The Great Ocean Walk.

Nov28-Dec5    VICTORIA (Q)

Great Ocean Walk, Victoria. Apollo Bay, Elliot Ridge, Blanket Bay, Cape Otway, Aire River, Johanna Beach, Ryans Den, Devils Kitchen, Glenample Homestead, 12 Apostles. Maps: Great Ocean Walk website, Australian Geographic, Sept 2007. 

DISTANCE: Medium. TRIP GRADE: Easy/medium. LEADER: Ray Robinson 

TRANSPORT: $78 Campsite cost + $300 approx.

History.

Everyone has heard of the Great Ocean Road. This magnificent spectacle was built after the Great War as a Memorial to those lost in the war. The road stretches for 243 kilometres from Torquay to Allansford. The road clings to cliff edges and over cliff tops with panoramic views over Bass Strait. It passes beaches and resorts and hidden hideaways.

West of Apollo Bay the road swings inland and travels through tall mountain ash forests in the Otway Ranges and scenic rural countryside.

A few years ago some locals had the very bright idea to build a walking track along the section of the coast that the road misses, between Apollo Bay and Glenample Homestead in Port Campbell National Park. They used existing tracks and roads where possible and built many kilometres of new benched track to join the missing sections. They installed seven three sided kitchen huts with water tanks collecting rain water. Most of the campsites have a composting toilet with a separate water tank as well. Two campsite adjoin existing Parks Victoria Campsites.

The result is an exhilarating 90 odd kilometre walk through magnificent country with beaches, tall Alpine Ash forest, coastal heath and wave swept platforms. The track was opened for use only three years ago.

Ray chose to do the walk over eight days using each of the Parks Victoria campsites. But you can do the walk in a number of ways. Some people choose to just do it as day walks being dropped off and picked up by shuttle bus along the way. Other wealthy types stay in ritzy lodges and just do the spectacular sections.

If you chose to use the campsites, just like Wilsons Promontory, you must book in and pay for your tent site before you start the walk.

Day 1.

After topping up with coffee and lunch at Apollo Bay we set off. The track actually starts right in Apollo Bay outside the visitor centre. 

Figure 1 Our CMW Party at Apollo Bay. Bill, Margaret, Glenys, Drew, Ray.

We walked past the Saturday markets, making sure that Glenys didn’t stay too long at the second hand clothing stalls, and headed out of town.

Shortly we were skirting around beautiful beach-side cottages at Marengo. I have earmarked one to buy when I win Lotto. Glenys has promised to help me settle in.

Figure 2 Beachfront housing.

At Shelly Beach some of us elected to follow the leader along the coastal rock shelf. Jan and Bill decided they preferred the GOW walking track. We didn’t see them again until later that night after a search party failed to find them. They had been given wrong directions by a local and travelled twice the distance.

Our first nights campsite was reached after a wet climb up from the Elliot River crossing. It was raining quite heavily by now and we had visions of a thoroughly wet week stretching ahead. Fortunately this failed to eventuate.

At the campsite we found the first of the three sided campsites. What heaven! We could change into dry clothes and unpack in shelter. 

Figure 3 Elliot River Campsite

The tank was full to the brim with fresh rainwater. The only downside was to prove to be the tent pads which, like on the rest of the trip, were very hard. Just as well we all had Thermarests! Next time I do this walk I will carry a hammer to bash the tent pegs in.

Day 2

Dawned fine and cool.

Our track now headed inland on one of the three inland stretches or “incursions”. We followed fire roads deep into the Great Otway National Park.

Tall Alpine Ash trees sheltered the track. The bush was absolutely alive with all manner of bird life including noisy Lyre Birds. Tall tree ferns grew beside the track.

Figure 4 Elliot Road deep in the Great Otway National Park

Eventually the track swung around and headed back to the coast, and after descending through coastal scrub full of flowering Epacris and christmas Bells we arrived at Blanket Bay.

Some of us had a swim in the sea here, followed by a dip in a nearby waterfall to wash off the salt.

The Blanket Bay campsite adjoins a regular Parks Victoria campsite with cars and campers parked nearby. However our Walk-in campsite was ours to use exclusively.

Or so we thought.

Some people arrived as we were having afternoon tea. They started carrying boxes of stuff from some vehicles parked nearby. What is going on we wondered?

Next thing some film cameras appeared … not little personal videos, but large commercial type cameras. One of our visitors eventually told us what was happening.

