If you are looking to spent one to two hours on a leisurely hike with some beautiful views of the ocean, Cape Schanck is the place to go. It is situated on the southernmost tip of the Mornington Peninsula separating the turbulent waters of Bass Strait from the slightly calmer waters of Western Port.
Cape Schanck is better known for its iconic lighthouse and boardwalk. The Cape Schanck Lighthouse has served shipping since 1859. Constructed from dressed limestone and sandstone, the original mechanisms are still in place – which makes this lighthouse pretty unique!
Well-maintained, wooden boardwalk with views of the light house and Cape Schanck.
Positioned near the lighthouse, the boardwalk provides a scenic walk to the beach below with spectacular ocean views, dramatic volcanic features, unspoilt beaches and pleasant walking tracks. The waters are frosty blue in colour, and seals or dolphins can sometimes be spotted in the area. The stoney beach is scattered with rock pools while the tall, basalt cliffs lend a touch of mystery to the rugged backdrop.
From the carpark, take the walking track to the left of the kiosk. This short circuit walk takes visitors to the start of the wooden staircase and boardwalk which descends to the beach and rock platform. There are several lookout points along the way that offer stunning views of geological formations created millions of years ago.
Cape Schanck is a great place to visit at any time of the year but remember to bring a jacket as it can get windy and chilly even with the sun shining overhead. The beach at the bottom of the boardwalk can get quite slippery with strong waves moving in and breaking across the rocky platform, so it’s best to keep out of harm’s way and not to stand too close to the water’s edge.
The Cape Peninsula with all of its stunning scenery and rich biodiversity is a feast for the senses. The weather was kind and it was a beautiful clear morning when we journeyed along the scenic Atlantic seaboard coastal road en route to Hout Bay. The road meandered out of Sea Point and into Clifton, which is home to real estate that only the super-rich can afford. Next to Clifton is the similarly affluent suburb of Camps Bay, popular with locals and international tourists for its long beach and pumping night life. This is THE place to strut your stuff and be seen. To my right, a never-ending stretch of white sand, sheltered from the south-easterly wind and very popular among sun-worshippers.
The Twelve Apostles on the Atlantic Coastal Road
The coach pulled up at an open car park for a photo opportunity of the Twelve Apostles mountain range. The Twelve Apostles are a group of small mountain peaks that run along the coast of Capetown and are part of the national park that runs from Table Mountain to Cape Point. The formidable Twelve Apostles rise above the road on one side, while steep cliffs and unusual rocks formations drop into the seemingly endless Atlantic Ocean on the other.
Hout Bay and Boat Cruise to Duiker (Seal) Island
We arrived at Hout Bay, a quaint fishing village which sits halfway between Cape Town and Cape Point. This once-fishing community is now a popular residential area nestled by mountains to the North, East and West and the ocean to the South. This village still carries the charm of a bygone era with many local craft markets and antique shops along the waterfront.
Hout Bay is well-known as the port of departure for scenic day trips to Seal Island.
The boat ride to Seal Island entails circling round The Sentinel to the other side.
Located 6 kilometres out to sea from Hout Bay, Seal Island is home to well over 60,000 Cape fur seals and 24 different bird species. Seals are the favourite menu for the Great White sharks that circle this area. The seals are well aware that they are the choice meal for sharks and enter the ocean with some degree of caution.
The whole island is an ever-changing scene of shades of brown bodies stretching and rolling lazily on the rocks. The seals squabble, bawl, bellow and snort at one another. The larger males compete for dominance while other seals nonchalantly slide off into the cold waters of the Atlantic.
We could only view the seals from the boat. This is not the kind of island where you can disembark. There is no beach, soil or vegetation at Seal Island. The whole place is rocky and slippery.
Groot Constantia Winery
Dating back to 1685, Groot Constantia is the oldest wine estate in South Africa. It is particularly well-known for its legendary dessert wines (Constantia Wyn), which have been enjoyed by aristocracy and royalty, from Bismarck to Frederick the Great of Prussia, King Louis Phillip of France and Napoleon. The luscious dessert wines have also been mentioned by Charles Dickens and Jane Austen in their books.
We were given a 45-minute guided tour of the wine cellar and watched the wine production process in action. We then made our way to the meeting room, walking past some beautiful works of art on the walls. The staff explained the background of the wines and suggested different blends and vintages that go well with food. During the talk, each of us got to sample the award-winning vintages he was referring to.
