great ocean road

As though the day (we are at Friday, March 28 at this point) had not been aesthetically and spiritually awesome enough, we took in a few more sights on our way back to Warrnambool in the afternoon: just a taste of the coast.

The next day, Saturday, I was better prepared – I brought the mighty Lumix. We headed back toward the Great Ocean Road. In a sense, the experience was like Big Sur: ocean, bluffs, road, gloriousness. But unlike the PCH, the Great Ocean Road is set back quite a ways from the water. A series of viewing spots, each with parking areas and boardwalk paths, dot the way. Not knowing what I was about to see, I dawdled at first, happy to indulge in my botanical fetishes.

We were mostly at the seed stage of the game.

Succulence seemed to be a theme.

But then this sort of thing started to happen:

Oh. OK. Switch gears!

We made our way down to a promising looking thunder hole.

Taking selfies along the way.

At this particular spot, a group of college-age kids ignored a wide variety of warning signs, skipped off the boardwalk, and onto bare rock. O, how I longed for a wave to come fetch them all and cast them out to sea. Fortunately for my karma (not to mention theirs), this did not happen.

I could see that the “repairs” I had recently paid for did not actually fix the smudgy spot in the upper left of the frame, which is only apparent in the landscape shots.

These formations are ever-changing, as the sea works to erode them. Ultimately, it’s all ephemeral, innit?

In the parking lot, a series of distinctly marked vans and busses indicated some kind of excitement underway. We peered over the edge of a cliff to see this:

A film crew set-up for “The Amazing Race”, which I’ve never seen, Actual Reality being generally sufficient for my purposes.

We stopped off in a tiny town to gas up and find public restrooms. Kevin wandered down to the water while I ogled the greenery.

And then we went in search of a picnic spot – down a trail toward a somewhat secluded beach where a river came alllmost to the ocean.

Lunch was to be in that cove, facing those bluffs.

Yours truly, Kate.

Eventually we dragged ourselves away from the ocean, and wound up at an awesome brewpub/restaurant...

...and from there, we wandered down more secluded roads, weaving back and forth a bit as we craned our heads out the window in search of... this!

Ohhhh...would you fit in our duffle bag?

Please?

No? OK...OK...I understand. You stay up in your tree, sweetheart.