Only 20 km today, but I made it to the 12 Apostles Visitors Centre which was the planned meeting point for my fellow hikers joining me on the Great Ocean Walk tomorrow. Waking up was slow, steady and delightful. The km did not flow this morning, but that was ok. I made it to Port Campbell around lunch time and feasted on a vegetable frittata, kindly shouted by my mate Adam, the gentleman I had met a few days previously in Allensford.
While I charged my devices (I wish I didn't have to have them with me sometimes... a lot of the time!!), I managed to get the final organisation of the upcoming walk completed, send a few postcards and write a few more posts that will be sent out over the coming week whilst I am out of reception.
One thing I realised today is that vehicle-bound tourists cannot be a happy bunch of people. How could I possibly have made this assessment?! Well, Let's look at the facts. When I'm on the road I'm waving at nearly every car coming my way, both for entertainment (it's a great way to get a smile!) and safety (I can get eye-contact, and know that a driver has seen me). On the regular highway I'm getting a return wave rate of over 90%, which is pretty grand! However, out here on the tourist-laden Great Ocean Road, it's down below 30%!!! How could they possibly be happy with statistics like that? Also, it seems a good number of international tourists forget that we drive on the left here, which at times has resulted in scary experiences. On one occasion, a car coming in my direction had to swerve onto the wrong side of the road to AVOID another car coming from behind me on the wrong side of the road!
Other than that, the weather was beautiful, the scenery stunning and road smooth as I ventured our of town on the last 10 km of bitumen that I will walk for some time. To top it all off, I got to have a great, almost surreal chat with my great mate Andrew who will be joining me for the second leg of the Great Ocean Walk. Couldn't have been a lovelier day, really!
Well, that will be all you hear from me for about a week, but I've scheduled some posts that you might like for when I'm away. I hope you enjoy them!
T
