Day 25 - 31/12/13 - Hammonds Track - Wye River Vic

One thing we have started to become very good at since we started Doin’ The Block is sleeping in. At home the boys usually are up around 5:30am with Jacko often earlier, however now we have a 7am wake up rule with no getting out of bed until 7:30. It’s our version of Luxury!

We had spoken with the park rangers, which visit the camp sites every day, about where we should head next and with the Falls Festival on they advised heading to at least Wye River about 35 kms further west on the Great Ocean Road. The road was carved out of the side of cliffs by diggers after returning from WW1 and there is a monument to too their blood, sweat and tears along the drive and I have thought many times about this incredible generation of men that did so much for this great country we call home.


After Lorne the road became even more spectacular with sheer cliffs of 500 and 600m plummeting straight into the ocean below. I was amazed by the incredible beauty of the drive.
 
All along the rod there are small hamlets with 10, 30 or 50 houses tacked onto the side of the hills that meet the ocean. One of them is Wye River and in the bush about 1km  behind it is a bush camp that we were going to call home for our New Year’s Celebration. The camp only has about 6 sites and no toilet but we thought it would be great.
The cluster of houses is Wye River with the campsite being on the ridge above it
 
We set up and headed to the beach with nibblies and a couple of drinks. We donned our wet suits and had a great time on the boogie boards in the amazingly clear water. Another family had set up a game of beach cricket so we joined in with the boys enjoying playing again.

 
After a bit of a walk across the rocks we headed back up the dirt track to our home for dinner a few more drinks and an early night. Yes I know its NYE but I was expecting a quite night and in bed by 10 or 10:30.

There were a few other tents and vans set up by the time we arrived but they were all off at parties or the pub in the next hamlet Separation Creek. We had dinner and soon after headed down to track down a Koala that was barking his presence. We found him nonchalantly sitting in the very top of the trees gazing out over the valley and the slowly setting of the sun, and 2013.
 
While we were looking for the koala we found a pretty hut that somebody had constructed which the boys thought were pretty cool.
 
On the way back we passed a young couple that were tenting and said they should come up for a drink later on.

During our trip we are having a Uno challenge. Each time a game is played points are tallied and there will be a grand champion at the end of the block as well as monthly champions. I was only 26 points ahead of Sam so we decided that 4 games needed to be played to decide the December champion. Well they say the best man always wins and for December, with a resounding 100+ point victory is....yours truly! Let’s hear it for me!! Yeeah!! As we were finishing up Uno the young couple, Harry and Olivia from down the road popped in and joined in the game. It was a bit of a shock for them as we play the game pretty quickly but they seemed to be enjoying themselves so they hung around. Well the idea of a quite night was sliding away at an ever increasing rate as we put the boys to bed around 10:30. It is funny when you meet somebody that is really easy to get along with that the night just flies by. We celebrated the passing of the year and kept on chatting. Whilst De and I were old enough to be their parents they had their heads screwed on and, I hate using the word as I am rarely it, mature. De went to get another drink at around 1 and never returned and at about 3:30am I looked at my watch, nearly fell out of my chair and headed straight for bed. Bloody hell I am too old for this and I don’t even have the Forsyth’s to blame! 2013 was a great year and I think 2014 is going to be even better!
 

No comments:

Post a Comment