Australia Diary 31 March 2002
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Port Fairy's quite a pretty little town, so we took a few pictures of the place before heading out on the road again...


Click to see colour version

Camels, in Australia? You'd better believe it!

The section of the Great Ocean Road from here to Cape Otway National Park contains all the famous bits of the cliff hanging around in the water looking very spectacular.

More parts of the cliff in the sea...

The following pictures are taken in and around the Bay of Martyrs.


Colour version

These pictures were taken in The Grotto:

And here's a picture that was taken just a couple of kilometres down the road at London Bridge. There are lots of these bizzare formations scattered all the way along this section of the road. Each is well signposted and serviced with tracks, information points - and tourists. Here's another arch for your enjoyment.

All of these impressive rock formations are but pretenders compared with the Great Ocean Road's greates claim to fame - The Twelve Apostles.

More apostles' pictures:

The best time to see the Apostles has got to be dawn rather than sunset. You can't really see that much as the sun sets right behind the rocks. The pictures are okay, but the rocks just look like a hole bunch of silhouettes. But why are they called the 12 Apostles? 'To attract tourists', is a cynical, maybe even cruel answer, but having read several guide books that 'umm and err' over the whole issue, it seems like the best offering. Simply, there aren't 12 rocks at the moment. However, the name's certainly got a certain ring to it and it does attract lots of people to the region, so what if the guys have used a bit of dramatic license?!

The road between the Apostles and Cape Otway is impressive at dusk.

More pictures:

Why did I take so many photos?

Em's spider experience is yet to come...I'll let her tell the story in her own words:

We were running late to set up our campsite after we had visited the 12 Apostles, and it was dark by the time we arrived at our campsite.


Em the next morning.

It was the third place that we'd tried to get into. Everywhere that we tried was either full or inaccesible. So we were ferreting around trying to look for a spot. Finally, we found one right under a tree (it was Easter, and all campsites were very very busy). We had dinner etc, and then it was time for bed. So I get changed, and try to snuggle up in my sleeping bag, when I feel this bite under my shirt! Arrgghhh! It gave me a real shock. Anyway, Dan and I sat around for about 20 mins working out what to do - we couldn't bl**dy find anything, but I wasn't sure if it was a spider bite or not. Then I started to feel a bit funny. So Dan wasted no time, and pushed me out of the tent into the car. It was probably around 11pm and it was pitch black. The nearest place was about 30 mins away [It took 24 minutes to get there, but 45 minutes to get back! I drove at a slightly more sensible speed on the way back] on a winding road and we couldn't get any reception on my mobile. All I remember is rolling around in the front of the car while Dan was driving around the bends of the road. It was pretty scary. Then we arrived in Apollo Bay and Dan asked a pissed local for directions. Dan was so wound up he forgot to put the car back into drive, and he slammed the accelerator down while in neutral. Needless to say, there was a pretty load screeching, and then all of a sudden we took off! [Hmm, My story is that the auto slipped out of drive - needless to say there was a rather impressive wheel spin when it finally kicked in!]. We found the hospital a few minutes later, and just as I was entering the front entrance, I saw a car pull up behind ours, and two guys stepping out. Dan and I both initially thought they were ambulance guys, cause we'd actually rung the ambulance number about 10 mins before to get directions to the hospital. However, we then looked at their holsters and saw guns. As I was being whisked away by the nurse, I left Dan talking to these two burly police officers, trying to explain why he had been driving at about 120kms in the town centre!! [It was only 100 through the town centre and there were no other cars on the road. It was 120 - 160km/hr on the country roads]. Meanwhile, I was admitted to the hospital and the doctor was woken up and dragged in to check me out. (What is it with me, travelling and hospitals??!!). It was decided that I would have to stay in for 4 hours while they monitored me (the bite could have been a spider, but they weren't sure. They were pretty sure it wasn't a redback [picture] spider. The doctor suggested it may have even just been a caterpillar which I had a bit of a reaction to!!). It all worked out fine though, Dan got off from any driving charges, although I did get breathalised - again, I was fine and spent 4 hours on a hospital bed trying to sleep and we drove back to the campsite at 4am. Very exciting night.


The hospital where we spent half the night.

To tomorrow

Created by Dan Leigh 15/04/02