Great Ocean Track: Stage 3: Castle Cove to Milanesia Gate, 17 kms, sun, cloud 19

And Then the Damn Cell Went Dead!

I'm sitting here on my butt with some music playing in the background of my iPad as I write this...my customary beer some 20 kms away waiting for me at our B&B. So sad, but our phone died and needs a feeding. And we arrived here early, so must wait some 90 minutes for our ride...of course we all know that I take no responsibility for the cell phone;-). Clearly Annemarie is getting the hang of taking a few photos...

Today was much better weather than predicted! It was suppose to rain, but so far so good. This track keeps changing daily and it seems that we have left the clumsy, slow dune walking behind us with good trails and a spectacular, long stretch of beach to traverse.

The day began with a long steady climb away from Castle Cove...

And of course there were the requisite waves...still so good!

And the, ho hum, daily wallaby...just kidding. Still a kick!

The crossing to today's ho hum beach was a much more relaxing walk through the most beautiful, and for us, unusual plants...sort of like sea anenomies (no spell check for this!) on land...stunning!

Through an extremely sensitive ecosystem where we had to clean our boots at a Boot Cleaning Station before and after crossing.

Then there was the beach...not just any beach, but THE beach...

The tide was down and the walking was just amazing as the waves crashed ashore just a few meters away. It was again stunning and overwhelming! And we again had it all to ourselves!!

The beach wasn't just sand and waves...there were things like...sand dunes and shells and lots of animal tracks...

But clearly, it really was all about the waves...

This stage is very short, but there is a 300+ meter climb, so a bit of fun if you like to climb. We do:-) The views were lovely as hopefully these photos manage to illustrate.

Bird and animal life was evident. Many birds and we even saw four huge Brown Goshawks, but alas, no pictures to share. And me and Fred the Wallaby scared the crap out of each other as I was coming around a blind corner in a hurry...again no photos.

Part of the track today went inland on a very beat up, rutted old coach road. No coaches seen...in fact nothing was seen except some very nice scenery. Not hard to find out here! 

We linked up to a road that had lots of double lorry traffic, visions of the Lupin horror in Spain last spring. We walked out of the area as fast as we could.

Lunch stop...

Even the locals have a good sense of humour as the front driveway to this farm indicates...

Closer to my beer...its calling my name. Perhaps we will have wifi tonight and I can post some of this accumulation. 

Later that night...

Well, a dead phone and no charger...sweet! However there is wifi so posting all evening. Tomorrow another 17, but the high climb is replaced by much up and down walking. Considered the hardest part of the walk...we shall see. Annemarie just looked up the weather and there is a posted weather warning with winds to 90 and a major storm coming ashore somewhere tomorrow afternoon. We don't know quite where we are in the forecast area so will ask our hosts in the morning. It's storming outside presently. Just 35 kms to go! Hoping for some good weather in the morning. 

Our dinner guests...husband and wife Gang-gang Cockatoos!