best shot of 12 Apostles I could get hanging through the wire balanced on one leg
Flying my airfix through the bushwalks mum forced me on
Set up base in Port Fairy a seaside town lost in time that would slot right into the Cornish Coast on yet another miserable day. Went for a bit of a drive around and came across one of the parks we thought about booking into with van sites stepping out on to the beach. Pleased we had not ended up here, everything was locked down tight to stop it being blown off the face of the earth, not a good time for van parks with others closed as their sites were half a meter under water. Drove around the corner and the kids were suddenly in a double bind – we could stay in the park where it will be horrible just to be around the corner from this “awesome, sic, cool (and a whole lot of other elated kid words)” slippery dip that went down the side of a sand dune spent the rest of the afternoon with the kids trying different methods to gain maximum speed. Cardboard went OK but one of the kids there had plastic signs which he was kindly sharing, Jack became airborne at the end of the slide with this, Morgie throwing her feet out as brakes. Had to call halt to this to go to Flagstaff Hill – the local recreated historical town – for the evening show about the wrecking of the Loch Ard. Yet another tourist thing we had booked into with the possibility of it being dodgy but this turned out to be the best presentation of historical material we have seen yet with laser light shows and generated lashing rain competing with the real thing.
The next morning bloomed with patches of sun so we decided to take the opportunity to explore The Great Ocean Road. Had picked up some vouchers for freebies and discounts along the way and one the kids was hanging for was the milkshake at Ayrford – the local processing plant for surrounding dairies. Brought back memories of the Oak factory at Hexham which was the treat on northbound trips when I was a kid
Made our way through Peterborough – the start of the attractions pausing at every possible chance to explore and not being disappointed. The Grotto was putting on a spectacular display filling the whole of the opening with wash every 5 or so minutes (this is possibly where my camera took too much punishment with sea spray causing a mist) and all the others were awesome enough that the hype I had spun to the kids didn’t seem too lame – that is till we reached the 12 Apostles. Last time I was here you literally walked along the cliff face following the coast line at each feature, all the other stops had formed pathways and boardwalks but you still got really good access to see everything. The 12 Apostles had been so controlled that y0u could not get a decent view. There was a car park on the northern side of the road, a tunnel under the road formed walkways out to viewing platforms (several of which were closed) and high wire surrounding the furthest viewing platform where you had some chance of looking at all the Apostles that remained. This was beyond disappointing so we spent very little time here and headed back to check out the Arch and Loch Ard Gorge where we could at least appreciate the splendor.
Caught a warming snack at Peterborough on the way home, huddling on the bay watching rather crazy kids jumping off the pier and getting washed into shore – don’t really believe they make wetsuits thick enough to entice me.
Back to the dodgy weather saw us braving a day visit to Flagstaff hill where we dodged around the buildings between rain showers with the kids filling in information booklets on the way in the hope of the suggested lollypop.
Off to the toy shop as Jack had run out of Air fix models to build, his current obsession now that both his parents and the weather have put a limit to spear making (how many can you carry on the roof of the car), I have had a crash course in Air fix 101 repairs as they are quite difficult to pack safely before finding another park with several gigantic slides of differing formations – this seems to be a strong theme of local parks and one that would not be approved in NSW.
Our last day in Port Fairy proved to be yet again overcast so decided on a slow day exploring the town and visiting the local Antique and Music store (just one store) Gordon had spied. Managed a stroll around Griffith Island with its lighthouse, Shearwater nesting colony, giant kelp beds (with the strands often as tall as the kids) and collapsing sand dunes before strolling through town seeking out a dinner venue. The influence of Melbourne fashion is very evident with many specialty clothing shops mixed in with many shops selling tourist trade “trinkets”. The Antique / Music shop proved unique with sheet music for instruments I had never heard of and others I never dreamt would have music written for them (Jaw harp) shoved in amongst collections of basically very expensive junk. Our choice of dinner venue (one of the 5 local pubs) though did prove a good one.
