Day 21 Princetown to Port Fairy

Even colder this morning - 5 and a half degrees!!

Packing up this morning took a little longer because we had to put more away seeing as we had been there for three days but still on the road before 10 o’clock and in fact were passing through Port Campbell before 10 o’clock

No photos prior to reaching Port Campbell as we had passed along that road previously

Took a photo of Port Campbell as we were passing through as I had forgotten to take any when we went there to shop at the local IGA the day before

Back out on the B 100 which is in fact the great ocean road heading towards Peterborough

And Warrnambool

Crossing over the Port Campbell Creek as we drove to the other side of town

Heading towards our first stop of the day London Bridge

First stop was actually going to be at the Arch but unfortunately the lookout was closed obviously for some necessary maintenance

So London Bridge ended up being our first stop anyway

We have now moved on to the Port Campbell National Park

London Bridge which is no longer a bridge

With the explanation of what has happened

Needless to say we took lots of photos at this location

We then walked on to a different lookout

Spotted this bird and managed to get a photo of it but not sure what it is we have yet to identify it

View across to our van parked in the car park from the pathway

Different lookouts along the way avoiding what is deemed to be a dangerous slippery one

Took a WikiCamps spot image to show where we were

Next stop the grotto

A short board walk over the heathland to reach the lookout

And steps more steps to reach the grotto below - 76 in all

Lots of photos here as it was quite amazing

A WikiCamps spot to show where we were

Continuing on the great Ocean Road after the grotto towards Peterborough

And into the Moyne Shire

Over the Curdies River into Peterborough

Spotted some hang gliders no idea where they have taken off from or where they’re going to land

Checked out the foreshore reserve in Peterborough

Especially to look across the huge sand dune that was being raved about mmmmm a bit of a disappointment

People on WikiCamps don’t seem to think it’s a disappointment as it has been given a big heart

Views from the Peterborough look out

Information there about the ships that had been shipwrecked along this part of the coastline

And some information about the significance of this area to the aboriginal people

Our next stop along the way was to the bay of islands coastal area

Starting with an exploration of the look out to the bay of Martyrs

Drove past the lookout to worm Bay as the sign said not suitable for caravans and at this point we were towing our van

Turned off at the sign to the bay of Martyrs noticed in the distance another two of the wind turbines wondering if they were part of the same project

Whilst at the Bay of Martyrs we could also access the Falls of Hallandale

Spectacular views from here

More steps to walk down to access the beach - 49 steps

Bill couldn’t resist leaping across to this rock

He had to wait for the waves to recede before he could get back down again

Perfect little hole that he could poke his face through

You can only just see his face through the hole in this photo

Waves crashing against this little island wonder how long it will be before it succumbs

Back up the steps

From here we were able to walk around to Worm Bay

And more steps down - 48 steps

Some interesting rock formations down on these rocks at this beach

Here again Bill got tempted to climb up on one

Had to wait a while before he could jump back down again though

Noticed these pretty wild flowers just at the bottom of the steps

This shows that we were at worm Bay

From there we walked around to the Falls of Halladale

Bill trying to get a bit of height to get a good photo across to wild dog Cove

Noticed this bird down on the beach and thought it might have been one of the rare hooded plovers but on closer inspection we discovered that it wasn’t

Whilst in this area there was a revolting sewage smell that we tried to track down, at first we thought somebody had dumped the effluent from their van however Bill spotted a pipe coming out from the cliff face and suspect it is coming from this row of houses across the other side of the road

Moving on from Peterborough

We checked out the beautiful beach of the bay of Martyrs

Next we came to the turn off for the lookout for the bay of islands

So we turned off to walk to the lookouts

At one of the view points

At another of the view points

Whilst walking back along the track we spotted what we thought may have been a Rufous Bristlebird

And in fact there were a pair of them these are endangered therefore we were lucky not only to have spotted them but to be able to take photos of them

But further inspection and discussions with Lynda Litz they may have been Brown Songlarks

On the road again heading towards Warrnambool

Still on the great Ocean Road

Apparently Nullawarre is the last town on the great Ocean Road

Drove past the massive Warrnambool dairy and cheese factory

Still it seems on the great Ocean Road

But then suddenly the road becomes the Princess Highway the A1

and sadly there is nothing evident to signify the end of the great Ocean Road

Driving into Warrnambool to try and find somewhere for lunch

We ended up refuelling at a BP service station and buying some baguettes to take away to find a park to eat them

Drove around past this Proudfoots on the river however could not find anywhere to pull up

Followed this sign and finally found somewhere to pull up

Sat in the sun on the bench in a park to eat our lunch

Whilst there we rang ahead to the Gardens Caravan Park at Port Fairy to make sure that we would be able to pull in there and stay there for a couple of nights

Driving through Warrnambool took a few photos seeing as we weren’t planning to stop there,

we did stop at the Watertower so I could see the murals painted on it

So then out of town and on to Port fairy

No idea what this huge bunny on the side of the road was about

We passed the turn off to Tower Hill we were going to stop off there but have decided to continue on to Port Fairy and go back and visit tomorrow

Made a note of this turn off as we plan to head to the Grampians after Port fairy

Took the turn off to the caravan park before reaching Port fairy

After setting up the van took photos of the interesting wooden timber sculptures

Headed off into town to do some shopping

Taking photos of some of the interesting buildings along the way

Back to the caravan park driving over the Moyne River

Our HEMA map tracking for the day

It had taken us awhile to decide where we wanted to set up in this van park there weren’t many unpowered sites it’s a big caravan park but the sites are quite close to each other so we chose a site that was close to the camp kitchen so that we could use it and that was reasonably far from others