Great Ocean Walk (and a rather late finish on the last post)

A year on.  I’m sitting in an enormous apartment suite in Apollo Bay, hiking gear askew around the room. A typical scene for a holiday.  As always, and despite everything, I have pre-hike nerves.  A nervous rolling in the belly that will only settle by taking the first steps on the trail, with or without all the gear I require.

Looking back, I realise I have been very slack, having not finished off the blog on the last walk!  Life hey…it gets in the way of the best of intentions.

I do have my notes here with me, which I will now cordially disperse and see if any of it jogs my memory.

This is what I’ve got:

“Sharing camp with a goanna”….I don’t really remember it, but I assume I had a goanna slinking through my campsite.

“Murrumbooee Cascades”….Ah yes.  This was my rest day.  I was up very early on account of the heat.  Made my way along a scenic path of several kilometres to reach the cascades.  There was nobody there and the sunshine was beautiful.  As it was still so early, the water was crisp with the overnight chill. I found a deep, little pool and in the early morning haze, jumped right in.  I remember screaming with the cold.

“Dandahra Falls”…A side trip.  Signage that described a steep and overgrown track.  Signage that was correct.  Eventually reaching the falls, dodging branches and sliding down gravelly banks. It was boiling hot, and there was no water….just the view of the narrow falls over yonder in the distance.  I sat around with a family for a while, lamenting having come all the way to the bottom.  We reluctantly returned to the top and I reached camp, a sweaty, dirt laden mess.

“Arvo @ favourite place Barra Nulla”….Best part of the walk.  Relaxing all afternoon, mostly on my own, with my book.  Dipping in and out of my perfect little bath-like waterhole whenever I liked.  Perfection. 

That is all the notes I took.  I remember the rest day was great and I felt on top of the world finishing the final 10km, most of which was uphill, the following day.  Another completed walk!

I’m excited about this trip.  Can’t wait to see what the trail and weather gods have in store for me.  Unseeasonal heat equals unseasonal storms equals tricky conditions. But hell, I’m training for Scotland next year, so perhaps I should be in the mindset of bring it on! (But gently please….)