Sat 16 Nov 2013 - Queenscliff Lunch

The weather was good again today so Lynnie suggested that we go to Queenscliff for lunch. On the way we called in and met their son Jonathan, his wife Belinda and little boys, Owen and Zeek. 

There's a marina at Queenscliff and we sat outside in the sun and had delicious seafood for lunch, I had a whole snapper and the others had shrimp sandwiches.

When we got back, Pete showed us his restored GTS Monaro and also has 4 old tractors and another car to do up when he gets some free time.

We said ,"Goodbye", and set off for Ballarat, where Fiona and Peter live. 

Ballarat's a gracious old City, with lots of trees and parks. It was so lovely to see Fiona and Peter again and to visit them at their place. They took us up to the lookout and showed us some more pretty places on the way home.  On the lake were fishermen's boat cottages, a paddle steamer and a rowing course.  We went by Fiona's  beautiful workplace where she works as a physiotherapist.

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Pete showed us round the Deutcher factory where he manufactures amazing mowers, chippers and also automated medical beds (some of which fold for convenience of moving and storage).

We enjoyed having a meal together and catching up on each other's news then, when it got late, we slept over in their spare room.

Fri 15 Nov 2013 - Bell's Beach

We woke up to a beautiful, sunny day! We quickly packed our things and cleaned the house, as we are continuing along the Great Ocean Rd today, trying our luck at Bell's Beach and then having dinner with Rodger's cousins, Lynne & Pete at Leopold, near Geelong.

The scenery on the way to Lorne was entirely different today, with the sea and sky blue and the water sparkling. The Great Ocean Road is very twisting and turning and often narrow, and took us past many rivers (including our namesake) as well at lighthouses and picturesque towns and interesting architecture.

Lighthouse Stables

It took us a couple of hours to get to Bell's Beach and, sadly, there was no surf there or any of the beaches at Torquay, or 13th Beach.

Bell's Beach

At Toquay, there was a big sundial on the beach front, called an analemmatic sundial, all made of mosaics, with an eagle in the middle. The eagle's body is oval shaped and has the months of the year on it. If you stand on the correct month, then your shadow falls on the time, marked by starfish. We had to correct it by an hour because of daylight saving, but,apart from that, it was accurate.

We got to Lynnie and Pete's place about 5.00pm and had a great welcome and lovely dinner. Later on we met their son Steve and his wife Kelly.

Thurs 14 Nov 2013 - Apollo Bay Marriner's Lookout and Falls

There was a big improvement in the weather today, the wind had dropped and it only rained for short periods. There were small patches of blue sky and even the occasional ray of sunlight. Sadly, there wasn't any surf anywhere today, not even Lorne.

 As the weather was reasonable, we decided to venture out and do a bit of local sight seeing. We went up to the Lookout and it was great to see all of Apollo Bay and surrounds and the ocean laid out before us. 

We met another couple up there and they recommended the drive to Marriner Falls, even though the footpath to the Falls itself is closed, due to storm damage.  We took their advise and it was a very pretty drive, following the River Barham, first of all through meadows full of sheep and then into a wood of big trees, where it's cool and shady for so much of the year, that giant tree ferns grow, just like in Tasmania.

Fish Ladder

Before we returned home, we went down to the harbour and saw the cray boats. The crew were busy mending their pots and loading them on, ready to go to sea tomorrow. They told Rodger they go out for 10 days at a time and catch about 1.5 tons.

We had another comfy evening, ensconced in front of the fire, eating roast chicken and watching more "Doc Martin".

Wed 13 Nov 2013 - Surfing at Lorne

We woke to a phone call from our friend Bob, it's so long since I had reception, that I didn't recognise the sound of the ring!

It was still raining steadily but the wind wasn't so strong and had turned round from South to S.W, which is much better for surf down here. Rodger looked on the web cam and found some good surf at Lorne, about 45 mins East.

We set off after breakfast and, although the sky and sea were grey, the scenery on the road was magnificent. There were lots of other surfers in the water at Lorne and Rodger had an hours good surf and caught lots of waves, though the water was very cold.

 We got back to Apollo Bay at about 2.30pm and enjoyed a big bacon and egg lunch. By now the rain had lessened but it was still chilly, only about 16C, so we lit the fire again and watched some more "Doc Martin". Rodger has been ringing his cousins to make some appointments for us to visit, he has about 30 living in Victoria and doesn't get to see them very often, so this is a great opportunity.

Tues 12 Nov 2013 - Apollo Bay

During the night, the wind was so strong, we could hear it howling and it rocked the van. When we got up it was raining, lightly but steadily. It was very uninviting and we were so pleased that, when Rodger spoke to his cousin Fiona last night, she had offered us the use of their holiday house, just down the road in Apollo Bay. We decided we'd go straight there when we left the caravan park, as it was far too windy to surf and definitely an indoor day.

The house is lovely and has a wood burning stove, which Fiona told us to enjoy. We unpacked our things, settled in and decided it was a good day for a pub lunch. Rodger had fish and chips and I had souvlaki and rice. 

When we came home, it was still raining, so we lit the stove and watched some episodes of "Doc Martin", an ABC series we've never heard of but we found them in the TV cupboard on DVD. We enjoyed it very much and decided that the Great Ocean Road has many similarities to Cornwall, where the series is set.

We really enjoyed a lazy indoor afternoon, reading and playing some music.

This is a good garden for birds, we saw a red and blue parrot and 2 blue wrens. 

While we were out, I bought a half leg of lamb and cooked us a baked dinner, a real treat as we don't have an oven in the van.  At bedtime we had another treat, a nice warm bed to sleep in, thanks to an electric blanket.