An American by the name of John Francis was walking through the Great Ocean Walk and was being filmed for a publicity Parks Victoria and Film Victoria. This will be shown on the ABC in 2010.

But who is this John Francis?

Wikipedia shows us this.

John Francis (born 1946) is an American environmentalist nicknamed the planetwalker. Born in Philadelphia, the son of a West Indian immigrant, he moved to Marin County, California as a young man. After witnessing the devastation caused by a 1971 oil spill in San Francisco Bay, he stopped riding in motorized vehicles, a vow which lasted 22 years from 1972 until 1994. From 1973 until 1990, he also spent 17 years voluntarily silent. During this time he earned a Ph.D. in land management and traveled extensively, walking across the entire width of the lower 48 states of the USA as well as walking to South America.

Wikipedia, John Francis (environmentalist), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Francis_(environmentalist) (as of Jan. 2, 2010, 10:11 GMT).

But of course when you are on the track you cant look up Wikipedia. He has written a book called Planet Walker.

John's stirring memoir, Planetwalker: 22 Years of Walking; 17 Years of Silence was published in 2008 by the National Geographic Society and will be available in paperback in April 2009. Visit www.planetwalker.org for more information.

http://www.PlanetWalk.org (as of Jan 02, 2010, 10.12 GMT)

We were to follow and pass the Planet Walker the following day as he continued his pilgrimage.

Day 3.

We set off early and were soon climbing back up to cliff top height through beautiful coastal forest. The track was now a proper walkers track and it wended its way through forest, around hills and through rainforest gullys. We had a fine view from a lookout back towards Apollo Bay where John Francis and the film crew met up with us. 

Figure 5 John Francis sketches the coast back to Marengo.

After ambling through more forest with occasional views over Bass Strait we eventually descended into Parker Inlet where the Parker River meets the coast. Here was a delightful little cove, very reminiscent of Tasmania’s South Coast, (except for the film crew)

Figure 6 Parker Inlet

At this point some of us elected to walk the regular trail whilst others headed off around the rocky shore, next stop Cape Otway Light Station and a coffee with a fancy lunch.

… Except that they wanted $13 to enter the grounds of the Light Station … privatised by Jeff Kennett.

We gave this pecuniary scam a miss and just pushed on to the next campsite which was only a short walk away.

Once again we had a three sided shelter but now we had company.

… Marsupial company.

… Koalas. 

… Lots of them.

… Six in one tree

… In the mallee scrub in which the campsite had been built.

… So close you could stroke them and photograph them and talk to them.

Figure 7 Figure 7 Cape Otway Campsite resident Koala

Well none of us had ever been this close to Koalas before. We wondered about their nocturnal habits, as we had heard Koalas on previous nights.

Since we had arrived at our campsite for lunch, we had plenty of time to wash, erect tents and amuse ourselves with Koala Bear jokes.

Our close neighbours proved to be quite hospitable, even overnight, even through they pooped on Ray’s tent.

Day 4

From Cape Otway the track descended gradually through coastal heath to Station Beach. We stopped to look at the Cape Otway cemetery, which had some graves of souls lost in some of the may shipwrecks on this the “Shipwreck Coast”. 

Figure 8 Shipwreck Grave

In memory of Albert Griffiths, chief officer aged 30 years, Thomas Monks A.B aged 34 years and Alex Mathieson OS aged 23 years who lost their lives in the Blanket Bay disaster 21st March 1896. Erected on the grave of T. Monks by their shipmates and friends.

It was time for another swim and lunch on the beach.

Some souls walked back up the beach to inspect Rainbow Falls.

Figure 9 Station Beach

After lunch we followed the beach and eventually wandered over some low hills and around Aire River estuary to another GOW campsite set in the bush.

Some of us walked back down to the Aire River for a well earned swim in the beautiful clear fresh water at the bridge.

Day 5

From Aire River the track passed through coastal heath once again until we were above the long stretch of Castle Beach. 

Near the end of the beach, at Castle Cove, the Great Ocean Road just touches the Great Ocean Walk. On this day cyclists from all over Australia were riding the section from near Warrnambool to Apollo Bay and were passing the lookout at Castle Cove just as we got there.

Unfazed our CMW team stripped off and jumped in for a refreshing surf.

When we turned around there were crowd above us at the lookout.

Ouch!

