The Great Ocean Walk

 

Last Tuesday morning we were picked up in Melbourne for our Great Ocean Walk trip, an iconic 105km walk along the southern Victorian coast west of Melbourne (for those, like me, who didn’t pay attention to the metric system in elementary school 1.6 kilometers = 1 mile).  Advertised as a tour with a maximum group size of 12 guests, we were pleasantly surprised to find that there were only 3 of us on the trip: Melanie, myself, and John – a retired prosecutor from Perth in his ‘70s (I continue to be amazed by the fitness and stamina of the older participants who occasionally show up on these type of trips - I thought we were old!), along with our 2 guides (more about them in a moment) .  

The benefit of doing this trip late in the Australian autumn (the last departure of the season) was that not many others (i.e., people who actually understand the seasons in Australia) were interested in doing a late May trip.  We ended up crossing paths with only a couple of other hiking groups throughout the week.  The disadvantage, as you will read, is that the weather was often far from optimal….

The trip was designed as a “pack-free” walk, meaning that each day we carried only a daypack with raingear, water, first-aid kits, and snacks.  Each morning we were driven to the trailhead for that day, and each afternoon picked up by van and returned to our lodgings for the evening, where our guides had already deposited our luggage and on most evenings prepared our dinner.  Our guides took turns each day either leading us along that day's segment of the walk, or ferrying us, shopping for supplies and preparing our dinners.  The walk was advertised as being appropriate for people with a “moderate level of fitness”.  Having completed it, it is clear that a “moderate level of fitness” means something different in Australia than it does at home!

A word about our guides, who were phenomenal:

Cai, age 37, lives in Mansfield in the Victorian High Country with his partner and two children.  Among other things, Cai is expert in wilderness survival, first-aid, and natural plants and medicines.  When not guiding, Cai is a practicing shaman, leading his guests through rights of passage and initiatory experiences that involve earth-honoring ceremonies, rituals, nature awareness skills and traditional healing practices.  You can check out more about what he does at:  https://www.caiyudakiora.com 

Isaiah, age 26, was raised in an Adnyamanthna aboriginal community in South Australia.  While, by his own admission, he is still learning, he has a keen interest in aboriginal culture and traditions (sadly, as in many communities, not all young people take such an interest), and was the source of many fascinating insights into the traditional practices of aboriginal communities (who are estimated to have inhabited Australia for 100,000 years or more). 

Following is a brief day-by-day recap of our experiences.  Hopefully, you won't be bored - we certainly weren't!

Day 1 - Tuesday, May 23rd:  Apollo Bay to Shelly Beach (9 km)

Theme(s) of the Day:  Sunshine and Optimism!

The opening section of the walk was relatively easy with some short sections of beach walking and a few hills.

As you can see we were bright and fresh!  In contrast to how we looked at the end of the 105km!

Catching sight of this guy early on gave us the feeling that we were being watched over! While this walk was more about the landscape than the wildlife, seeing koalas in the trees never gets old…

Today was a great warm-up for…..

Day 2 - Wednesday, May 24th:  Shelly Beach to Parker Inlet (19 km)

Theme(s) of the Day:  Mud!

Much of today’s walk headed away from the coast and into towering forests of Mountain Ash – one of the hundreds of different species of Eucalyptus trees native to Australia - and reported to be the second tallest tree species in the world (after the California Redwood). 

Much of the track today was very, very muddy, which made hiking poles essential

It is strongly recommended that people do the Great Ocean Walk with a qualified guide, as there are “Decision Points” posted along the walk which are best handled by someone with experience

We both felt strong, and were buoyed by the beautiful and varied scenery 

Today’s walk was a great warm-up for…..

 

Day 3 – Thursday, May 25th:  Parker Inlet to Castle Cove (23 km)

Theme(s) of the Day:  Rain and Wind!

Today was the longest day of the walk, and certainly one of the toughest - not just because of the length, but because of the weather.  We were still smiling, but just barely....

Today we caught sight of a wallaby in the bush just off the track.  This area of the country is home to many Swamp Wallabies, much bigger than the Tamar Wallabies we saw on KI, and not to be confused with the Bush Wallaby (a bush that just looks like a wallaby from the distance; in the same scientific classification as the "Wriggly Stick" - a stick that looks like a snake).

Today’s walk wasn’t a great warm-up for anything.  We were the ones that needed to be warmed up!  Mercifully, there was a roaring fireplace at the farmhouse we stayed at....

