The goal of this drive is go an hour and then take a walk, lots to see like this Australian darter cormorant at Buckley Falls Overlook in Geelong (gel-ONG pronunciation)Then Airey’s Inlet and Split Point Lighthouse on the “Shipwreck Coast”. The “roaring forties” are winds that move fast at 40 degrees latitude and were well used in the 18th and 19th centuries with some disastrous results at times. The light and the flags helped with rescues as well as land mass warnings. Well worth $10 AU to climb up Super knowledgeable volunteers who will even take your photo. But definitely need a hot beverage in the windThen the official starting archI had no idea that they had a 67% casualty rate in WWI! And the greatest rate of any nation involved. Ocean is so bright blue hereErskine FallsWe are not in Kansas anymore! I’m so sad I never stopped to get the signs that say “drive on the left in Australia” as you come out of car parks onto the road. I guess they get a few tourists…They have pullouts for nice viewsKennett River Nature Walk. Crimson Rosella thinks she’s a reptile?More tree fernsNo koalas (as hoped for) but a good kookaburra.More oceanMaits Rest Cool trees like at home. And at nightfall, you go on the glow worm walk in Melba Gully. And you see some beautiful gums. The green of them is pretty cool. We met some nice women who had gotten lost at first attempt so we all went together. Most Australians are so friendly and happy to join up and hang out for a bit with strangers. I love that about them. Morning wetland walk Day TwoLovely late fall grassesThis sign really puzzled me. They have to make an official sign saying the community is opposed, but they are still doing the development project? Who’s that hiding in the reeds? They really are everywhere!And leaving their cute bouncy tracks.The sandstone reminds me of the SW USBut there is an oceanAmazing to have a rainbow at Gibson steps, the first stop with formations. I’ve never been able to actually see the end of the rainbow. No pot of gold, but quite beautiful for sure.
I love the. Sound. Of. The waves crashing. My mom loved that sound too. Sun… for a secThen the twelve apostles, I wish the photos could be sunnier. Loch Ard Gorge – I wish I could capture the booming sound as you walk along the plateau, I actually looked to see where the thunder was coming from…. Only later did I figure out it is waves going into the undercut cliffsZoom in to see why it’s called the razorbackSandstone man… the curves of the cliffs are amazing The water is SO clear here!London Bridge. Sandstone also has impermanence, there used to be a second arch connecting the two until 1990Their slippery when wet signs crack me up. This same two line swirl is what will happen for a pedestrian, motorcycle, car or truck. I don’t think the lines can cross on the second two. The GrottoThe golden hour There are SO many cool birds here. It is interesting to see how the brain tunes out the common noises in the environment. No bird here sounds like a bird at home. There are constant new songs and your brain really registers them because they are unusual. I know this is also true in all the other countries we have visited, but so much here is familiar at the same time it is being novel and that is tickling my brain in yet a new way. Night is coming, time to drive away from the ocean to the “mountains”. My friend Dave who is a geologist and moved here from Utah calls Australia “a geologically challenged country”. There is a price to having your tectonic plate not run into anything for 50,000,000 years.
Jessica Wandering 
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