From left: Gouverneurs Reserve 2013, Pinotage 2015, Merlot 2013, Chardonnay 2015 and the famous Sauvignon Blanc 2016
The Manor House, which is a good example of Cape Dutch architecture, provides an insight into the life of a successful Cape farmer as well as the lives of rural slaves who worked in the wine estate. Other exhibits include furniture, paintings, textiles, ceramics, brass and copperware from the 18th and 19th centuries.
In the historic core of Groot Constantia Wine Estate stands Jonkershuis Constantia Restaurant. It is spacious and flexible enough to cater for big group functions like weddings, parties and conferences as well as for smaller occasions like family-style lunches, small group outings and picnics on its front lawns.
Sweeping views across the vineyards and beyond.
Fish Hoek Village
The wine-tasting and activities in the morning had whetted our appetites and all of us looked forward to having lunch at Fish Hoek.
The village of Fish Hoek sits on a pretty bay with a lovely beach and colourful Victorian bathing boxes that add a festive flavour to the place. This vibrant town is surrounded by rugged mountains and lays claim to one of the safest swimming beaches in Cape Town. It is no wonder that Fish Hoek is popular with wind surfers, lifesavers and hobie cat enthusiasts.
The restaurant where we had lunch, The Galley, is situated right on the beach with fresh breezes and panoramic views of the waves and sand. Customers can choose to dine in or outdoors.
For starters, we were served with Pumpkin Soup with Garlic Bread, followed by the main made up of Lobster served on a bed of Butter Rice, accompanied with Fish Fingers on Skewers, Salad and Chips. We rounded off the meal with ice-cream – a perfect dessert for a sweltering afternoon.
Boulders Beach, Simon’s Town
With all that heavy meal weighing inside my stomach, I was looking forward to getting a bit of a shut-eye inside the coach before we arrived at the next stop. Well, that didn’t happen. Seven minutes into the journey, the coach pulled up to the side of the road in Simon’s Town. We were asked to make our way down a somewhat steep side lane leading to Boulders Beach for the African (Jackass) penguins to have a closer look at us.
Amazing flowers lining the path to Boulders.
Every year over 60,000 visitors flock to Simon’s Town to watch and photograph the penguins in their natural habitat. Boulders Beach remains the only place in the world where one can get up close to African penguins. There are broad, wooden boardwalks cutting across the beaches for both parties to get a good look at each other.
African Penguin standing directly under me on the boardwalk.
Cape Point
Cape Point lies 1.2km east of Cape of Good Hope and is the most south-western corner of the African continent where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. Cape Point is in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and is part of the Cape Floral Region, a World Heritage Site. This narrow stretch of land, dotted with beautiful valleys, bays and beaches, contains a stunning array of animal and plant species.
South Africa’s most powerful lighthouse can be found here. Completed in 1859, it still stands at 238 metres above sea-level on the highest section of the peak and is now used as the central monitoring point for all lighthouses on the coast of South Africa.
In order to get to the lighthouse, visitors can either make an uphill walk from the car park to the lighthouse or take The Flying Dutchman Funicular. This funicular takes its name from the local legend of the Flying Dutchman ghost ship and is believed to be the only commercial funicular of its type in Africa. A 3-minute ride in this wheelchair-accessible Flying Dutchman Funicular transfers visitors from the lower station at 127 metres above sea-level, to the upper station to see the lighthouse and panoramic views of the ocean.
The intermingling of currents from the Atlantic and Indian Oceans help to create the micro-climate of Cape Town and its surroundings. Contrary to popular belief, the meeting of both currents does not result in any obvious visual effect, so there’s no “line” in the ocean where the sea changes colour or looks different. There are, however, rough seas, dangerous swells, tides and localised currents around the Point and in the adjacent waters. There has been countless maritime disasters in the centuries since ships first sailed here.
A bird’s-eye view of the strong waves directly beneath me.
Cape of Good Hope
About 1.2 kilometres west of Cape Point is The Cape of Good Hope, a rocky promontory at the southern end of the Cape Peninsula. The Cape of Good Hope is a haven for historians, nature lovers and outdoor enthusiasts offering scenic trails, hiking, biking, swimming in tidal pools, surfing, fishing, angling, bird, whale and wildlife watching.
