With Covid restrictions easing, my sister, Ros, friend, Thelma, and I booked a week’s guided walking holiday with Park Trek. We chose the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, 105km along the southern coast, with accommodation in cabins and meals provided.
A mixed forecast will make the week interesting.
Wednesday. We were met outside the National Gallery of Victoria early on Wednesday morning. Several other tour companies were collecting clients and we were greeted by three friendly male guides but as they loaded our bags we discovered they were from Raw Travel and taking a group to South Australia.(“I don’t remember a Thelma on our list!”) Further up St Kilda Road we found our bus and met our group and friendly guides, Dries and Gillian. We set off south for several hours, stopping in Anglesea for coffee and scones and then on to Apollo Bay for our first lunch and briefing.
The group consisted of 10 women from Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Canberra, all with a reasonable history of walks and fitness.
We set off from the beach at Marengo and into rural farmland. There were some stunning homes on the cliffs, blending into the landscape. There was a mixture of beach walking and rainforest trails, as we moved into the Great Otway National Park. A very pleasant walk - no wind and quite warm. We were met by Dries at the carpark at Shelley Beach, who had had a narrow escape with a bogged trailer - full of our luggage and a week’s food and beverage supplies!
The highlight of the day was arriving at our accommodation. The Cape Otway Lighthouse Cottages. We will spend our first four nights here. The lighthouse is the oldest surviving lighthouse being built in 1848. It is on a magnificent site with a range of cottages, including the old Telegraph Station. Lots of memorabilia in the small museums.
View back from the lighthouse on to the site
A lovely meal prepared by our guides.
Sunset over Bass Strait
M&M
No comments:
Post a Comment