International rescue
After waking up to a semi-naked man sleeping on the floor outside of his tent, we showered and got ready to leave (helpfully watching the guys put our tent away). But not before the semi-naked man came over to say goodbye… Now dressed as Bananaman (seriously).
Anyway, with Miss H once again behind the wheel we set off back to Lorne to find some blankets. Even the Op Shop had nothing so we drove on to Kennet River to try and spot some koalas. Fifteen minutes later and I was back behind the wheel, driving up a very steep hill. We parked up and got out – success! The trees were full of koala bears, although we couldn’t figure out if they were cute or not…
Back up the hill to turn around when the older couple in front of us slowed right down… Our poor little car didn’t like this and suddenly stopped. Sighing, I restarted the car, but it just gave a little ‘phut’ and wouldn’t start. I thought it might have overheated as the bendy Ocean Road required a lot of gear changing (or not in Miss H’s case), but I’d not been driving like a loon. We left it 20 minutes and tried it again. Nothing. We checked the water and the oil. All fine.
With no other option, we called Roadside Assistance who phoned the RAC for us. He told us he’d been out to Kennet River twice already but he’d have to go back for the tow truck(!)
So we waited. We ate chocolate, put on some make-up (in case that swayed the cost of the problem) and considered calling it quits and going back to Melbourne. I tried the car again – nothing.
As expected, the RAC man rocked up, watched me try the car unsuccessfully, got in and wiggled the gear stick. Then, with the clutch down he started the car. Le sigh.
Embarrassed, I drove up the hill and turned around. At the bottom I tried the car again and it was fine. Typical. The man grinned at us, said he couldn’t explain it and drove off. No charge. Girl power!
Onward and upward
After a very necessary ice-cream we set off to make up for lost time and rocked up at Apollo Bay for a walk. This is another beautiful area of Victoria – a wide bay with a perfect beach, village shops and cafés. Plus a harbour and sand dunes. We bought a couple of sleeping bags and continued on our way.
After a short walk around an area of rainforest (free, as opposed to the expensive Otway National Park) we stopped briefly at Gibson’s Steps – named after the man who carved them into the cliff as he struggled for survival.
We then wandered around the 12 Apostles Visitor Centre (after belting out some McFly). These ‘twelve’ rock formations used to be known as the Sow and Piglets but the name was changed, despite there being maybe six or seven ‘apostles’. These are on all of the Ocean Road postcards and they are very beautiful.
As the day had been quite stressful we got to our next campsite – Port Campbell Recreation Reserve, which was remote to say the least – quite early and pitched our tent ALL BY OURSELVES!
After swapping some website/SEO tips with the site manager (all the camping fees are ploughed back into the reserve, but they had no website), we wandered into town for a well-deserved dinner.
My Stage is the World 
Leave a Reply