Petersontravels

We continued down the Great Ocean Road to the pretty beach town of Lorne, where we stayed two nights.  Immediately upon checking into our room we were met with a familiar sight.  Just like the Blue Mountains, the Cockatoos were everywhere, and as obnoxious as ever!

The next morning we took a walk along the waterfront along the edge of the beach.  Beautiful spot!

These interesting rock formations were everywhere along the shoreline.

You have to watch your step along the pathway, as we almost stepped on this little skink.  I had to actually pick him up to get him off the path, as it was quite crowded.

Our travel agent, Kylie Luttrell from The Travel Notebook, was in Lorne for the weekend so we ended up having lunch with her and her fiance Simon.  Nice couple, but we didn’t get a photo!  We are having dinner with them in Melbourne, so hopefully I can snag a shot then.

The next morning the wind was HOWLING, and the seas were quite rough.  It even rained quite hard for a bit.  It made for a dramatic setting before we had to depart.

Not a good day for the beach!  We saw a couple dozen surfers the day before, but you could see the police patrolling the beach to keep people out of the water.

I was worried that the weather would impact a ferry ride we had from Queenscliff to Sorrento, but by the time we made it to Queenscliff the sky had cleared up.  Here’s a shot of what must be a fairly new ferry terminal.  Cool design!

The ferry as it docked in Queenscliff.

Once in Sorrento we had 2 hours of driving to our destination, Phillip Island.  When we booked a cruise for 2020, one of our excursions from Melbourne was a full day trip to this island so we could see one of the most famous tourist sites in Australia, the “Penguin Parade”.  We had signed up for the “Ultimate Adventure Tour”, where you forego the huge crowds and get a private audience with the “Little Penguins” (that’s their actual name) on a different beach from the rest of the tourists.  You also get to see some other wildlife on the way to the beach.

Here are two Cape Barren Geese next to a Wallaby.  There are always two Geese together as they mate for life.  They also don’t move out of the way of cars, so you have to be careful when you are driving!

This is the viewing area for the bulk of the tourists (I took this the next day.  The stands are pretty much packed full each night).

Here is our guide taking our small group of 8 down to the private viewing beach.  This tour is normally for a group of 10, but a couple didn’t show up.  Man did they miss out!

Sitting on the beach and waiting for dark, when the Penguins start waddling ashore.

Now for the bad news.  The penguins have very good eyesight, and any light will disorient them, so no photos are allowed, as just the light from our phones screen would be an issue.  The following photos were taken recently by a professional photographer and let you see the penguins waddling ashore.

As

As info, our guide set up some red lights that don’t bother the penguins, so all the penguins we saw were bathed in red.  It didn’t matter, there were at least 25 like this one that walked right by us!

Our guide estimated we saw 56 penguins during our half hour viewing, but I think I saw even more with my binoculars.  Regardless, this was a total blast and I highly suggest you make this part of your Australian itinerary!  Here is a short video of the little cuties waddling ashore.

The next morning we drove back out to the same area as our guide had mentioned it was quite beautiful in the daytime.

There is a short boardwalk hike at a nearby spot called The Nobbies that is a must do!  The wind was howling, but that just made for beautiful rugged seas!

This very dark sky made a perfect backdrop for the coastline.

The local park staff have created these man-made penguin houses that dot the coastline.  The penguins love the man-made homes!

After a few years, the local vegetation grows over the houses to the point you can’t even see them.

One last rugged coastline shot from Phillip Island.  We were only here for one night, but if we had it to do over we’d have stayed for at least two.  Just an absolute gorgeous spot!

Coming up next, we visit Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city.

After killing some time in Hamilton we continued our drive east towards our next stop just outside Grampians National Park.  Here is our first view of the southern part of the park.  This is Mount Sturgeon on the left, and Mount Abrupt on the right.

The next morning we made the drive into the park, and our first short hike of about a mile was to Venus Baths, likely the most visited spot in the park as it’s easy to get to.