 

Day 4 – Friday, May 26th:  Castle Cove to Milanesia Track (17 km; plus an additional few km when Melanie, who as usual was out in front, overshot the end of the walk and had to be retrieved by yours truly 😊)

Theme(s) of the Day:  Watch your Step!

Today's walk began along the clifftops with breathtaking views of the coastline.  There have been over 600 shipwrecks along this coast, leading to its moniker:  the "Shipwreck Coast".

The walk eventually lead us down to a gorgeous, remote beach

where the power of the ocean was on full display

and it was apparent why Rip Curl hosts the longest running event in competitive surfing (the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach) not far from here (not to worry, I have no intention of testing out my newly developed beginner's surfing skills in these waters!)

Though we didn't see any snakes along the walk (they come out less frequently on cold days), I did have the opportunity to learn about what one should do in the case of a venomous snake bite.  Without the aid of Google (or ChatGPT if that's what the world has moved onto now), here's your wilderness first aid quiz:  If your hiking partner is bitten by a venomous snake while out in the bush, you should (pick one):

(a) suck out the venom;

(b) tie a tourniquet above the location of the bite; 

(c) leave your partner laying on the ground immobilized and walk/run to the nearest first aid station; or

(d) help your partner walk/run/limp to the nearest first aid station

Answer to be provided in the next post....

Day 5 – Saturday, May 27th:  Milanesia Track to Gable (16 km)

Theme(s) of the Day:  Leeches, Mushrooms and Hills.  Lots of all of them!

In our pre-walk briefing prior to today’s walk we were warned that, in particular on this stretch of the walk, we would want to tuck our pant legs into our socks to prevent leeches from crawling up our legs.  That makes sense.  When Cai told us that we should also tuck our shirts into our pants, I started to wonder….. But anytime we stood still in one place for long, a leech would be sure to find us

I'm told they get much bigger once they have had a chance to feast on your blood for a bit.  And I can promise you we did a thorough check at night for any that might have penetrated our defenses! For you country music fans, it was reminiscent of the Brad Paisley song - "I wanna check you for ticks".... 

Along the trail we saw an amazing array of beautifully colored mushrooms that were magical in appearance, though not the magic mushrooms some of you may remember from your college days (and others from more recent experiences)! 😉

While we had thought that our Day 3 hike, the longest, would be the toughest, the hills today (lots of ups and downs, with the ups cumulatively totally over 2800 feet in elevation) made this one the toughest of the week.  Nonetheless, Melanie (the "Energizer Bunny" as many know her) had enough energy to do her best Julie Andrews - Sound of Music rendition atop one of the rolling hills near the end of the hike

Day 6 – Sunday, May 28th:  Gables to Gibson Steps (18km)

Theme(s) of the Day:  Rainy Days and Sundays, and Wallabies

As the famous Carpenters' song goes:  Talkin' to myself and feelin' old, Sometimes I'd like to quit...Rainy days and Mondays always get me down....

Maybe they should have said rainy Sundays!  

While the weather did not cooperate, we certainly were not going to opt-out at this point, and we were joined on the track by lots of wallabies, who seemed quite curious about our progress, and not only weren't shy, but seemed to enjoy the art of "photobombing"!

Day 7 – Monday, May 29th:  Gibson Steps to 12 Apostles (only 2 km, thankfully!)

Theme(s) of the Day:  Basic Arithmetic  

 This morning we finally arrived at the iconic natural rock formations that signal the end of the Great Ocean Walk - The 12 Apostles

Now, far be it from me to nitpick, but I have a question for all of you (more of a rhetorical question than a quiz):  if you were to visit a rock formation known as The Twelve Apostles, how many rocks would you expect to see?  Twelve, right?  Or maybe given the vagaries of nature, one or two might have collapsed into the ocean and there might only be 10 or 11 Apostles.  Seems reasonable, neh?

Well, here's the real story:  there have never been Twelve Apostles (I'm talking about the rocks; I am no expert in Christian theology and therefor have no idea how many actual Apostles there were).  Hate to ruin it for you, but the rocks now known as the The Twelve Apostles were formerly known as The Sow and Pigs until in the 1960's some marketing genius decided The Twelve Apostles had a better ring to it.  Even then there were only 9, which are now down to 7 due to two of them collapsing.  Oh well...

Despite the surprising Apostle count, I was heartened by one last notable sighting in a small town on the way back to Melbourne, which for me made the entire 105km worth it.  A place of great spiritual meaning for me.....

That's all (for now) folks!  Next stop Cairns - pronounced like “cans” as in “nice cans” – from where we depart for our trip to the Solomon Islands.  Back at ya when we return from the Sollies in a couple of weeks’ time!