Set up base in Port Fairy a seaside town lost in time that would slot right into the Cornish Coast on yet another miserable day. Went for a bit of a drive around and came across one of the parks we thought about booking into with van sites stepping out on to the beach. Pleased we had not ended up here, everything was locked down tight to stop it being blown off the face of the earth, not a good time for van parks with others closed as their sites were half a meter under water. Drove around the corner and the kids were suddenly in a double bind – we could stay in the park where it will be horrible just to be around the corner from this “awesome, sic, cool (and a whole lot of other elated kid words)” slippery dip that went down the side of a sand dune spent the rest of the afternoon with the kids trying different methods to gain maximum speed. Cardboard went OK but one of the kids there had plastic signs which he was kindly sharing, Jack became airborne at the end of the slide with this, Morgie throwing her feet out as brakes. Had to call halt to this to go to Flagstaff Hill – the local recreated historical town – for the evening show about the wrecking of the Loch Ard. Yet another tourist thing we had booked into with the possibility of it being dodgy but this turned out to be the best presentation of historical material we have seen yet with laser light shows and generated lashing rain competing with the real thing.
The next morning bloomed with patches of sun so we decided to take the opportunity to explore The Great Ocean Road. Had picked up some vouchers for freebies and discounts along the way and one the kids was hanging for was the milkshake at Ayrford – the local processing plant for surrounding dairies. Brought back memories of the Oak factory at Hexham which was the treat on northbound trips when I was a kid
Made our way through Peterborough – the start of the attractions pausing at every possible chance to explore and not being disappointed. The Grotto was putting on a spectacular display filling the whole of the opening with wash every 5 or so minutes (this is possibly where my camera took too much punishment with sea spray causing a mist) and all the others were awesome enough that the hype I had spun to the kids didn’t seem too lame – that is till we reached the 12 Apostles. Last time I was here you literally walked along the cliff face following the coast line at each feature, all the other stops had formed pathways and boardwalks but you still got really good access to see everything. The 12 Apostles had been so controlled that y0u could not get a decent view. There was a car park on the northern side of the road, a tunnel under the road formed walkways out to viewing platforms (several of which were closed) and high wire surrounding the furthest viewing platform where you had some chance of looking at all the Apostles that remained. This was beyond disappointing so we spent very little time here and headed back to check out the Arch and Loch Ard Gorge where we could at least appreciate the splendor.
Caught a warming snack at Peterborough on the way home, huddling on the bay watching rather crazy kids jumping off the pier and getting washed into shore – don’t really believe they make wetsuits thick enough to entice me.
Back to the dodgy weather saw us braving a day visit to Flagstaff hill where we dodged around the buildings between rain showers with the kids filling in information booklets on the way in the hope of the suggested lollypop.
Off to the toy shop as Jack had run out of Air fix models to build, his current obsession now that both his parents and the weather have put a limit to spear making (how many can you carry on the roof of the car), I have had a crash course in Air fix 101 repairs as they are quite difficult to pack safely before finding another park with several gigantic slides of differing formations – this seems to be a strong theme of local parks and one that would not be approved in NSW.
Our last day in Port Fairy proved to be yet again overcast so decided on a slow day exploring the town and visiting the local Antique and Music store (just one store) Gordon had spied. Managed a stroll around Griffith Island with its lighthouse, Shearwater nesting colony, giant kelp beds (with the strands often as tall as the kids) and collapsing sand dunes before strolling through town seeking out a dinner venue. The influence of Melbourne fashion is very evident with many specialty clothing shops mixed in with many shops selling tourist trade “trinkets”. The Antique / Music shop proved unique with sheet music for instruments I had never heard of and others I never dreamt would have music written for them (Jaw harp) shoved in amongst collections of basically very expensive junk. Our choice of dinner venue (one of the 5 local pubs) though did prove a good one.
The super slide
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