We walked a little further along the path past the baths and nearly walked right into this Wallaby, eating quietly on the side of the path.  He just kept on munching away as I took his photo.

Our next stop was Boroka Lookout, an awesome viewpoint over the valley below.  The little town below is called Halls Gap, and serves as the entrance to the Grampians.  The lookout is just 50 yards from the parking lot.

We took turns taking photos with some guys at this spot.

Next up was MacKenzie Falls, a short but steep hike down to the base of the most popular waterfall in the Grampians.  This shot is from above the falls.

Kim hiking down the lower section of stairs leading to the base of the falls.

MacKenzie Falls in all of it’s glory.

Yeah, not really that impressive after seeing all of those waterfalls in Iceland, but when it comes to waterfalls we’ll take what we can get.  Here is a short video.

Our last stop in the Grampiajns was at Reed Lookout, with a view towards the west.  You can see from this photo that there is a lot of fire damage below this point.  Grampians National Park suffered a severe fire in January that continues to keep portions of the park closed to the public.

The Grampians have a wine region named after them, so of course we had to at least make a visit.  About a 50 minute drive from the park is historic Seppelt winery.

Seppelt was started in 1851 in the Barossa Valley, with their first vineyards in the Grampians being planted a short time later.  Their first vintage of wine in the Grampians was in 1863.  Seppelt is known for their extensive hand dug cellars that were started in 1865.

This historical marker mentions that these cellars were hand dug by gold miners.  There was a gold-rush nearby in the 1850’s, and the gold was pretty much gone by the 60’s.

Our guide pointed out this part of the cellar where you can see the pick marks from the miners axes.

The wines were ok, and included an odd Sparkling Shiraz, which they referred to as “Christmas in a Bottle”.  I actually preferred this sign in the tasting room over the wines!

We departed the Grampians area and headed towards the coast so we could drive along the Great Ocean Road.  Our first stop was at “Bay of Islands Lookout”, where the Great Ocean Road first hits the ocean.  This was just the first of multiple stunning stops along the coast!  These are islands of stacked limestone that have been weathered by the ocean for thousands of years.

This is looking east down the coast from the same Bay of Islands Lookout.

You can take a short hike to get a different perspective on the islands.  Beautiful spot!

One last shot from this stop.  The weather was perfect!

We then drove about 5 minutes and stopped at “The Grotto”.  You had to hike down a little hill and then “wow!”  Gorgeous!  Of course, we had to wait to take a photo as some Instagrammer loser had hopped over the “do not enter” wall to take photos up next to the water.  They need to pass a law that makes it legal to punch these people in their silly little faces.

The next stop, maybe 2 minutes away, was “London Bridge”.  The gap you see on the left was once an arch that you could walk across, but it fell in 1990.  Two tourists had just crossed the bridge when it collapsed, and were stranded on the island until a helicopter picked them up a few hours later.

Here is what the site looked like before the collapse.

Another 20 minutes, after getting lost in “under construction” Port Campbell (grumble grumble), we made it to “Loch Ard Gorge”, with two more dramatic limestone islands.

Just adjacent to Loch Ard Gorge is “The Razorback”, which gives you an up close look at the limestone layers of an island that has recently (as in only a few thousand years ago) separated from the mainland.

About 5 minutes drive later you arrive at the spot everybody comes here for, the “Twelve Apostles”

Looking to the west, there are supposed to be ten of the twelve apostles in this photo, but apparently you can’t see them all without taking a helicopter ride, which we opted out of (we’re spending enough money already!).

Towards the east are these two prominent apostles.  The surf in the background made for a really excellent photo!

Looking closely at this one you can see a little window in the upper left.  This drive along the Great Ocean Road was definitely a “must do”… just try to avoid the busses and the Instagrammers and you’ll be ok!

We stopped for a beer and a snack at the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse (the red ale is fantastic!) in the cute beach town of Apollo Bay.  I liked this sign.

Coming up next, we stay in the beach town of Lorne, and then drive to Phillip Island to see the “Penguin Parade”.