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The weather certainly tried everything it could to challenge us and lots of time was spent drying the tent and items of clothing! Spring is a time of uncertain weather and maybe not the best time of year to undertake this walk. The prevailing wind is usually from the south-west and being restricted to walking from east to west meant we battled head winds every day and some were gale force at times.
Coralie, Marg and Mabel took the bus from Warrnambool to the beginning at Apollo Bay. It was raining and windy as we set off but the tide was low so we were able to go the very interesting beach route to the first stop at Elliot Ridge.
Day 2 was spent mainly on wide tracks. The old logging track from Elliot Ridge was very wet and muddy. The morning was dry and we had lunch overlooking the beach at Blanket Bay. This GOW camp site is still incomplete. The camp sites have been done but not the shelter – we really needed the shelter as it poured just as we were about to eat our evening meal and everything got soaked. The camp sites are made of compacted clay and the water lies on top – one of our sites flooded and we had to move a tent.
On day 3 we got to Cape Otway Lighthouse late morning after walking through hail, rain and very strong winds. The toilet at the GOW camp had been burned down the week before – they did supply port-a-loos as a replacement. At the campsite there were 2 koalas, one with a small baby but very little food – they had stripped all the trees. We spent the afternoon at the lighthouse – well worth a visit. The highlight was trying to walk around the top platform of the lighthouse in the strong wind. We also saw a ringneck parrot that obviously had been blown well off course.
The next day walking in sunshine, we met up with Liz, Mike (day walkers) and Sandra (heading east) as we walked towards Aire River – as well as lots of syrup cake, pumpkin scones and muffins for immediate consumption they also brought supplies and fresh clothes for the walkers. We shared the shelter with a bird family – the parents working very hard to feed 3 youngsters.
Another day of bad weather followed. It started raining through the night so we packed up wet gear and headed towards Johanna. Bend Café was closed so no treats along the way. The walk along Johanna Beach was difficult – high tide, gale force winds and rain. All the creeks and rivers along the walk had lots of water flowing in them and the Johanna River was no exception. Wet and miserable Sandra and Marg accepted the very generous offer of a lift back to Apollo Bay from the Park Ranger. Linda called in and left a note in the log book but headed back to warmth and shelter. The sun god shined on Coralie and Mabel and they were able to dry out that afternoon.
It was uneventful from there until we got to The Gables. It was high tide and we couldn’t walk along Wreck Beach. The inland route is along muddy 4WD tracks that have been bulldozed into 2 lane highways. It was very uninteresting and long – 4 kms. The compensation was the view from the loo at Devil’s Kitchen camp, the track down to the beach and Wreck Bay. On the last day we were very disappointing to see what has happened to the Old Coach Road – it has been bulldozed and the sides of the road is now covered in dead tea tree instead of being a garden of wildflowers is. It is sandy, muddy and water lying everywhere.
Arriving at Princetown at 9.00 am and having many hours to spare Mabel and Coralie spent a very relaxing morning in the Do Duck Inn Café enjoying good coffee, good food and friendly staff. Meantime, unbeknown to them, Linda and Helen had walked from Glenample to Princetown and back looking for them.
Linda and Helen enjoyed the comforts of the café while Mabel and Coralie finished the walk. A gale was blowing and it was hard to stay on track but the view along the coast towards Port Campbell was spectacular.
Mabel
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