Monday 19 October 2015

Carol in Oz - The Great Ocean Road

We've had a lovely weekend staying in a beach house at Wye River.  Thanks Airbnb!

On Saturday morning we drove to Geelong waterfront where we had no success in getting a sandwich from a cafe to sit by the waterside.  We had Klara with us and this was her first little holiday.  She isn't used to lots of people, cars or noise as she's a country girl.  All the cafes or bars were sit down affairs and very busy.  In the end we drove on and grabbed a Subway!

We had some time on the beach when we arrived at Wye River.  It must be my favourite beach side location with a pretty little stretch of sandy beach, interesting rocky areas at each side and the river meandering across the sand to meet the sea.  Klara got her first taste of salt water and really wasn't at all sure about the little waves rolling in.  She kept trying to run away from them.  The water in the river was like bath water and before long she was happily splashing in the shallow waves too.

The beach house was high on the hills overlooking the beach.  It had a ridiculously steep driveway.  It was a typical beach house with just an open kitchen / dining / living room across the front and two bedrooms and a bathroom off that large room.  We were glad to have a balcony with a view down to the pub and general store.

Sunday we had a drive to Apollo Bay with a stop on the way at Kennett River.  It was sad to see so many trees stripped bare of leaves - eaten by koalas. We spotted one koala on the side of the road in an empty tree skeleton.  We parked the car and walked along the "sure fire koala spotting" road and encountered another that was on quite a low branch.  He was awake and looking at us.  I got the best koala shots I've ever taken!

We checked out a little farmers market at Apollo Bay and bought a takeaway coffee to drink sitting on the grass by the beach.  We walked with Klara along the narrow boardwalk leading onto the beach and as she passed she brushed against the leg of a female Asian tourist who was standing in the middle of the path.  Well, you'd think the girl had been branded with a hot iron!  She screeched her head off and almost tried to climb the fence beside the path.  Poor Klara had no idea what was going on and I'm not sure we did either.  We tried to apologize across her screams but Klara's continued presence meant there was no stopping her noise.  We just got out of there!!

After lunch back at the house we returned to the beach where Carol spent a good 3 hours basking in the sun reading a book and we paddled with Klara and sat by the beach to chat. That evening when I took Klara out I spotted a koala in a tree behind the house.  This morning there was one level with the balcony out the front.  It was lovely to see as we ate our breakfast.

As we drove away from Wye River, Klara whined on and on. She had been a great little traveller on the way there so it was a mystery as to what the problem was. When we turned inland and the water was out of sight the whining stopped.  I think she was saying she'd like another swim. 

We stopped at Winchelsea to look for a takeaway coffee on the way home.  We spotted a tiny cafe called Cafe La Hoot which appeared to be a little box of a room at the side of a house that was on a corner.  The location was great with a park, seating, barbeque and toilet facilities just across the road.  They had some rustic seating outside and a spot to sit and wait for coffees to be made.  We shared a delicious raspberry muffin and the coffee was really, really good.



























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