Great Victorian Bike Ride

Over 5,000 people are expected to take part in arguably the world's greatest cycling holiday, The Great Victorian Bike Ride in 2009.

The Great Ocean Road in south-west Victoria is one of the world's most inspiring coastal experiences but it's not until you get on a bicycle that you can fully appreicate it's greatness.

Organised by Bicycle Victoria, the 546 kilometre cycling holiday will feature the dramatic rock formations of the Twelve Apostles, pass through the Otway ranges forests, and slow down for a swim at world-famous beaches such as Lorne, Anglesea and Bells.

The cycling holiday starts on Saturday 28 November with the first day as a loop ride from Portland to Cape Bridgewater and back to Portland. Overnight stops are planned for:

Macarthur (29 Nov)

Port Fairy (30 Nov)

Port Campbell (1 Dec)

Apollo Bay (2 nights 2 & 3 Dec)

Anglesea (4 Dec)

Queenscliff (5 Dec)

The ride ends in Geelong on Sunday 6 December

Figure 10 Coastline near Castle Cove looking back towards Cape Otway

We found out from the cyclists later that Tony Abbott has just wrestled the leadership of the Liberal Party from Malcolm Turnbull, and, that a leadership spill was also imminent in NSW. What joy to be missing all that!

Our track now took us along a cliff top section which was quite hot in places, but with glorious views towards Joanna Beach and the Southern Ocean. At Cape Otway we had passed out of Bass Strait it seems. 

Figure 11 Margaret and Glenys on the Great Ocean Walk near Castle Cove

In the early days of settlement, sailing ships would leave the Cape Of Good Hope and head for Bass Straight. It was essential that they got accurate measurements of latitude and longitude before entering the straight.

Latitude could be obtained by measurement of the sun’s position at midday. Of course, if it was overcast and stormy this would prove impossible.

As well, calculation of longitude, or the distance they were from Greenwich, or, in this case, The Cape of Good Hope, their last landfall, was rather more problematic. This problem was not solved until the invention of John Harrison’s chronometer. 

(To find out more about Harrison and the problem of longitude see [Wikipedia, John Harrison, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison (as of Jan. 3, 2010, 04:15 GMT).]

Many ships came to grief whilst trying to get through the “slot” posed by Bass Straight. The distance between Cape Otway and Point Wickham, the northernmost point on King Island is only 55 miles (88 Km). The section of coast in the Otways is known as “The Shipwreck Coast” for good reason, as we were to discover later.

At Johanna Beach we had another swim in the sea. The track now headed up hill to a walk-in campsite high on a ridge overlooking Johanna Beach. This section of track delved into the heart of the Devondale milk dairy country.

Figure 12 Devondale dairy country.

This Johanna Beach campsite was the campsite we had seen in all the glossy brochures.

Figure 13 Johanna Beach walk-in Campsite.

Tonight was the night for Ray to unload his wine and for Glenys to share around the runny cheese she had been carrying.

Day 6

We now faced another inland “incursion” along dirt roads to join up with the walking track at Milanesia Beach.

At first we followed the original coach road up through magnificent Otways grazing country. At one point along the road a resident had left a cooler with cold water out for us to partake of. There were also jams for sale and some homemade walking sticks.

Figure 14 Margaret poses beside the "free" water and jam stall.

Eventually our track turned into a series of abandoned 4WD tracks closed off by Parks Victoria and we descended to Milanesia Beach.

Figure 15 Cottage at Milanesia Beach

With its solitary white stone cottage, you could mistake it for somewhere on the Cornish Coast. This is considered the most remote beach on the Great Ocean Walk, but is nothing like those in Tasmania.

The cottage was built as a memorial to a politician’s son killed at Gallipoli and is still used by the family for holidays.

Along the beach we passed a rock formation which had embedded concretions.

Figure 16 Concretions in rock at Milanesia Beach

Concretions are formed in situ with minerals filling a void in the sediment. This results in the concretion being harder than the surrounding rock.

At the end of the beach the track climbs steeply up through old grazing land that the bush is busily trying to reclaim. Originally it probably looked somewhat like Era, in the Royal National Park. It probably had dairy cattle grazing over the hills.

The track became a much more serious walker’s track from this point on, with spectacular views over grottos and coves, in one of which Ray swore he saw some Fur Seals cavorting in the sea below the cliffs.

