Blanket Bay Campground to Cape Otway Campground (GOW Trip)

 20 February 2024 (Day 3) 16-22 degrees

 https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/great-otway-national-park/things-to-do/great-ocean-walk

https://www.greatoceanwalk.info/

https://www.thegreatoceanwalk.com/official-sections/

Again during the night I woke to what sounded like heavy rain but was in fact wind and surf.

 https://www.greatoceanwalk.info/blanket-bay-to-parker-inlet-hike/

The walk to Parker Inlet was very sheltered with minimal breeze. The path at times is relatively close to the cliff edge, but with trees blocking the view (and fall). We saw two Swamp Wallabies – their tails look very strong and they are a very dark chocolate brown in colour.

 https://www.greatoceanwalk.info/parker-inlet-to-point-franklin/

Parker Inlet is very pretty with lots of kelp on the north-eastern side. The colour of the sand here is more like the colour we are accustomed to. We arrive at mid tide (outgoing) and the inlet was very easy to cross today. The path from here would be unpleasantly muddy in wet conditions. Coming from Parker inlet to Parker Hill Campground there were approximately 300m of upward stairs. The campground tank here was empty, but we had loaded enough water for the whole day.

https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/sites/parker-hill-campground 

We walked through bush for approximately 20 minutes before dropping down to the beach at Point Franklin, to see the Eric the Red anchor, and explore rock pools.  There were deep rock crevice that intermittently gave a whumping noise when the waves were just the right size. From here we decided to continue on the beach around Seal Point to Crayfish Bay, which was beautiful. We then climbed back up to the main GOW path. This was much hotter as despite being close to the cliff edge the trees trapped the humidity and blocked the wind. As we progressed along the walk we saw increasing glimpses of the lighthouse with lots of solid ups and downs. We continued past the lighthouse to the campsite and put up our tents before returning to the Cape Otway Lighthouse precinct to do a self-guided tour of the grounds. 

https://www.lightstation.com/

The lighthouse itself is currently off limits due to a previous earthquake and mercury spill. There were several buildings to explore, including bunkers that were used for communications during WW2. We enjoyed a muffin and caramel slice at the café, which is located in one of the heritage buildings. Life at the lighthouse would have been a very isolated existence. 

https://www.lightstation.com/explore-cape-otway/cafe/

Old and New

On our return we continued past the campground to look at the small Cemetery associated with the lighthouse community.

https://www.visitmelbourne.com/regions/great-ocean-road/see-and-do/outdoor-and-adventure/walking-and-hiking/vv-lighthouse-cemetery-and-lookout-walk

 https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2363591/cape-otway-cemetery

In camp tonight we had last night's group of teens and another group from the same school, as well as a new and quite different group. The map of the Cape Otway Campground does not fit the current layout of the campground.  There have been some upgrades here with the camp shelter area having LED lighting and USB charging points.

 

Statistics

Distance    12.09km

Time         4 hours 45 minutes

Ascent      377m

Descent     302m

Temperatures 16.3 – 22.1 degrees Celcius

Elliott Ridge Campground to Blanket Bay Campground (GOW Trip)

 19 February 2024 (Day 2) 16 -20 degrees

 https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/great-otway-national-park/things-to-do/great-ocean-walk

https://www.greatoceanwalk.info/

https://www.thegreatoceanwalk.com/official-sections/

During the night when we I woke I thought it was raining, but it was the sound of wind high in the beautiful trees.  We also heard lots of wildlife including koalas during the night. This morning we spotted a koala high in a tree above the campground.

https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/sites/great-ocean-walk---elliot-ridge-hike-in-campsites

https://www.greatoceanwalk.info/blanket-bay-to-parker-inlet-hike/

Today’s walk was on fire trails through tall Mountain Ash forest with varying other foliage. This track would be very hard going in wet conditions as it would turn to a gluey mud. When approaching the Blanket Bay Campground it is quite a steep descent. We saw and heard lots of small birds toward the end of today’s walk. One with red around the eyes and red on underside of tail feathers, smaller and finer than a wren, miniature parrot like bird in lime green/yellow, “Silvereye “and a small blue and redparrot. 

This campground is pretty, however the individual sites are less well defined than at Elliot River Campground.

 https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/sites/great-ocean-walk---blanket-bay-hike-in-campsites

We spent the afternoon exploring the area - the herth from the lighthouse storage shed, the amazing rock formations and rock pools. 

It was great to see Blanket Bay all the way from low tide to high tide and how it changed. 

Low Tide in the middle of the day

High Tide at Sunset

We explored the neighbouring drive in campground, the two sites closest to the beach and the picnic shelter look lovely. Late in the afternoon we were joined by a group of year 9 boys doing their Outdoor Ed this week. The were very hyped when they arrived but settled down pretty well.

 

We watched the sunset over the ocean.  Unfortunately there was too much cloud cover to produce any stunning colour.

 

Statistics

Distance    12.33km

Time         3 hours 35 minutes

Ascent      232m

Descent     377m

Temperatures 16.2 – 20.1 degrees Celcius