Jan 88 min read

Our Great Ocean Road Roadie Part 2: Apollo Bay + Great Otway National Park

Updated: Sep 20

Hi friends! How are you going today? Melbourne weather is miserable as I write this post and today I've been playing around with my blog a little bit and I tried to add right-click protect to just my images but for some reason, it's added it to every single page with copyright and I haven't quite worked out how to fix it (hopefully I will soon) but for now you just won't be able to right click things to open in a new tab BUT you can still click on all the links and read all the post. But that brings me to Part 2 of our Great Ocean Road Roadie. This was days 3 and 4 of our adventures. We travelled from Torquay all the way to Tanybryn to stay (just outside of Apollo Bay). I'll also put the vlog at the end of this post too and it would mean a lot if you checked that out and also subscribed to my YouTube Channel. I've kinda been putting all my efforts into my socials lately so I'm really hoping it works out. I've even added some new digital prints to my online store if you'd like to buy some of those, you can check them out "here." If you'd like to buy a physical print of one of my photos, please message me directly (Instagram is probably your best bet).

Day 3: Torquay to Apollo Bay/Tanybryn

29th December 2023

Day 3 I was feeling pretty good, ready for a new day of adventures and the big drive ahead + we had a whole lotta stops we wanted to stop through as we drove along. I think we left kinda early - maybe around 8:30am - 9am. I'm not quite sure, but it was relatively early and I'd gotten a better sleep than the night before. Our first stop was of course The Chocolate Shop called the "Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery" and this place was so cool - there was a lot of tourists here at this time so we're grateful we got there pre early in the morning although it meant it was way too early for getting ice cream here. But, we did get a bunch of fancy chocolates and lollipops in the shape of Disney characters so that was cool AF.

Our second stop of the day was Split Point Lighthouse (which, fun fact, is the lighthouse used in Round The Twist - a kid's Australian TV show about supernatural things). It kinda sounds like something I'd like to watch but I don't remember watching it. Of course, Luke sung the songs hehe! We opted just to look around rather than go in the lighthouse itself but it there were gorgeous views all around.

Our third stop of the day was Erksine Falls, located in Lorne, which was absolutely packed and there was no way that I was gonna be able to get my tripod out (it had also been seizing up - probably from staying in the car too long in the heat and we didn't manage to fix it until like day 9 - maybe we should always carry WD-40 around with us when I'm using the tripod hahaha). Anyway, I used the ledges and wherever I could to get a long exposure but I did get kinda annoyed at all the people (and yep, I was one of them so come at me if you're going to). The one thing that really got me here was the bunch of guys who were smoking on the walk down to the falls (like come on man, do it in your car, you can wait 20 minutes). I did struggle on the way back up with the incline and altitude change but I made it safe and sound and a BIG BIG SHOUT OUT to Luke for carrying my backpack and camera gear when I was struggling and my back got sore. Allegedly, there are only 230 steps but I only counted to 100 and then lost my train of thought (I wanted to test if it was real, but I guess we'll never know).

Our fourth stop of the day was somewhere I really wanted to go on our trip and that was Teddy's Lookout! It was so pretty (but again, people smoking?????). Grrr, Australia needs to take a leaf out of NZ's book and make certain outside public spaces smoke-free - especially to protect the children and the wildlife! We then ventured along to the next waterfall stop which was Sheoak Falls (still in Lorne) and it trips me up every time I spell it even though it's literally just "she" "oak" for some reason it just looks wrong to me? But I was much happier at this waterfall because I could set my tripod up and it was peaceful and the people there were a lot more respectful of people taking photos. We even saw a cute wee skink (that when I showed Luke, he got scared but I really wanted a photo of him, however, I couldn't find him again after that). The walk was hard in parts but for relatively fit people, I think you'd find it really easy. I also liked the way the rocks looked kinda like they'd been carved out into caves (I'm not sure how to describe that). We even saw a few Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos flying around. I think it was around this time that we finished off our pre-packed sandwiches we made for lunch (Thanks for making them Luke).

