After a coffee break in Lorne we were in new territory for us. Our first stop was at Cape Patton, about an hour and a half out of Geelong, which looked spectacular this morning. Sets of beautifully formed rolling waves off the cape had even attracted a hardy band of winter surfers.
Past Apollo Bay we took a small detour south so we could see the lightstation at Cape Otway, the oldest surviving lighthouse on mainland Australia and considered the most significant!
At this part of the G.O.R. we were driving through the winding roads of the The Great Otway National Park. It was slow driving but very atmospheric - and the forest trees were spectacular.
But we found the incredibly significant Cape Otway lightstation was CLOSED on our visit today!!!
Although disappointed we were determined to get a view of the cape - the most southerly point (that is accessible) on mainland Australia - and where the Indian Ocean meets the Pacific Ocean in Bass Strait. We had a kilometre or so of walking before we got the view we were after ......
We even managed to get far enough to see the lightstation in the distance (but hard to see in this pic) - the visibility wasn't good today, disappointingly!
Another hour or so drive west from Cape Otway we pulled up at the iconic "Twelve Apostles" (although only seven of these remarkable limestone stacks are visible at this point). It was incredibly cold and windy at this stage of the day's drive and we had to hang on tight to our phones as we took these pics, and fight to stay upright despite the force of the wind.
Pre-Covid, in good weather, there would be HUNDREDS of tourists crowding this viewing platform - but not today (lucky us!)
A few kilometres further on we landed in Port Campbell, looking forward to thawing out in a warm space and enjoying a lunch break.
Port Campbell looked like a nice small town, but extremely wind swept today ......
But the pumpkin falafel and green hummus and quinoa salad from the portside 12 Rocks Beach Bar Cafe was exactly what was needed given the conditions!
Last stop on the G.O.R. today was a few kilometres further west of Port Campbell, at the London Bridge lookout - for a view of this amazing rock formation. Thirty years ago it was fully connected to the mainland, and the way the seas were swirling and crashing around its base today it made us wonder what part would break off next. It was even more windy here at this point than earlier in the day at the Twelve Apostles. it was hard to stay upright in the face of the wind.
This was the view facing south, but we couldn't stand looking at it for too long as we kept getting sand blowing in our eyes from the southerly bluster.
There's a lot of dairy country around Warrnambool (and especially green and damp at the moment after all the rain) and we were struck by the huge Saputo dairy processing plant just outside Warrnambool in Allansford as we drove the last few kilometres into town.
We drove in around 4.00pm, at the end of our first days drive on the very wild wet and windy G.O.R.
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