Twelve Apostles and the Otway Farmstay

Lying in dirt is cooler than on grass.

The Twelve Apostles.

The beautiful rugged coastline.

Loch Ard Gorge

We drove across this waterfall in Andy's ute.

Friendly inquisitive Guernsey cows.

Saturday, November 19^th.

This weekend I decided to revisit the Twelve Apostles, the Otway Farmstay and the Great Ocean Road. I had been here back in March but it is a beautiful drive and I wanted to repeat it, plus I wanted to see Sue and John at their farmstay again.

I left about 9:00 and drove through Melbourne and took the highway for a couple of hours to Colac. From there I drove south to the Twelve Apostles National Marine Park. This is one of the rock formations off the south coast and is the most photographed coastal site in Australia. I was here in the late afternoon last time and the lighting was all wrong. I visited a couple of the other formations along the coast, Loch Ard Gorge and the Razorback, before driving inland again and into the Otway Ranges to Sue's Otway Farmstay. Sue and John were glad to see me again and we had a good catch up. Then their son Andy and his three daughters, took me on a tour of the farm to see the waterfalls, the cows and the views of the surrounding area. We drove overland and right across the top of the falls in their ute. The last time I was here the whole hill was enshrouded in fog, so it was good to see it in the sun. We had a good dinner and then a young Australian couple who were also renting a room arrived. They were both competitive weight lifters. 

They were also both employed in the contracting and construction business. We sat around talking until ten before we all turned in. I asked them about the rules for building extra houses or units on a property with an existing house, because they do that all over the city. I asked about the extra strain on the sewers, services, roads, etc., caused by the increase in people living on the property. They said that the government charges a surcharge for the extra units to upgrade the services, but they don't do it. According to them, they only make any upgrades when the sewers back up or something like that. Then the people have to use porta potties until the sewers are fixed. I think it sounds like a recipe for disaster. The population of Melbourne is predicted to reach 10 million in 20 years and it is just going to get more and more congested. Time will tell if the infrastructure can handle it.