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About half way along the Great Ocean Road we discovered the Otways National Park, where we spent a fair bit of time, and ended up staying the night (see Beech Forest post). Cape Otway is where the land juts out the most into the Southern (next stop Antarctica) Ocean.

The ocean here is notoriously difficult to navigate, as it funnels between Australia and King Island and always has a good swell going, therefore, the Otway Lighthouse has been very important to Victoria as it guides ships in towards Melbourne. Indeed, the coast here is known as “the shipwreck coast”, so the lighthouses are an important fixture! With this in mind, we went to Cape Otway with the hope of going up the Otway Lighthouse.

Unfortunately for us, the lighthouse was being painted at the time (early February 2007), and we didn’t feel that it would be worth paying $21 to not climb up, and headed, slightly dissapointed, to from whence we came. However, with hindsight, it was good for us that we did leave, as we decided to take a right turn up a 4 wheel drive track on the way back out. A sign said that free camping was available, so we wound our way towards the beach on a rugged road. We found the campsite, which was next to some rough seas, and parked up. The views here were extremely good, and it is easy to see how so many ships have crashed into this coastline by the way the waves batter the shore. We saw the pictured parakeet on the way down – it was pretty tiny – and also saw a mad hippy guy doing some tai-chi type stuff on the beach looking full of herbal joy… An excellent detour.

We eventually decided not to camp here, mainly due to the lack of toilets, or cooking aparatus, but not least because of the weird long-haird dude, and headed off, but it was definitely worth a trip down, and was an afternoon well spent. If you visit Cape Otway lighthouse, and have a 4X4, be sure to explore the other bays and beaches in the immediate area (e.g. crayfish bay), and, if you have cooking equipment and a trowel, it is a great place to camp too.

The Maits Rest Rainforest Walk

A good stop off we made on the way to Cape Otway, along the Great Ocean Road, (from Melbourne, about 10kms West of Cape Otway) was at the Maits Rest Rainforest Walk. This walk is completely free, takes around fifteen minutes to half an hour, and allows you to see the Otways National Park forest in its full glory. Someone helpful has scratched out the part of the sign which said how long the walk would take, but it is a gentle stroll along well cared for wooden walkways and bridges. It is an easy walk which even a wheelchair or pushchair could comfortably get around. There are some massive trees, and plenty of information signs about the flora and fauna to help you out along the way. There are also some of the biggest tree ferns either of us have ever seen!

Want to know more about Maits Rest? I have found the following sites, which are pretty good:

• Maits Rest panorama
• Maits Rest details
  
• Parks Victoria Maits Rest page
• Visit Victoria Maits Rest details
• Cape Otway Attractions – Maits Rest story
• Some boring Maits Rest photos