Tag:beaches
Day Two of our Sapphire Coast road trip along the South Coast of NSW took us from Glasshouse Rocks, Narooma to Eden. After doing three abandoned locations the day before, we were now up early to catch a Glass House Rocks sunrise in Narooma.
Narooma Surf Beach
The Narooma surf beach is beautiful, a one km long, semi-circular cove overlooking Montague Island, with the Glass House Rocks at the southern end and Australia Rock at the northern. The Geological Society of Australia recognises the Glasshouse Rocks as between 510 and 440 million years old. They are the result of volcanic activity hundreds of millions of years ago. Unfortunately, we got so involved with admiring the sunrise we never walked over to see the Glasshouse Rocks up close 🙁
Our ‘plan’ we had been to was to go out to Montague Island after breakfast. Still, none of the tours was running that day due to heavy seas out on the ‘bar’, so after breakfast overlooking the beach wandered down to Australia Rock before heading off towards Eden.
Camel Rock
Leaving Narooma, we headed down the Princes Highway to Bermagui and Camel Rock. The second part of the plan that didn’t go as planned was that Horsehead Rock was inaccessible by now due to no longer being low tide. Horsehead Rock is past Camel Rock, across a short rocky beach only accessible at low tide. So scratch Horsehead Rock this trip.
Camel Rock is ten minutes north of Bermagui along Wallaga Lake Road. The surf and rock formations are fabulous. I could have stayed there all day.
Blue Pool
Also in Bermagui is the Blue Pool. A large rock pool at the base of a dramatic cliff. There are two pools there. One seems full all the time, and the first pool feeds the other as the tide comes in. Something we didn’t realise until the water came gushing over the lip as we stood in the empty pool photographing the full pool!
Wallaga Lake
Our last stop before Eden was Wallaga Lake. We were driving past and spotted some Pelicans, and Pied Cormorants on the sandbar, so we pulled in for some shots.
They were probably bout 100ft from shore. but my travelling friend got out her ‘big boy’, and we got them just fine 🙂
Back in January, when the weather was warm, we decided to take a day trip down to one of my favourite spots, Queenscliffe and its near neighbour Point Lonsdale. We drove down to Queenscliffe, stopped a while there and ate our picnic lunch on the beach. Then we paddled into the water and bemusedly watched three fully clothed women swimming.
Queenscliffe Lighthouse
The lighthouse at Queenscliffe is famous for being only one of a handful of black stone lighthouses globally. Constructed 1963 from solid bluestone and never painted, it’s the only black lighthouse in the southern hemisphere. It is also known as the High Lighthouse as it’s located inside the historic Fort Queenscliffe and guards the entrance to Port Phillip Bay.
Searoad Ferry
After our lunch, we headed for the Harbour and took the SeaRoad Ferry across to Sorrento. The ferry carries both cars and foot traffic in a 40 min journey. It crosses back and forth between the Bellarine and Mornington Peninsula on the hour all day long. We didn’t get off at Sorrento as we were making the return trip as a scenic ride rather than transport between the two peninsulas. On the way back to Queenscliffe, we were followed by a small pod of dolphins from Sorrento as far as the South Channel. To watch them surf alongside the boat was an incredible sight!
Point Lonsdale
Back at Queenscliffe, we retrieved the car and drove the ten minutes to Point Lonsdale. The pier at Point Lonsdale is excellent (and safe) for getting under. Especially at high tide with the waves crashing in. Point Lonsdale sits on a headland opposite Point Nepean, known locally as ‘the heads’. They frame the ‘rip’ and the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. The Heads are just over 3kms apart, but reefs restrict the shipping channel to 300m wide. Over 20 shipwrecks dating back to the 19th century lie between the heads.
While at the pier, we got out an old broken Nikon camera that we had brought along as a prop for some photos (see the first image). We photographed it in the sand, and then I placed it in a small rockpool to photograph. Standing nearby was a man and his sons, and the look on the youngest son’s face when I dumped the camera in a pool of seawater was a classic. I wish I had got a photo of that! Unfortunately, I had gone out without my CPL filter, so none of those shots worked. There was way too much reflection.
