Otways and the Great Ocean Road

We took the Monday off before Melbourne Cup Day to make a 4 day weekend. The weather forecast wasn't flash but the trains were booked so we paked up our gear and took a train west to Colac where we started a 3 day ride through the Otways and along the Great Ocean Road.

Saturday morning wasn't so bad, with more fine periods than showers but it got progressively worse.

First stop, Otway Estate for some mid morning beer tasting.



Typical scene along the way, it seemed that there was so much grass they would bale it up and then forget about it.



Lunch at Gellibrand. This is a photo of the profile of the old rail line. Gellibrand is the lowest point and we had 16km of climbing ahaed of us.



The climb was actually really tough, especially as the rain and the mist closed in.



Kelley on the last stretch of uphill



A welcome break and an opportunity to warm up in this quirky shop / cafe / museum.



The second wettest spot in Australia, wettest in Victoria. Fittingly, there are raindrops on the lense and curious dairy heifers in the background.



Our accomodation that night was not flash but we cranked the heating and dried out a bit. The next morning was still misty and windy but as we descended down to the coast it slowly improved.



Warming up and drying out in princeton, the start of the scenic part of the Great Ocean Road.



Gibsons Steps





Twelve (well, 4) Apostles



Loch Ard Gorge



Typical Ocean Road scene, complete with kangaroo sign



The Arch



The Ocean...



London Bridge, or what is left of it. Used to be another archway to the mainland but it fell down on 14 Jan 1990.



Bikes parked up at 'The Grotto'



The Grotto



Bay of Martyrs and the weather closing in again. Made us speed up to get to our accomodation.



Our B&B for Sunday night which was comparative luxury compared to the night before.



On Monday we only had about 40km to get to Warrnambool which was relatively uneventful. The biggest excitement was a visit to 'Cheese World'. We had about 4 hours to fill in before out train left so we enjoyed a nice lunch and a beer at the friendly RSL club and a wander around town and down to the beach.



Unfortunately, our train wasn't operating so we had to bus back which was frustrating and long. We didn't get back until 9.30pm and had to bike home from town so it was late by the time we got home. Great weekend though, despite the weather and the bus.