Port Elliott & Pelicans

It was a longer drive from Robe to our last campsite in Port Elliot however, although longer it was well worth it. The weather had picked up and we had a pleasant dry and sunny day for the journey along the Princes Highway. A significant part of the trip took us through The Coorong, an area rich in natural beauty with more than 200 species of birds in its waterways. Most popular and evident were the pelicans!

Mid-way through our drive arrived at Meningie. On the shores of Lake Albert, Meningie was established in the 1800s as a staging post for the local cattle graziers. The Lake Albert foreshore made for a pleasant stroll before we continued our journey.












We arrived in Port Elliot late afternoon and we were delighted to find out that our final night camping was likely to be the best yet! We managed to secure a pitch with views of the main beach at Horseshoe Bay and within spitting distance of the pristine coastline. That evening, after we had eaten and enjoyed a couple of glasses of bubbly we simply sat beneath the stars listening to the waves crashing along the shore - perfect!

The next morning we packed up and made the short trip to the charming town of Victor Harbour. We had hoped to take the Horse Drawn Tram to Granite Island but due to some repair work the horses were not working but we could still walk  across the bridge connecting Victor Harbour and the Island which is what we did. Granite Island is home to fairy penguins although we didn't see any on the day of our visit, nonetheless, it was still good to stretch our legs in the warm and pleasant sunshine.

Great Ocean Road Trip - Geelong to Apollo Bay

After a reasonably comfortable first night in our camper we packed up our things and headed into Geelong where we spent a couple of hours exploring the town and sea front. Geelong foreshore is home to 111 personalised bollards by artist, Jan Mitchell, all painted in the guise of local personalities.

We left Geelong mid-morning making our way to our next overnight stop at Apollo Bay. En route we stopped off at several surfer beaches (although the seas were calm and only a few optimistic surfers were out in the water).

We snapped away happily at the rugged coastline and wide expanses of beach

stopping for lunch at Airey's Inlet, a lovely spot where had a picnic

 and then stretched our legs with a hike up to Split Point Lighthouse and where we enjoyed panoramic views of the coastline.

 One of the joys (for us) of having the camper aside from the freedom of the open road was the many opportunities to just park up and have a cuppa whilst enjoying fabulous scenery! This happened numerous times throughout the GOR trip and will be a lasting memory of the experience for us.

After lunch we picked up the GOR proper and followed the winding road for most of the afternoon. Parts were bumpy and narrow but always the views were breathtaking.

Our progress was hampered a little towards the end of the day whilst we stopped for firefighters who were undertaking a "controlled burn". A few kilometres of clouds of smoke and out the other side we arrived at our base for the next two nights, Apollo Bay.