14/8/11
Knocking on chickens door at 7am I discover that his night out had tuned into a big one and he had not slept having only just rolled back to the accommodation. So it was with a still tipsy chicken and intrepid chimp that we set off on our adventure to the great ocean road.
On our journey we had met the a most stage man on the way who would be described by Australians as a Bogan or in our terms a chav. Still drunk, seemingly still drunk from the night before and somehow missing his wife and children who appeared not to have boarded the same bus as him. Well it provided some comedy for us on our journey. We did however have a lovely bus driver who woke us from our slumber by enquiring over the PA system if we had ever seen Koalas in the wild. Predictably we said no and he pulled the 60 seater buss to the kerb, jumped out, beckoning us to follow and pointed out a sleeping koala. Well you would get that in the UK- the koala or the friendly bus driver!
5 hours later we were in Apollo Bay wolfing down what would be our last hot meal- a portion of fish and chips. We called in at the information centre and met the most ineffectual information assistant who told us that the tide should be out, proffered a tide time table and said we probably did not need a map. We in fact opted for a proper map and in time to come we would be grateful for that decision.
So fortified and mapped up we set off for our big adventure. The scenery was stunning and the weather whilst cold was sunny. The foist few hours passed by fairly uneventfully with all of us studiously ignoring the signs warning us that there were snakes on the trail. We thought they would be sleeping as it was winter. After a while we began to encounter decision points giving us the option of the beech path or the bush path. Consulting the handy map we discovered the beech path was more direct to opted for that. We had however not considered the fact that there would be some bouldering/ climbing required to keep our feet out of the sea. The climbing was not strenuous but with 15kg strapped to our backs it proved to be somewhat more difficult. Looking like a tortoise carrying its home on its back. Unfortunately we proved not to that agile and if anyone had been watching we could have feature on you’ve been framed. A few seconds later we would have been guaranteed a slot when chicken slipped from the rocks and ended up sitting in the sea in a state for some distress. Had he not looked like he had hurt himself there would have been photos to record this moment but unfortunately he had cut his wrist and given himself a nice bruised and his ass (there are photos of that!)
The rest of the afternoon passed off without incident and we arrived at the camp sight. After setting up the tent we set about organising dinner. We had expected that rain butt water to be ropy but not green. Never did I think that filtering water though a tee shirt that James had been wearing all day would prove (somewhat amazingly) to be a more enticing option than drinking water un filtered. After throwing in a water cleansing tablet and boiling it for 10 minutes we felt ready to begin cooking. Our menu was classic camping- packet macaroni cheese served with squashed bread. Delicious it was not but being filling and warm it was very welcomed.
Darkness was complete and all-encompassing by 7pm so this was our cue to hit the sack for a cold but surprisingly long sleep.
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