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My Camping Experience in The Otways

By Nandish

Thursday, 13 June 2019

Who doesn’t like a good camping trip? This was all we, the Study Geelong Ambassadors, talked about ever since the camping trip was announced. The fact that the trip itinerary was a mystery gave us that jump in our steps and made us curious.

We left Waurn Ponds at 9:00 am to our first stop, the ‘Ceres Lookout’. The view from that place was second to none. From the high viewpoint we could see the entire city and like everyone, we started using our amateur directional skills to find our houses. We then headed to Forrest in the Otways, where had a quick stop at Elizabeth Lake. There we strolled and stretched our legs. 

trees

 

In Forrest we stopped at this beautiful café, Platypi, for lunch. It has an amazing view of the bush, which we stared into while sipping the best hot chocolate I have ever had. It was soon time to leave to our unknown destination but not before we grabbed our sugar treats for the road.

Platypi

 

We were driving on a small road that was surrounded by tall lush green trees, a much needed change from the city environment. After a short drive we arrived at our next destination, Hopetoun Falls. Disappointingly, we were not able to go very close to the waterfall but it didn’t stop my enthusiastic friends from posing. The hike back up was longer than I had imagined and left us gasping for air when we reached the car.

Hopetoun Falls Sharavati Aayushree Divyansh Chirag Nandish web

 

When we arrived our camping spot in Tanybryn, we quickly started arguing about the sleeping arrangements. As it was getting darker, we decided to keep the never ending arguments aside and help setup the tents. We all started making dinner as these activities had made us hungry. Devouring the dinner, it was now time for MARSHMALLOWS, without which any camping story would be incomplete. All of us concentrated to get the perfect roasted marshmallows, which is a lot harder than you would imagine.    

tents

 

After ticking all the must do camping things, we collected our gear and went for a night walk to Maits Rest. The amazing thing about this was we were supposed to look for something without being told what it was with clear instructions ‘you will know’. Yes you hear it right, we were looking for something without description.  As we walked clueless through a forest in the middle of the night just praying not to encounter a wild animal, we found it, the glow worms. As we saw them we knew that was it. We were unfortunate to only see a few because it was out of season, but it was really beautiful. Feeling content we headed back to our camp. The night was not over, we decided to play UNO and charades. It was then we realised our poor acting skills but that didn’t stop us, we competed and laughed so hard that tears rolled down our eyes. We only decided to sleep because we had to be fresh for the next day.

Woken up by multiple calls, I finally decided to crawl out of the tent. After our morning coffee to wake us up, we made breakfast and lunch before we headed out to Apollo Bay.

Tanybryn making lunch web

 

It was a beautiful day with the weather just right. We all enjoyed a walk by the beach and as you would image clicked a lot of photos. Once everyone was satisfied with their images we grabbed hot chips on our way to Shelly Beach. It was a small hike before we reached the beach but it was stunning. It was a small beach with a rock perfectly sitting in the middle, similar to a table.

Shelly Beach group eating web

 

We had lunch with this spectacular view and fun conversations. It was hard to leave but it was time for our final destination, the Aireys Inlet Lighthouse.

Split Point Lighthouse web

We all were so disappointed that we had to go back to our ‘lives’. This was one of the best weekends of my life that went by in a flash. I recommend everyone to go outside their comfort zone to explore the Otways and you’ll come back with many memories and a lot more photos.