Day 4 Torquay to Warnambool via Great Ocean Road

Day 4
Hot sleep, tossing and turning. The aircon was directly over our heads so you get your head cold but the rest of you overheats. BUT the bed was lovely and I certainly didn't want to get out of bed. SIGH

Angahook CafeDavid's plan was to drive the Great Ocean Road and I wanted to see the light houses we missed before. First point of order was Anglesea and the Angahook Cafe. It was a general store and cafe and the food was nice but the coffee was a fail. Oh well

Coffee As Handed To MeThe handed me a mug of coffee that was burnt and too hot and even had a spoon!!! I mean a spoon in the coffee... it'll take out my eye!




Next stop was the Split Point Lighthouse. Our first lighthouse on this trip. Known as the "White Queen"  by sailors as they round Cape Otway.

Info from the Lighthouses web site says."Originally called Eagles Nest Point, the lighthouse was built in 1891.
The cement rendered concrete tower has a Chance Brothers first order lantern and a 920mm focal radius lens. The original light source was vapourised kerosene. When it was taken over by the Commonwealth Government in 1919 the light was converted to acetylene and automated. Conversion to mains electricity took place in 1972. "
Split Point Lighthouse
I liked this lighthouse EXCEPT the cafe were rude about toilet usage... and told me to return to the carpark, the toilet sign lead nowhere and eventually there was a lady who said it was in the valley. GEEEZ more than 300m away as the sign indicated.  This lighthouse is lovely but the facilities are terrible. The tours here of the light are $12 which you can get a small discount on if it is quiet. We were in a bit of a hurry so we declined. A shame.

Onwards to the Memorial Gates of the Great Ocean Road.
Great Ocean Road memorial Arch
"The Great Ocean Road is recognised as the world's largest war memorial and is dotted with numerous structures that honour the memory of those who lost their lives fighting in the First World War and other conflicts.

Four memorial arches have to date stood over the Great Ocean Road. The first was at the site of "The Springs" toll-gate, near Cathedral Rock. It read: "Returned Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Great Ocean Road" but was demolished in 1936 when tolls were removed.
A second Great Ocean Road arch was constructed at Eastern View in 1939. The arch weighed 50 tonnes and stood until 1970 when the Country Road Board indicated it wanted to demolish the arch because it was too narrow and a traffic hazard. A public outcry prevented its destruction, but the job was soon completed free of charge by a wayward truck.
In 1972 a third, larger arch was built also at Eastern View, but was reduced to charcoal by the devastating Ash Wednesday bushfires of February 1983. Initially it was decided not to replace the arch, but public opinion was too strong and a fourth Great Ocean Road arch was built on the same spot where today it remains a popular photo stop for visitors to the Great Ocean Road." Details from GoWEST

Signalling station Cape OtwayHeading west Drue got car sick and eventually fell asleep. With no protest from the back, we turned off to Cape Otway. This road passes through the national park and lots of people camp here in there campavans.. You have to negotiate people just stopping in the middle of the road to look at wild Koalas. We pressed on.

It was cold and grey went we arrived and it was so very cold that David actually purchased a jumper at the souvenir shop. The grounds are quite extensive and lots of different artifacts to see. We headed for the cafe as the wind was just nasty, gale force and freezing. As we sat eating our Meat pasta thingy casserole, it poured down and we waited from the warm comfort of the cafe, the tourists at the lighthouse run for shelter.

Cape Otway LighthouseSo we had desert. Soon, after drowning a lot of people then turing the rain to ice, it suddenly cleared. SO we cleaned our plates and headed out. Still windy but now a lovely Blue sky. Awesome.

Cape Otway Lighthouse
Huh its true what they same about Victorian Weather. If you don't like it, wait 10 minutes.

We climbed the Lighthouse and we talked to one of the employees for ages. I think Druey was a little bored. :-) I can talk for ages about Lighthouses just as I can about cameras. LOL Boring aren't I?

The man had a book on his desk that I am now lusting after. I got Tim to have a look for it on-line and the only place that is afordable is the author's website. DAMN IT!!! I wanted it for now, this trip!!. BUT the author's site is cheaper that most 2nd hand versions by a lot.
Book I want!

The trip back after such an entertaining afternoon was made better by the sighting of 4 wild koalas. Now as you know I have not processed my 7D photos so all I have of the koalas is only faily crappy photo. BUT its the first time I have seen koalas in the wild.
Wild Koala

Port Cambpell
Port Campbell

More Great Ocean Road and then Warnambool I was exhausted and the boys heard a freight train leaving the yard so they headed out whilst I tried to catch up on this blog. Alas they were back too soon. and so we headed out for dinner. Dinner at Images. The food was nice but my chicken had a sauce that was so overpowering that it could have been any meat and you would not know the difference.

Warnambool StationAfter the lovely meal, we headed off to see the Lady Bay Upper Lighthouse. One of a pair of lighthouses (the other being Lady Bay Lower Lighthouse- which was invisible at night) The Lady Bay Upper Lighthouse at Flagstaff Hill, Warrnambool was moved stone by stone from Middle Island to its current location on top of Flagstaff Hill. The alignment of its light and the Lady Bay Lower Light guide ships into Lady Bay.

I was struggling with my night exposures, and even with D's help, I was not happy. I could not get the result that I was after.

All Seasons HotelSO we gave up and David took Drue to Warnambool station to see the last of the three services a day that this station gets.


Heading back, D and I stayed up a little whilst Drue Crashed. In this hotel  - All Seasons hotel, we had two bedrooms, so had the option to vanish early. It was quite an amazingly big room for around $100.

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