Day 2 Apollo Bay
Friday 10th February
There was a bit of cloud on the horizon when we woke which made some very pretty sunrise colours. Mark headed off at about 630 for his first Great Ocean Road (GOR) bike ride and I headed out for a walk, along much of the same path that we had traversed the day before. We met up at the beachfront cafe but this stop didn’t last long because the smell, I think coming from some overdue bins, was just so overpowering it was not really tolerable. So we ended up leaving to head back to the apartment for brekkie before setting off at around 9 am for day two of our GOR trip.
Our first stop was to be at Bells Beach, about 15 min down the road from Torquay, but Google Maps took us to the wrong place twice and so, whilst we’ve seen the ocean in the area, we didn’t actually get to see the famous Bells Beach.
The next port of call was Airleys Inlet Lighthouse and there was a pretty tea room on site so we stopped there for morning tea. The building used to be the stables adjoining the lighthouse apparently. The scones were amazing and I would highly recommend them if you ever plan a visit here.
After the obligatory Lighthouse photo we got back onto the great ocean road and headed a few minutes along to the Memorial Arch. This was built by returned servicemen at the end of the First World War and is one gateway along the Great Ocean Road drive that extends from from Torquay through to Nelson. We took the obligatory photo there as well before heading 15 minutes further south and inland to Erskine Falls. This was a fairly aerobic visit as the track down to the waterfall has a lot of stairs, and is fairly steep in sections, making for hard work on the way back up!
We left Erskine Falls and headed back towards Lorne with stop at Teddy’s Lookout on the way which afforded spectacular views over the coastline.
The original plan had been to have lunch in Lorne but neither of us were hungry after our morning tea. This was a great pity as we found this lovely seafood restaurant at the Lorne pier, just on the southern edge of town, where we would’ve loved to have visited and enjoyed a leisurely lunch. Maybe next time?
We left Lorne for the drive to Apollo Bay via a short stop off to visit the Kennet River Koala walk. This was not a dedicated walking track but, rather, a street that was recommended for wandering so as to view wildlife. We wandered up this unsealed road, along with some other hopeful tourists, but held little hope of finding anything, so turned back after a few hundred metres. Once we were almost back to our car we saw a couple staring into the bush and, sure enough, much like the AGL advert that did indeed have bears, there were two large koalas! One was rather active venturing up and down trees but the other was asleep. Who’d have thought!
We then traveled the remaining 30 minutes or so to our next lodging at Apollo Bay. The winding drive from Lorne to Apollo Bay along the coast is a rather spectacular journey and would be well worthy of featuring as an opening scene in a James Bond movie. The lack of any wifi along the route will likely guarantee the single lane highway is ever cluttered with move trucks though.
Our accommodation for the next two nights was at the Waterfront Motor Inn at Apollo Bay. Or so I thought! On arrival I was advised that our room was actually a small cottage located 500 metres back down the highway. This was only night 2 and already we had a problem. I had spent a good deal of time choosing all of the accommodation for this trip so as to be located within an easy walk of shops, cafes etc and this cottage fell well outside this remit! Note to self, or to all of you actually, when booking accommodation via a third party, eg Booking.com, you need to check carefully as these subtle changes can be overlooked. I wasn’t advised we were not on the main site until well after I had made my booking and this was buried in an obscure email. We tried to cut back to just one night but without success so it looks like we will be driving everywhere 🙁
We had planned to dine in for the first night but the BBQ hiding under the Webber cover was just an electric hotplate so we decided we’d eat out instead. A review of local restaurants reveled Casalingo, a fine Italian venue, and so that is where we booked.
There was a local beer house in town, The Great Ocean Road Brewhouse, and so we headed there for a pre-dinner drink This place is rather famous in that it is the southernmost pub in the whole of the Australian mainland. Mark had a couple of beers there but we were quite hungry and so headed over to Casalinga a bit earlier than scheduled.
Casalinga proved to be a great choice for dinner as they had the sardines, that always win Mark over, and great wine and pasta dishes. I would highly recommend this place to visit if ever in the Apollo Bay region!
