Monday 20th April 2009

Already four days since we left Tassie - the month is racing on! We picked up our hire car, having been given an upgrade it turned out to be an enormous automatic toyota with a boot that could swallow a small country. Rather freaky to drive (Paul volunteered!) as we set out on the Melbourne freeway and down the coast to Apollo Bay; a very pleasant seaside resort which sits on the Great Ocean Road, a scenic highway which winds its way along the Southern Coast from Melbourne to Adelaide. The following day, after a stroll along the beach, we played tourist and visited many of the geological highlights of this stretch of coast; the sandstone cliffs having been worn into caves, arches and stacks by the actions of the sea. There are look-outs at various points where, provided you can elbow aside the Japanese tourist taking photos of each other, you get good views of the coastline, constantly pounded by the foaming milky sea. One arch called London Bridge collapsed a few years ago. You could walk across it prior to this & a couple were left trapped on the other side. Apparently though, they were having an affair and fled from the waiting media after their rescue! We arrived in Port Fairy as dusk was falling and managed a walk along the pretty marina before dark; it wouldn't have looked out of place on the River Thames. Yesterday, we turned inland and headed for the Grampians National Park. The bush-clad sandstone escarpments, formed into wierd shapes by the action of sea, wind and rain over millennia, tower over the flat surrounding farmland. We stayed at Halls Gap, the tourist hub of the park in the YHA, just about the best hostel we have ever stayed in. It combines 'green' features (solar power, shower water recycled to flush the loos, chickens scratching in the garden, accompanied by parrots and kangaroos) with a great kitchen and a comfy lounge lit by a wood stove. We got in some good walking, knocking off a couple of tops and visited the cultural centre with some interesting and though provoking displays about the Aboriginal tribes who inhabit the area and their subsequent treatment by the white settlers. Evidence of Victoria's acute water shortage is everywhere, from the exhortations to reuse and save water, to reports of wildlife starving due to vegetation dying. Although we are well away from the areas which suffered bush fires this year, the sight of smoke in the distance today (thankfully nothing serious) provided food for thought.