Before beginning our drive back along the Great Ocean Road, we watched the full moon set from our little cottage just outside of Port Campbell. We enjoyed our stay at Daysy Hill Country Cottages. It was the perfect location for our sightseeing and we loved how quiet and peaceful it was.

It was 8 am as we headed east and we took the opportunity for one last stop at the Twelve Apostles viewing site. Today we had clear skies and fewer people.

Our destination today was a rental cottage in Rye, a small town on the Mornington Peninsula. The plan was to once again drive the Great Ocean Road, and then take the ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento, a short drive from Rye.

It’s a great road, fun to drive and scenic. We stopped at the lookout at Castle Cove. There we saw a marker for the Great Ocean Walk, a 100 km hike that follows the coastline from Apollo Bay to the Twelve Apostles.

We stopped in again at the Koala Cafe in Kennett River. There is a known colony of wild Koala bears here, but it isn’t an official preserve. You park in the cafe lot and walk up a gravel road and maybe see a Koala in the trees. This time we saw one, but there were two small tour buses stopped as well. So one small Koala had a hoard of about thirty people jostling for position at the base of the tree. I had flashbacks to when we saw one leopard surrounded by twenty safari jeeps in Botswana. It makes me feel sad, and I don’t like feeling like a gawker.

We continued our drive with a planned lunch stop in Lorne. After the quiet and peaceful countryside, Lorne felt crowded and busy. Cockatoos were as common as pigeons in NYC as they stole food from the lunch crowds. This kind of food is very bad for the birds. A woman in one of the shops told us that the birds lose their feathers and get sick when they eat food meant for humans.

We made it a quick lunch stop and continued up the road.

It was Sunday and a warm sunny day, so we had to deal with more traffic, and saw many motorcyclists and bicyclists. We eventually left the Great Ocean Road and turned towards Queenscliff.

In Queenscliff we caught the 4 PM ferry to Sorrento, on the Mornington Peninsula. This area is best known for its beaches and vineyards, and is just an hour outside of Melbourne.

We found our rental cottage and settled in.