After Sheoak Falls, we headed down to Kennett River, where you can see koalas and we saw one koala and one massive kangaroo! We didn't really take a vlog here because I had my big zoom lens on and it just would have been too hard but it was a lovely little walk (although Luke went a bit further than me because my legs had really given up on my by this point). Following the koalas, we finally made it to our second AirBNB which was amazing! It was tiny but there was a lot of character and a lot of amazing wildlife to come. We stayed at The Otway Nest in Tanybryn which is part of The Otway Haven and The Otway Nest and honestly, if you want a break from city-life and to chill out for a week, seriously consider booking a stay here. Although, I do have to warn you, the roads are really windy and it's deceivingly longer than it seems (and that's coming from someone who grew up with windy-ass roads in NZ).

After checking in, we decided we drive down to Apollo Bay and check out what's going on down there and THEY HAD THE SCARIEST CARNIVAL RIDES - it made me sooo queasy just watching from below and we had a booking for dinner so we were just wasting time around the bay but watching people on those rides omfg no thank you. Anyway, we had dinner at Apollo Bay Hotel and I loved it there! The cocktails were yummy and the food was good and dessert was even better + there were many pub doggos to look at outside in the beer garden area. We even bought t-shirts from here because that's cool that a pub has merch right? Well, I thought it was cool. Luke had a chicken parma (of course) and I had a cheeseburger that seemed kinda small at first but turned out to be just the right size for someone like me. I do wish that the chips came with sauce though but it was still yummy. On our way back to our accommodation, we were greeted by a boobook owl who was gorgeous and guided us home safely - and we then learned that there were two owls that lived next door so that's where he came from but it was so special!

Day 4: Otway Fly Treetop Walk + Cape Otway Lighthouse & Koalas

30th December 2023

Day 4 was an interesting day for sure. We didn't do too much this day, but in the morning I was feeling really good. We headed down to the Otway Fly to do the treetop walk and I was so glad we booked for 10am because by the time we got out, it was packed. I was too scared to do the zip line, but the tree top was still kinda scary and I went on the high spiral staircase even though I was bloody scared at the time. I think it was about $28 pp AUD to do but it took us about 1.5 hours and then we had lunch there and looked at all the birds like willie wagtails and grey fantails. We then ventured on over to Johanna Beach (the people at the Air BnB had left recommended day trips on the map for us to enjoy) and that was a bloody scary drive too! It was so twisty and lots of gravel BUT it was worth it because we got to see a Black-Shouldered Kite in the wild and even get some snaps of him in all his glory. However, it was sooo cold this day so we didn't stay on the beach very long.

Our next stop was Cape Otway Lighthouse which I absolutely loved. Although, it did take us awhile to get a park because some smug tourist doing a hike around the area stood in a carpark waiting for his mates. Like come on man! But we did get one and we did get to go in. I would say that I learned a lot here - and there's so much to do + the guy at the counter was so enthusiastic that we'd go back just to talk to him again. It was filled with information about dinosours to telegraph station information, communication, war stuff, to missing persons and WE EVEN SAW A SNAKE HERE. Some people warned us about him but I was so excited to finally see a snake after two years living in Australia and I honestly thought I was gonna be scared but I wasn't. I was doing a little happy dance and an older couple came over and asked us about it, so I showed them a photo and the guy was like "damn, I thought you were going to show me something cute and fluffy" - idk if it was a stereotype but I was just excited and also proud of myself for not being scared. Anyway, we had a hot chocolate at the cafe there (and I would very soon come to regret this). We headed back home for the day and stopped along all the roads because there was like 10+ koalas everywhere so that was cool. But as soon as we got back to Apollo Bay and stopped for petrol, the lactose in my tummy was not happy. We were gonna go to the supermarket but I made Luke drive me back because welll IBS and this was probably one of the worst IBS attacks I ever had (and usually that amount of lactose doesn't cause that much stress). Anyway, we got back in time (thankfully) and it took awhile for my tummy to calm down, I was so worried I was looking up what places I could go if I desperately needed to get to a hospital. I decided for the rest of the trip I wasn't going to take my iron (because I think that's what caused more of the upset tummies than the actual dairy/lactose) and I didn't take it again until we got home. But anyway, I survived that awful IBS attack and then we managed to get down to the shops and get ourselves some snags for dinner. We just had a chill night so I could rest. I'm glad we did. Because we managed to have a really good trip the rest of the time there!

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