I tried previously tried, to persuade Lucy to make The Great Ocean Road and Apollo Bay the focus of one of our weekends. The road is constantly referred to (by Lucy) as the “Great Scary Great Ocean Road” and a refusal to contemplate the thought of driving it. She finally succumbed to my begging and tantrums well-considered argument. And we booked a lovely two-bedroom unit in Apollo Bay with ocean views.
History
The Great Ocean Road is a “Heritage listed 243-kilometre (151 mi) stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. Built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, it is the world’s largest war memorial dedicated to World War I casualties. It is also an important tourist attraction in Victoria.
The scary part comes into play as it hugs the cliffs, bending and twisting with white knuckle S-bends as it winds it’s way through varying terrain alongside the coast. It is a single-lane road with nowhere to overtake other cars, save for a few cutouts where people can pull over and allow others to pass. There’s also the sheer ocean drop to consider. Hence, her rampant paranoia is an understandable concern. However, the Great Ocean Road also provides access to several landmarks, including the nationally significant Twelve Apostles, a series of limestone stack formations.” There is a short excellent video history of the road HERE that’s well worth watching.
Erskine Falls
Our trip down started in the sunshine on Friday morning. A tad cold, but beautiful sunny blue skies. We stopped off in Anglesea for an early lunch and continued. There was a brief stop at the Split Point Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet, back in the car on into Lorne and then up into the hills to see Erskine FalUnfortunately, ls. Unfortunately, I had left my glasses in the car – so I didn’t get the best shot as I could hardly see the settings and was NOT going back to the car to get them! According to Parks Victoria, this was classed as a ‘moderate’ walk.
Three hundred twenty steps down to the falls mean 320 back up. It was touch and go as to whether we would MAKE it back up. I took lots of wheezy breaks trying to suck air into my burning lungs. Legs wobbly and refusing to go up another step. If we had mobile reception, we might have been tempted to call in the rescue chopper! 😉
From Lorne, we continued to Apollo Bay, collected our house keys and walked around the harbour. After enjoying the sun at the port, we headed back to our unit, ramped up the heating and settled in to do some art. Working on our journals, ATCs for a swap etc.,
Cape Otway Lightstation
The following day the sun had left us – it was very overcast and windy, but no rain was predicted, so we headed to the Cape Otway Lightstation. Driving along the road, the trees suddenly all looked stripped bare. It was a very odd sight. Then, we came across the culprit a bit further down the road. There is quite a large koala population. I don’t know what they plan to do when the food runs out cause the cupboard is bare!
Cape Otway Lightstation is the oldest surviving lighthouse in mainland Australia and has been in continuous operation since 1848. Life must have been terribly lonely and bleak there a hundred years ago. Cape Otway Lighthouse is perched above massive cliffs where the Southern Ocean and Bass Street collide, and it’s no summer picnic. Great view, but wind-swept and bitterly cold. However, spotting the cafe, we took refuge there for a serving of fresh scones with jam and cream and steaming hot coffee. After the climb to Erskine falls, we didn’t do the lighthouse climb. Though, compared to split point and Erskine, it would have been a breeze (it’s not that tall due to the height of the cliffs it sits on)
Gibsons Steps
From Cape Otway, we then drove towards Port Campbell. Gibsons Steps was our next stop. They are just before the Twelve Apostles and were initially a series of steps cut into the cliffside by Hugh Gibson (so he could get down to the beach to fish). They have since been replaced by 84 concrete steps – down to Gibsons Beach. Once on the beach, the limestone cliffs tower above you. Leaving Gibsons Steps behind, we were off to the Twelve Apostles. There are seven of them, not twelve (there have never been twelve). It was getting very grey with threatening skies. The sun came out briefly for a few mins at a time – but we could see a storm coming – and Sunday was predicted to be quite wet.
Twelve Apostles
From the Twelve Apostles, we went into Port Campbell for lunch. Apart from the pub, a cafe and servo, Port Campbell seemed to be closed. I expected it to be bigger, and for 2 pm on Saturday, it was deathly quiet and empty. We ate at the only cafe open – meals took almost an hour to arrive, and I was ready to walk out except that Lucy was chewing the table legs in hunger.
