Great Ocean Walk - Day Three

Bye to our woolly friend

Walking along Station Beach

Station Beach

Crossing Aire River

Castle Cove

Day Three: Cape Otway to Castle Cove

The morning started with a dilemma. As we were packing up camp after a wet and windy night, our 17 year old tent ripped, making it useless in the wet weather we had been experiencing. So now we couldn't continue with our camping plans, and were out of mobile contact to arrange any alternative. Luckily for us, the Cape Otway Lighthouse was only a short walk away and the staff there were kind enough to let us use their phone in between eftpos transactions. Several phone calls later, we had arranged accommodation at Johanna Seaside Cottages and transport from Castle Cove to get us there. So after a very late start, we "legged it" to Castle Cove.

Great Ocean Walk - Day Two

Scraggly coastal forest

Koala right by the track

Gorgeous Parker Inlet

Cape Otway Lighthouse

Koala watching at the campsite at Cape Otway (can you spot the koala?)

Day Two: Blanket Bay to Cape Otway

This was our first and, as it would transpire, only day that went exactly to plan.

Highlights included seeing koalas in the wild and also a yummy lunch at Cape Otway Lighthouse (you have to pay an entry fee to get to the cafe, although if you just want some chocolates and crisps you can buy them at the entrance kiosk without paying an admission). At our campsite (no.1 is the best) we had a couple of koalas in the trees above our tent - we were entranced, until they started peeing on our gear. Luckily they are so cute we forgave easily.

Great Ocean Walk - Day One

Blanket Bay campsite

Blanket Bay Ruins

Towards Shelly Beach

One of the little bays

Ahh, back to life in Brisbane after our Victorian Beach Holiday. Yes, we are possibly the only Queenslanders who have travelled all the way to Victoria for a beach holiday. Well the first part of our holiday was the Great Ocean Walk, so that was a good excuse. So for all those bushwalking nuts ( and because I wish I could have read something like this when planning the walk), here is a day by day account of our walk....

Day One: Marengo to Blanket Bay

First up, a confession. We cheated. We missed little bits of the walk. The first bit we missed was the section from Apollo Bay to Marengo, which is basically a walk along the road. We missed this bit because we knew we would do this section the following week when we stayed in Apollo Bay with my brother and his family. So after arriving in Apollo Bay on the late bus, we handed over our food drop bag to the Great Ocean Road shuttle driver, had a bite to eat, and then got a taxi to Motel Marengo.

The next day we started our walk. Straight away we cheated again! The shuttle driver told us the long inland section from Shelly beach to Blanket Bay was very wet and muddy from the recent rain so we elected to just walk from Marengo to Shelly Beach and then get picked up and driven to Blanket Bay. So no packs Day One! A very nice gentle lead in.

Once we got going, the walk was delightful, passing lots of little sandy and rocky bays. We heard a koala for the first time - a cross between a motorcycle revving and a wild pig. Blanket Bay was a lovely spot to camp (campsite 8 the nicest).

warratahs are my favourites

Here's a snippet of a beautiful warratah I snapped at Canberra's flower festival last weekend.

Canberra's not all that bad....

We just had a lovely weekend in Canberra, our national capital city, where we attended the spectacular Italian wedding of Joe and Angela. We also had a peak at Parliament House (wished the pollies were in session) and "floriade" the flower festival.

Cauliflower, Cannellini Bean and Blue Cheese Soup

Today poor hubby had a rather stubborn wisdom tooth out so I needed to make something sloppy for dinner. This is what I came up with. It tasted OK, so I thought I'd write it down for posterity.

Cauliflower, Cannellini Bean and Blue Cheese Soup

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 onion, diced

bay leaf

2 potatoes, chopped

1/2 large cauliflower, chopped

1 tin cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

3 cups unsalted chicken stock (vege would be OK too I'm sure)

1 cup water

a couple of sprigs of thyme and rosemary (that's all I had in the garden)

some blue cheese

In a large saucepan, fry garlic, onion and bay leaf until translucent. Add potato,cauliflower, stock, water, beans and herbs. Simmer covered for about 20 minutes, or until all veges are soft. Remove from heat, remove herb sprigs and puree soup in blender. Return to saucepan, season with salt and pepper, and reheat for serving. Serve up into bowls and top each serving with a slab of blue cheese and garnish with some extra thyme.

Flowers for a rainy day

It's been a quiet day, just a bit drizzly to start with, but the rain has set in for a while now. A good day to take some macro shots of the lovely native flowers I got for my birthday.