away

Likewise with the male bower bird

Bill befriended a red dog waiting patiently outside the cafe

Took this photo at the front of the cafe after we had wandered down the path into the garden to see if we could see the bird’s bower but didn’t find it

Sculpture at the side of the road that we saw yesterday when we drove past but didn’t stop to look at it so checked it out now

Good explanation and description because without reading this we did not work out what it was

The ocean road plaque for Lavers Hill giving an explanation of this area

We realised that time was marching on so we decided to book ahead for this campground

Continuing on the great Ocean Road

Went past this pretty Water tank

Not a very good clear photo of this sign but explained that these plantations are actually on private land

Next we pulled up at Melba Gully

Plenty of room to park as we were the only ones there

Lots of relevant information at the start of the walking track

Pleased that we were the only ones there as we could enjoy all the nature privately

Spotting this bird very close to the track what was the bird

A tree creeper or maybe a yellow Robin

Took lots of photos along the way as it was so picturesque

The look out to the big tree described on the information board

And as the information board states unfortunately it has fallen

Bill took some photos of the inside of its trunk

We also took photos of this massive fallen tree trunk

Fungi growing on some of the trees because it was all so lush

This was my AllTrails tracking at Melba Gully

We went looking for the glowworm trail but couldn’t see one but then perhaps the plan is to just drive up there at night and see them on the roadside which unfortunately we would not be doing