The "Great" Ocean Walk … a poem by Annemarie T
There are words known by some as "gift" words, not lightly bestowed Words like mentor, elder, leader, or other special descriptors I'm told A monicker such as "great" would fit into this category And I am now ready to agree that this walk has earned its title, here's my story We set out the first day with 28 Kilometres to cover Ending at the lighthouse at Cape Otway, with lots in between to discover The first beach section took our breath away With interesting terrain and powerful waves filled with ocean spray Climbing into the eucalyptus forest where koalas might be sighted We never saw one, but if we had we would have been delighted We were greeted with scones and jam for our tea Then escorted to the lighthouse keepers house (or what used to be) It stormed through the night with the lighthouse standing guard The weather the next day was perfect, and the terrain wasn't hard More beautiful beaches, more waves to admire More beautiful forests to traipse through, of these views we could never tire It seemed on this day that we could never get enough of all that was on offer At day's end we had a house to ourselves, we didn't suffer The next day's start with yet another amazing beach Led us to a climb that was a bit of a reach Sliding backwards in the mud during the ascents Our poles kept is on our feet during the descents A rainbow with a black cloud background The ever growing swell, the roar of the waves an overpowering sound Back inland we would track, Where the view from the out house is a must to inspect The storm came I with great force, Powerful wind and drenching rain (of course) We made our way to our shelter for the night Soaked through to the skin, we were quite a sight The power blew out, we watched the wind and rain increase Our warm cozy candlelit dinner left us quite pleased An early morning start so to facilitate a timely end of walk pick up An easy walking day with only short showers causing barely a hiccup Though the bush, up and down the headlands to a riverside town Where we paused for a break, we had lots of time for a sit down The on to the final destination where the apostles stand A "high five" when we first glimpsed them, but we still had to walk a fair bit overland The apostles are beautiful but the overwhelming number of tourists are a distraction Causing in us a less than positive reaction We shot a few pictures but left as soon as we possibly could We agreed that an early morning viewing with fewer tourists would be good Driving back along the Great Ocean Drive, gave us a different view With farmlands, rolling hills and valleys it was all quite new So beyond the stunning scenery, what makes this walk earn the adjective "great" We had the track to ourselves, with very little traffic, which I appreciate The track is well maintained, with a wide variety of terrain To keep the experience fresh, and there's lots of wildlife to entertain The distances we covered were comfortable, we ended quite energised I just loved this walk, how much I enjoyed it was a bit of a surprise Annemarie & Geoff T from Vancouver Canada, stayed at our Retreat in late March 2015, and were impressive in their friendliness and also their insights.
'The dismal weather did not stop the sun shining from their presence.' Thanks to Annemarie for permission to use her poetry and Geoff for his photography-
it is not to be reused or circulated without the author's consent. |