Figure 17 Milanesia Beach from the zig zag track

Parts of the new track here had quite long stretches of wooded staircase. Eventually we came out through tall eucalypts to the campsite known as Ryan’s Den.

Spectacular was the word, although the wind off the Southern Ocean blew fiercely and made putting up tents in the more exposed tent sites tricky.

This campsite was arguably the most spectacular of all of them, and there was more to come.

Figure 18 West from Ryan’s Den GOW campsite.

At this campsite all the tent sites were being used. In the three sided kitchen hut we socialised with a mother and daughter from Darwin, and a father and his daughter, and mate, from Dandenong.

Day 7

Today’s walk would see us take another incursion, but first we walked around the cliffs a bit further to Cape Volney. A huge barrier was erected over the track to stop 4WD’s and our route followed a degraded fire trail through heath and mallee. 

We had fine views once again.

Figure 19 Glenys and Margaret near Cape Volney.

At a lookout near Moonlight Head we gazed at incredible eroded rock sculptures. The scene, to me, was reminiscent of what I imagined Gallipoli to look like, from the Turk’s point of view. We looked down on a distant isolated rocky beach with tea tree in flower and golden everlastings swaying in the sea breeze.

Figure 20 Moonlight Head

Our track now took its incursion into dairy country once more. We heard later that this section will be tracked by Parks Victoria some time this year, thus avoiding one road bash. The countryside was absolutely beautiful.

We stopped and had a look at Moonlight Head Cemetery, which had a lych gate made of local stone.

A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English lic, corpse) is a gateway covered with a roof found at the traditional entrance to a (British) churchyard.

Wikipedia, Lychgate, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lychgate (as of Jan. 4, 2010, 00:02 GMT).

Figure 21 Drew standing beside the lych gate at Moonlight Head Cemetery.

One headstone was thus…

“In memory of Leila Noreena Smith (nee Heffernan) 8^th Sept 1932 – April 1967.

Swept off rocks and lost to the sea forever near Razorback. (Behind Wattle Hill Family Hotel). Loving wife of Donny Smith.

Your spirit & loving nature will prosper through your daughters.

Adoring mother of Barbara (Catalina) 13yrs, Veronica 11yrs, Jennifer 9yrs, Dianne 5yrs & Mandy 4 yrs.

Cherished and Truly missed.

Descendants of Pioneer Families

Moore/Steere & Heffernan/Rhodes”

We lunched at The Gables Lookout and then descended to Wreck Beach.

Figure 22 Coastal Cliffs from The Gables Lookout.

Halfway along Wreck Beach are a number of anchors and winches embedding in the rocks. These came from the sailing ships the Marie Gabrielle (1869 )and the Fiji (1891).

Figure 23 Drew inspects the anchor from the Fiji

A final swim was in order because the day had become muggy. However this proved problematical because of the underwater rocks, so a splash in a pool had to suffice.

Then we had a pleasant climb up to our final walk-in campsite, Devil’s Kitchen.

This campsite nestled behind the cliffs amongst twisted scribbly gums. However the toilet was on an elevated stand. From the throne you had a magnificent view over Wreck Beach and the Southern Ocean.

Once again we enjoyed a sociable night with new-found friends on the track.

Figure 24 View from Devil's Kitchen

Day 8

Ray had booked our shuttle pickup for 12:30 so we were all up at dawn and walking shortly after to cover our 14 Km odd distance.

At first we descended the old Coach Road walking along at a blazing pace. One side of the road had coastal heath with flowering spears of Xanthorrhea , and the other was beautiful, lush green pasture. Finally we came to the Gellibrand River for morning tea. After admiring the wetland beside the river it was up onto some sand dunes for the final dash to the end of the track at the car park across the road from Glenample Homestead (which was closed).

From the top of the final hill we had a beautiful view of the Twelves Apostles national Park.

Figure 25 Twelve Apostles Coastline

Figure 26 Great Ocean Walk

Figure 27 The author with Jan Mohandas

Thanks Ray for a fabulous walk.

Phil Lambe

References

Tel: 13 1963 email: greatoceanwalk@parks.vic.gov.au

Your host: Abby.

Phone: +61 03 52379278
Mobile: 0428 379278 email: gorshuttle@bordernet.com.au

4. Great Ocean Walk [http://www.greatoceanwalk.com.au]
5. Apollo Bay Visitor Centre for bookings 1300 689 297