Day 5, Thursday 10 March, – (13km) Ryans Den to Devils Kitchen.
It drizzled a bit early in the day, but this didn’t stop scenery from being amazingly beautiful.
Most of the day’s track was, as you probably have guessed, on a well trodden trail next to the ocean. There was a small section of it in the forest near the end.
Because of the drizzle, the ocean and hills seemed to be misty, gave the landscape a different kind of hue.
There were a few benches like this strategically located at the lookouts along the way, providing the bushwalkers convenient rest spots with stunning views.
Hygiene stations like this were present at all sections of the walk, one must whip one’s shoes/boots on the brushes to clean them up before proceeding to the next section. Those hygiene stations varied in apparences, with this being one of the most common types.
The trees in the forest looked a bit weird. Now looking at the pictures, it was probably because the trunks of those trees were dancing left and right, unlike most other trees which are usually straight.
There was also a large variety of mushrooms along the walk.This for example, is not bread.
Devils kitchen campsite had the toilet with one of the best views. But the toilet, like those in the rest of the hike in camp sites were composting toilets. Which means, while enjoying the spectacular view from the window while sitting on the toilet, you also have to endure the almost unbearable stink emanated from beneath.
By the time we reached the campsite, it started pouring.
Because of the rain, there were a lot of mosquitos. We only walked 13km that day, I had the whole afternoon not having much to do. So I ended up reading a book on my phone, a little curious fairy wren came over to the opening of my tent to check me out, there were 4-5 mosquitoes circling outside the top of the inner layer of my tent at one stage.
I wonder whether fairy wren eat mozzies.
Day 6, Friday, March 11 – (16km) Devils Kitchen to 12 Apostles.
It was another day with early start because we need to catch the shuttle bus at 12:30pm and it was a 16 km hike.
It was cloudy in the morning, so it still looked misty in the distance.
Reception improved drastically as we walked closer to the civilization and there were a few places along the track that were accessible by cars. Occasionally, I could see roads and farmlands in the distance.
Where the Great Ocean Road met the Old Coach Road near Gellibrand river, we walked past a caravan park. This was a place where the narrow, rough hiking track suddenly turned into a flat, 4-5 metre dirt road cater for automobiles.
Despite the warning sign, we did not sight any snakes. Instead we spotted an echidna. Those creatures are relatively easy to spot because they cull into a ball when they sense danger.
The last few kilometres, the trail changed frequently – from dirt to rubber covering on the track to wood planks to stones steps and back. The sceneries, however, remained similar: up and down the green hilly side close to the sea.
When we reached the 12 Apostles Visitor Centre – our final destination, there was no relief of finally finishing the walk or disappointment that there was nothing further to walk on. It’s probably because our thoughts during the last few hours were mainly on how to not miss the shuttle bus.
It was not until I started sorting some 1500+ pictures I had taken over the trip did it dawn on me that I had completed the whole track!
Aftermath
I mean misc thoughts after completed the track.
This track was one of the most clearly marked and well maintained track I have hiked, despite the fact that there weren’t whole lot of people on it when we walked. It is possible that number of spots at hike in camp sites limited the amount of people walking the track and there weren’t awfully lot of day walkers other than on the sections near touristy spots accessible by cars.
In retrospect, ideally I should probably finish it in 4 days – single section only takes a few hours to walk, leaving plenty of times in the afternoon to munch on the over supply of food that I routinely bring on those overnight/multiday bushwalks in the fear of starving. In the end I lost not a single kg through this 106km hike. My mum said ‘dear, it’s not that you did not lose any weight, you just drank too much water’.
Right.