Once we wolfed our meal down, we headed back to Apollo Bay, bought dinner provisions, and returned to the unit just as the rain started. We had a good thunderstorm that night and brief sunshine again Sunday morning before the heavens opened again, and it kept raining quite heavily all day. So it’s a day for staying in and arting.
As had been the case every time we went away – Monday was bright, sunny and very nice in the sun. We left Apollo Bay a little before nine. I ate breakfast in Lorne and walked along the beach and through the rock pools. All in all, a delightful weekend. Our accommodation was very comfy. The weather was kind to us (considering it was winter, after all). We did art, ate junk food, talked, laughed and had a wonderful time.
Footnote:
In the months following our visit to the Cape Otway Lightstation, a secret koala cull was commenced to deal with the overpopulation. For more info, you can see the article Here.
If we were disappointed with Saturday’s weather, Sunday was worse! The day was overcast, with a hint of rain in the air and a bit breezy. Of course, today was the day we had planned to go to Cape Schanck Lighthouse, Rosebud. There’s nothing like a walk in the rain and the wind when you are right on a surf coast. An area that’s usually windy on even a nice still day! 🙂
Lighthouse Tour
After breakfast in Flinders, we drove back through the rain to Cape Schanck Lighthouse, Rosebud. They do lighthouse tours there on the hour and even give discounts to seniors 😉 So we booked that and then went for a wander. I have never been to England, but I can now relate to all the books I read where they described wild, windswept, bitterly cold moors and coastlines. When the lighthouse keeper arrived to unlock the door and take us up to the top, our teeth were chattering, and I felt like a popsicle! We had dressed warmly, but nothing could keep the icy wind out.
Interior of Lighthouse
The inside was quite cosy. A small, winding, and very narrow stone spiral staircase led up to the top. This is unusual for a lighthouse, as the usual steps were wrought iron. From the top, you could go out the door and view the world from the top of the lighthouse on the top of the cliff ;). On the sheltered side, you had views of the lighthouse grounds. On the other side, open to the ocean, the wind nearly blew you off your perch.
Back inside the little wood-panelled heart of the lighthouse, where we learnt it was constructed in 1879 from limestone, the beam goes out about 50 miles and protects the shipping going past Seal Rocks. The colossal crystal lens is worth 3.5 million.
The lighthouse is automated now, but in the days gone by, it was hand-operated by a series of pulleys that kept it turning. Wind the big wheel up 87 times, and it would slowly unwind over the next hour and a half, then wind it up another 87 times for the next hour and a half, over a ten-hour shift that’s 579 turns of the winch. It seems one thing a lighthouse keeper of old didn’t suffer from was weak biceps!:)
The Boardwalk
After the lighthouse, we wandered over to the Boardwalk. This spectacular timber structure hugs the cliff tops and sides as you walk along.
There are several lookout spots along the way to take a pic or rest. We had planned to walk this, then changed our minds when we became popsicles. However, since warming back up from our time inside the lighthouse and with the sun trying its best to peek out, we changed our minds once again and decided to brave it.
Pebble Beach
From the top to Pebble Beach is 1.7 km, downhill all the way. Which meant coming back up would be 1.7kms UPHILL all the way. Something we didn’t consider as we set off. We made it down in good time, looked around, and watched the surf fisherman on the rocks and a hardy soul trying to surf. Then, I started the journey back up. We did it in only a slightly longer time than the downward journey but nearly expired on the way.
Mental note: next time, pace ourselves and take a bit longer to get back up! We felt very proud of ourselves, though, as we were passed many times on the way up and down by people much younger. And they stopped halfway and turned around.
We would have bought one if they sold an “I Survived the Boardwalk” badge at the kiosk. We wanted our medal!
Mornington
After we got our breath back, we headed back to the apartment. Our legs felt like lead, and we looked forward to an LLD (little lie-down!) LOL
‘Twas our final day. We head back to homes, doggies and family today. And, of course, the sun was out. The skies were blue. Glorious weather. We left around 10 am and headed to Mornington for breakfast. Then, a short stop at the Mornington Boat Harbour and a slightly longer stop at Paper2, arriving back home around 2.30
We had a fab time. We laughed a lot, made fun of each other, ate all the wrong foods, drank too much wine, walked over 10kms on the weekend (we kept track, lol), and still created art at night.