Great Ocean Walk: to Cape Otway
Our drive to Lakes Entrance was an eye-opener: we chose to travel down through the mountains, via Bombala, Delegate and through the forests to Orbost. Much of the Victorian section was through State Forest that bore the scars of the 2020 bushfires: the damage will be obvious for a decade.
Lakes Entrance was a great surprise: the size of the lakes and the teeming birdlife were unexpected and deserve another visit. After our stay on the Lakes, we drove through Melbourne and managed to buy a dining room table on the way!
The Walk leaves from Apollo Bay, so we stayed overnight and left the car (we would be driven back to the Bay from Port Campbell). The first day took us past Marengo and some very nice pieces of real estate (isolated from the main village). After a forest walk, we finished at Blanket Bay and were transported to Cape Otway, where we stayed in the lighthouse accommodation (and feasted on the provisions we had been left). The second day involved going back to Blanket Bay and walking in to the lighthouse.
Living at the Cape was a great thrill, and the site has a long history as a maritime station and as one of the first radar stations one the coast during the Second World War.