The Great Ocean Road - 2

Motel Marengo- that was the name of the hotel where we stayed for 2 nights. This hotel is situated at Apollo Bay. If you are looking out for a simple, comfortable, homely place, then this is the right stop for you. There are rooms with beach view in this hotel, but we did not get one. We did not mind it because we knew that during the whole of the day, we would be with the sea anyways.:)

So after the rest and the refreshment, we thought we could explore a bit of Apollo Bay. As we reached the end of this small town, we noticed a sign board that mentioned "Mariners Lookout". Now this was not in our list of "to-see" places. But as we had some time on hand, we drove to this place. We had to park our car at one point and trek a bit. The path lead us to the top of a range of hills. And the view from there was awesome. We could see the whole of Apollo Bay from the top. As we savored the beautiful sight, our daughter, Tunga, was happy to see the grazing sheep on those hills.:) Needless to say, we were one happy lot for having explored this lookout.

One thing that you should know is that the Great Ocean Road is full of scenic places. So you really need to prioritize the places. We had this list of places ( that we had researched on the net) but we decided to take it easy as we did not want to stress out Tunga.

Next day, we set off to Cape Otway. This place is at the southern most tip of the Great Ocean Road. It is mainly famous for the lighthouse. On the way, we got very close views of the koala bears perched onto the trees. I really love them for their don't care attitudes as they slumber on those trees.:)

This time, we thought that we would climb the staircase to the top of the lighthouse at Cape Otway. But it would prove to be tough with Tunga so we decided to take turns. The view from the top was amazing. It was so windy out there that even a not-so-fragile person like me thought that I would be blown away.:) I held onto the railings tightly.

After lunch, we drove to the most famous place in the Great Ocean Drive- the Twelve Apostles. As I mentioned that it is a very popular destination, the place was overcrowded. But then the crowd will not bother you because you will be so busy looking at these tall, magnificient rocks. There is a boardwalk on one of the apostles and I must admit that it is always gonna an unforgettable experience for me. Of course, it is a little perturbing to see people falling all over to get photographed with the apostles. But as I said before, the majestic structures and the roaring ocean below them compensate for all those petty disturbances. We spent a quite a lot of time there amidst the apostles.

After this, we wanted to make it to the famous "tree-top walk". But we were delayed and could not make it in time for it. At a petrol station, we were told about the Triplet Falls. So we decided to go there instead.

So we set out on a two kms trek to the falls in the Great Otway National Park. This trek gives one a real feel of a walk through the dense forest. The huge, towering trees allow only a sparse amount of sunlight through them. We knew we were near the falls as we heard the roaring sound. One glance of the falls took away all my weariness. It is definitely one of the best waterfalls I have ever seen.

After spending some time there, we started our return trek to the car park. The return path was a different one that had lot of steps. But at one point, the path came to a dead end. We could hear the cars so we knew we were somewhere nearby to the car park. But we did not know the way out. I confess that I was a bit scared at that point, wondering what to do if we got lost in the forest. Then somehow we went through the bushes, made way through the trees and managed to reach the mud road that led to the car park. You can imagine how relieved I was when we reached that road. What an adventure that was for us, especially with our one and a half year old daughter hanging on with us!!:)