We’ve Buckley’s Chance

Day: 306

Towns / Cities Visited: 203

Countries Visited: 31

Steps Taken Today: 15,375

Steps Taken Around the World: 4,764,810

Getting used to living in a tent was always guaranteed to take some time, and thus as we awoke on the third morning of our adventure, it was in a relatively tired state, to say the least. Of course, the constant wind of the Bellarine Peninsula pummelling the side of our tent each night was largely to blame. Well, that and anxiety. Surprisingly, when you’re already highly strung, the sound of the walls moving around you isn’t exactly the most calming sound to fall asleep to.

Still, we had places to go and things to tick off our list. Given that our plans to go paragliding had been thwarted by the weather, hopefully only to be postponed until later in the week, we decided to head for Jirrahlinga Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary instead. After all, what better way to lift the spirits than to get up close and personal with an animal known largely for getting far more sleep than both of us had had combined.

Off we trundled, only to arrive to the red ink of yet another disappointment. Plastered on the windows of the sanctuary were signs saying that they were closed until further notice for maintenance and restructuring. Sigh. No paragliding and no cute animals. Not a great start. Onwards and upwards though, right?

So back in the car we hopped, heading to something that couldn’t be closed: nature. First stop on the day’s section of the Great Ocean Road was Barwon Heads Bluff. Arriving, we wrapped ourselves in our windproof jackets, having learnt that lesson the hard way the previous day, and wandered off along the track that winds its way along the top of the bluff. Like most of the cliffs lining the southern edge of Victoria, Barwon Heads Bluff is made up of layers of sedimentary stone, and so is quite brittle and unstable. As such, much of the walk is set back from the cliff’s edge and fenced off, both to keep idiots from dying in pursuit of pointless selfies and to protect the delicate ecosystem there.