Woke up during the night to the sound of pouring rain – and we were sure it was going to be horrible and wet in the morning. To our surprise, it looked completely dry outside, like it hadn’t rained at all. It was a little overcast but still fairly warm.

We headed out to see the last scenic stops of the Great Ocean Road – first off was

The Arch.
There was an extra bonus from being out that early – there was no one else around. It was a short walk to the viewpoint for The Arch and the view was spectacular. The next stop was

London Bridge
– one section of it fell in the late 90’s so it’s not quite as impressive now but there was a descriptive plaque showing how it originally looked. We ran into a couple of other people there but they were heading back from the lookout.

It was still pretty quiet when we got to The Grotto. It was a long hike down the hill but well worth it. And it was so nice not to share the experience with 100’s of others. We used the self timer on the camera and took a picture at the lowest level of the lookouts.

Chris and John at The Grotto

The next stop was at

The Bay of Martyrs
– there was nothing to explain why it was called that but the limestone stacks all over the bay were fantastic. Just a short distance down the road was The Bay of Islands – similar to the Bay of Martyrs but the stacks were further apart.

 

We ran into a little rain on the way to Warrnambool but it didn’t last long. We did turn to go to Ballarat at Warrnambool – and I was glad we did. A short way up the highway, we spotted a family on the side of the road who were looking up a tree. As we drove past, I spotted a koala so John turned around and I got a couple of pictures of it. It was just sitting in the tree – and looking at me when I talked to it. It was so neat to see a koala in the wild *s*

We got to Ballarat about 1:30 and stopped for some groceries before finding the way to Worldmark, Ballarat. This place is fantastic – the main building was built in the late 1800’s – and it’s huge. The room wasn’t ready so we drove around for a while (trying hard not to get too lost) and then came back and walked around the grounds. There is a lake on the property and lots of trees.

We are in the main building – The Grange, and there are two other wings – Humbert House and Gilston House. To get to our apartment, you need to go up a long staircase – no elevators here. The apartment is smaller than a normal one bedroom, but about the same size as Seattle however, the ceilings are 8 feet high. The “full” kitchen has a convection oven, a two-burner hotplate, a microwave, a fridge and a sink. No dishwasher 🙁 oh well, it was good to be able to eat a balanced meal tonight. This is another wine region in Australia so we might try to find a winery and do some taste testing. *s*

There is no internet in the room here so will try and post as often as I can.

Temperature on Thursday: 20 C – sun, cloud and a little rain