Cape Otway Campground to Aire River Campground (GOW Trip)

 21 February 2024 (Day 4) 16-30 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.greatoceanwalk.info/parker-inlet-to-point-franklin/ 

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

One thing that is very different here, to camping in Queensland coastal areas is the lack of dew.  We have virtually no dew on the tent in the morning and certainly don’t need to wait a few hours after sunrise for the tent to dry. We left camp and headed toward Aire River. We chose to descend to Station Beach and headed south south east to Rainbow Falls. These are magical and well worth the effort. There is one that is a small raindrop fall and further along a larger more traditional waterfall. This morning was all blue skies and calm seas, but with a dark fog on the horizon.  Today was noticeably hotter than the preceding days.

 https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/sites/station-beach-walk

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/australia/victoria/station-beach-rainbow-falls

We chose to stay on the beach instead of returning to the track and walked north north west along Station Beach and before climbing back up to the main walking trail. The beach sand was moderately soft but the track itself had a lot of soft sand today. Toward the end of today’s walk the sand was very hot, particularly where it was coming up the sides of our boots. There were great views over Aire Inlet on the walk down. Being short I did not get as many views as my more standard height partner, however he regularly had to bend under the canopy, whereas I did not. We arrived at camp very hot. We were almost at camp by lunchtime so chose to push on.

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

We enjoyed lunch followed by soaking our feet in the water at the jetty and a look around the drive-in camp. Then we climbed back up the hill to set up our camp in the walker’s camp.

 Next up was a swim and a wash. Beautiful swimming in cool water, so refreshing and our clothes are much cleaner. I spent the afternoon exploring and watching an awake koala go about his evening meal.  I even got to see him/her jump from one tree to another. Just prior to sunset we also saw water rats. The ants in this campsite are quite large, we have also seen large ants on the trail.

 This is the first hike where we have tried our new poles, and the first time using two poles (rather than one each) – absolutely recommend both using poles and the ones we have purchased.

  

Statistics

Distance    12.29km

Time         4 hours 25 m

Ascent      213m

Descent     300m

Temperatures 16.5 – 29.6 degrees Celcius