in Apollo Bay…

Today we took our good ol’ time in the morning to get our mails and blog sorted as well as some house keeping … Around noon we started our day trip back to the Cape Otway Lighthouse Park that was unfortunately closed already when we went there on Thursday. We bought 2 entrance tickets for “international seniors” that are called “concession” tickets here, got a great map and went off to explore the park. The lighthouse was built in 1848 and had the same keeper for 30 years. He had to fire the lights first with whale oil, then kerosene and later with electricity. We climbed the stairs up to the top to enjoy the fabulous view all around. There were many other buildings to walk through, i.e. the lighthouse keeper’s assistants digs, as well as aboriginal huts and an art’s centre. We had an ice cream and a “long black coffee” (that made your heart aflutter) and just enjoyed the scenery, sitting down on benches with a great view over the ocean.

On our way out of the park we couldn’t help but stop in the Eucalyptus grove again and watch the koala bears. This time many were in a fighting mood (must have been over territory, namely keep out of my space, buster!) that made the koalas quite aggressive and very noisy. They have a very loud hoarse grunting voice that echoes all over the forest. Amazing. We got some excellent pictures of the lovely creatures, one in particular, a young one who came down low in the tree to munch on a good supply of leaves. It’s really hard to resist these animals, one could just stay for hours watching them.












On our way back to Apollo Bay we turned into the marina to check out the harbour with its serious fishing vessels as well as a few pleasure boats like big sailing boats fit for this rough ocean. There were 2 huge breakwaters to protect the harbour from large waves.

Back in the village we got some food supplies at the local IGA to make our own supper tonight for a change. First things first though – happy hour on the patio with a nice cold beer, supposedly Australian but made in the USA by the “Hopfen Und Malz Brewing Company” in San José, California, for the Kirkland brand of Costco… Cheers!