Just finished the Great Ocean Walk.
This is in Victoria, Australia, starting from Apollo Bay and finishing at the 12 Apostles Center .
To stay in the designated premium campsites you need to book and pay per "pad" per night. A pad is 10'x10' , 4 people max.
The campsites are located away from other camping grounds.
We opted for the 6 day/5 nights version of the walk so we started in the afternoon the first day and finished before midday on the last.
The option has 2 full days (about 23-25 km) and two short days (about 15km)
(you can only do the walk East to West)
The weather forecast was a bit iffy so we only met one guy the first day ( on his way out ,turning back ) and a German couple on the second day walking the wrong way.
Heavy rain on the first night, then overcast the next day and a half, clear after that.
Having had the choice of any of the 8 pads , we had the best (to us..) on each location.
Note that the toilets have a view...
The all walk is beautifully laid out, it has steps (366 in one descent to the beach...) several stretches of boardwalks and just enough signage not to get lost but not in your face either.
Water is provided by rain water tanks , 2 at each location. When not raining there is almost no water in between stops .
(there are 8 camps altogether so you can pick and choose between 4 and 8 nights and access water there)
Plenty of wildlife including wallabies,kangaroos,koalas,echidnas,bush rats,snakes and a great variety of birds including one species on its way to extinction.
Definitely a "boutique" walk , spectacular in good weather and easy enough for anyone to do.
If not fit , use the 6-7 nights options.
highly recommended.
Franco
If you look on the top right of the tent pic above the Contrail , you can see the resident koala. Woke me up almost every hour doing his mating call.
(he would wake up , do the call about, 10 sec, and then fall asleep again during the afternoon or munch on leaves during the night. At one point there was a bit of a stand off with a feline of some sort but can't think what animal it could have been...)






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img src="/backpackinglight/user_uploads/1329259561_57149.jpg" alt="GOW 10" width="550" height="412">

Great stuff Franco!!

Beautiful - need to put this on my to-do list if I ever make it down under.

two questions:

What are the circular depressions filled with water in the second picture?
What is the plastic bin of sand with a lid in the fourth picture for? (at least that's how it looks to me)

Hi DK
The fourth picture shows one of 4 cleaning stations. You clean and disinfect your shoes to stop the spread of a fungus.
Those circular formations are just natural erosion.
There are many very interesting rock formations, unfortunately I have no idea of what I was looking at
Some more for you...
These are from table tennis ball size to about tennis ball size spread along a large rock slab .
(I will add pics fro my mate when I get them...)


These one is the size of a basketball


These are tennis ball sized and the rock face is several yards high and wide. (oddly it looks artificial but it isn't)


Franco

Thanks, Franco. My first thought was that it was something for preventing spread of microorganisms carried on your shoes.

And what amazing rock formations. Thanks for the extra pics!