Anglesea to Blanket Bay

Erskine Falls

 I enjoyed the luxury of a very good night's sleep in a comfortable bed.  My Airbnb apartment was a good choice for my first night, given that the campsite I initially chose was unavailable (upgrades to facilities underway)The wind dropped to a very light breeze overnight. And as I looked from my balcony I did think it would have been a lovely place to sit with a glass of wine on a warm evening which certainly didn't apply to last night.

As I set off on my journey, I enjoyed the intermittent views of long stretches of beach, all ocean beaches; surf, beaches and headlands. I did think the surf looked much more 'controlled' today than yesterday.

Information about Cinema Point

I'm not sure what I'd expected of the great Ocean road. I hadn't really thought about it, but there are sections that go through beautiful forests, and sections that are very winding which explains the travel time for relatively short distances  There are lots of scattered settlements along the way with squillion dollar houses built to maximise their views. 

Lots of tree debris from the storms still littered the road but that was much more preferable to the used wet wipes that are were along the side of the road when I stopped to look at cinema point

Pterostylis pedunculata

I headed up to Erskine Falls and was delighted both by the quality of the access path and the folds themselves. A truly beautiful waterfall and lots of tree ferns, both Dixonia and Cyathea, in the general vicinity of the Falls. 

Part of the drive through forest

I was entertained as always by the inappropriate attire of some of the other visitors to the Falls. An older Indian lady was wearing the most beautiful sari and a number of young Asian women had a platform shoes.

I was also delighted to find my first orchid for this trip. A maroonhood orchid Pterosylis pedunculata

Below Erskine Falls

After a quick comfort stop at the Blanket Leaf campground, a fairly uninspiring place in the rain, I proceeded to Lorne because my plans said swim at Lorne. The fact that it's a beautiful beach, open to the ocean, with the right waves coming into entice surfers, says it's not somewhere I'm going to swim.

The beach at Lorne

I ate my lunch watching the surf and families barbecuing.  After all it was Sunday and barbecues and picnic spots dot this coast copiously; I was was amused by one non-european family who were cooking a delicious smelling medley on the barbecue. Not a single sausage in sight and I suspect no meat of any sort.

Skink on the way to Sheoak Falls

My next diversion was to Sheoak Falls. A rather lovely little waterfall, about a kilometre and a half return walk with some fascinating sandstone formations with really attractive erosion patterns. But of course, those close to the track had been vandalised andgraffitied. I don't know why people have to do that. 

Sheoak falls

Below Sheoak Falls

I also admired some native wildflowers (among the invasive weeds)

I continued driving West along endless stretches of coast with small sandy coves, rocky platforms, long surf beaches and headlands defined by the breakers. All rather beautiful.

An oncoming vehicle, stopped in the middle of the road, puzzled me until I realised there was an echidna crossing, so he had a very good reason to stop.

Ducks at Kennet River

At Kennett River, I set off to do their nature walk by the river with the intent of trying to spot koalas.

Someone we don't have in Tas

 However, the track was closed after a very short distance due to flooding and general weather problems. By then, though, I had spotted a fairly large mob of kangaroo on the hill opposite, heaps of different waterfowl and other birds, some of which I knew and some of which I didn't, and the area promised to be very pleasant but one cannot get upset because the weather stops one doing things. 

Kennett River Nature Walk

I stopped at the scenic lookout at Cape Patton, just as a squall was coming in and obscuring the headlands to the West.

A lot of the great Ocean road that I travelled today really was quite a remarkable feat of engineering for its time. 

From Apollo bay the road headed Inland and I stopped at Mait's Rest for the short nature walk in remnant rainforest. It was worth doing but probably not a lot different to the tall trees walk at Mount Field apart from the different species of tree fern.

A gratuitous mushroom picture

Because it was getting late in the afternoon, I skipped my planned visit to the Cape Otway lighthouse and headed straight to my campsite for the night. 

Coming into Blanket Bay

The sign near the entrance said that the campsite was full, but I think that just means you can't just rock up and find somewhere to camp. Anyway, while there are other campers, there's not a huge number. 

The campsite is one of Parks more basic campsites. There are pit toilets. There is a basin with running water which one is recommended not to drink as it's tank water. There is also a tap to access a useful amount of tank water, which I shall use for washing up and washing me. 

Blanket Bay from the Campsite

I think some work must have been done on the sites as my campsite was much better set up than the picture on their website, although access was not easy. 

I set up camp and went to investigate the rest of the camp area and when I returned a blue wren and his ladies were exploring my site. I had seen a wallaby on the drive-in and one of the other campers said she had seen one near the campsites. I guess there's a few around but it will be interesting to see what comes around during the night. 

As I cleaned up after my dinner, I was most thankful for my awning as yet another squall came through and I was able to complete my chores in relative comfort.

It's not very warm so I shall retire early, read a book and go to sleep. Hopefully to sleep all night. There are the beautiful sounds of the ocean and choruses of frogs to lull me to sleep. Though I must say, at times, the ocean is more of a roar than a gentle lapping of waves.

But once again, the best laid plans of mice and men etc. As I was getting myself organised to tuck up for the night, I took everything out of my pockets and put into the car. I took off my raincoat and put that in the car. I took off my warm jacket and put that in the car and then accidentally knocked the door and it slammed shut. Locked. With keys and phone and torch and warm things and water proof things all in the car. I was locked out. Bother. I did feel silly.

I walked down, in the dark to wear a newly arrived group of young people were setting up camp, and asked for assistance. Specifically someone to phone the RACV so I could get assistance. The RACV couldn't help me without my RACT membership number which was in the car with everything else. So they had to ring the RACT but the call kept dropping out due to intermittent reception.  After a couple of attempts, a very helpful RACT lady contacted the RACV. She'd managed to log a job and somebody would be with me within the hour. They lovely young lady, Lisa, who had lent me her phone for this mission, also lent me a spare insulated raincoat so I was no longer thoroughly freezing.

A couple of hours later, a very welcome rescue vehicle, with a gentleman competent at getting into locked cars, appeared. He advised he had tried calling me and left a message to ask if it could wait till morning but decided that since he got no response leaving it to morning might be a little bit of a problem for me, so I was very grateful he made that choice. As I'd been waiting and getting somewhat colder despite Lisa's insulated rain jacket, I had wondered if anybody was coming that night, and thinking that after 10:00pm was a bit late to go trying to find other campers to make phone calls for me. I did speculate that if I needed to spend all night outside I would be cold and uncomfortable but probably not hypothermic thanks to Lisa's jacket.

I did have a device with me, my new PLB, but no-one was goiing to thank me for activating that in those particular circumstances.

So I ended up tucking up in bed was much later than anticipated.