The fading rays over Table Mountain marked the end of an exciting and memorable day at the Cape Peninsula. As the coach cautiously made its way out of the national park, I looked out of the window at the darkening sky and hoped fervently that I might one day get to see this all over again.
Footnote:As I was preparing the final edits to this post, I was shocked and saddened to receive news that our Tour Leader to South Africa, Ms E.M. Law, passed away on Sunday December 4, 2016. It was just last month that I dropped by the tour agency to say “hello” and reminisce on some highlights of the trip. She had promised to keep me updated on a small-group tour to Botswana, Tanzania and Kenya planned for next year. I just can’t believe she’s gone!
While putting up at my mother’s place in Melbourne last year, I decided to sign up for a day tour of the Great Ocean Road. This was my third visit to the scenic coastline. I still remember my second tour of the same road many years ago. That was the time we took our 2-year-old daughter, C, on her first overseas trip.
I had made sure that C slept most of the time during our flight so that the journey would not seem so long. When the pilot announced that we would be touching down at Tullamarine Airport in 90 minutes, the both of us felt relieved that the long flight had turned out better than expected. C had woken up by then and was trying to make friends with the little boy seated directly behind us. By and by, our attention turned to the airline stewardess who was running up and down the aisle and seemed rather flustered. Guess what? The little boy behind us had thrown up in the plane! The stewardess was doing her best to clean up the mess and reassure the embarrassed parents that everything was going to be alright. As the stench of vomit began to fill our nostrils, I started to feel queasy and turned to my husband for a sick bag. Unfortunately, he had his eyes closed while clutching a sick bag! I managed to find another one for myself and took deep gulps while doing mental workouts for the retching feeling to go away. Seconds later, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was my husband gesturing to me that C looked like she was about to throw up! I had to act fast and quickly shoved my bag in front of her. Methinks the stewardess should have thanked me for saving her from cleaning up another mess. As for me, all that frantic gulping, swallowing and mind control actually worked!
The moment we got in the coach for the Great Ocean Road tour, I knew we had made a big mistake. Barely an hour into the journey, C started to show signs of nausea. Viewing stops in the itinerary were spent inside the Visitor Centre or in the cold outdoors, desperately trying to get C to recover sufficiently so that we could continue the next leg of our journey. What was supposed to have been an enjoyable day out on the Great Ocean Road turned out to be a nightmare. It was a huge relief when we finally made it back to Melbourne in the late evening!
This time, I was determined to make the most of the tour. So on a very cold and wet morning in August 2015, my sister, two nephews and I boarded the train to Flinders Street Station and waited outside St Paul’s Cathedral for the coach that would take us on the Reverse Great Ocean Road Tour!
Colac Park
Our first stop for morning tea was at Colac Park. The town is built next to the huge Lake Colac and sits on the doorstep to the Great Otway National Park. While we were helping ourselves to coffee and biscuits, I noticed that my 14-year old nephew was unusually quiet and asked him if anything was wrong. He told me that the memory card in his camera was full and that he didn’t have an extra one. Oh no! I hadn’t anticipated this! How could he have used up 8GB of memory within a few days of buying the camera?
The quiet breath of Lake Colac at dawn
I asked our Tour Guide/Driver if we could make a quick stop in Colac town to buy an SD card. She said “no” as we were on a very tight itinerary and it would be unfair to keep the other passengers waiting. What a crappy excuse! I would have been able to accept it if she had said that it was too early in the morning for the shops to be opened! Seeing my nephew so dejected, I allowed him to use my SD card from my cellphone – but not before issuing a veiled threat that there would be hell to pay if he lost any data or stored images. This act of kindness cheered him up immediately and he was soon back to his usual cheerful self. I was waiting for him to shed tears of gratitude but that moment never came!
London Bridge
London Bridge is an impressive rock formation, offering sweeping views of the great Southern Ocean. During my first visit many years back, London Bridge was a double-span archway and tunnel which allowed me to walk right across to the furthest end of the cliff. In 1990, I read the news that the arch closest to the shore had collapsed, becoming a bridge without a middle. It’s good to know that I was one of those lucky ones who managed to make it all the way across before London Bridge fell down!
Loch Ard Gorge
If you are looking to find a spot on the Great Ocean Road that has it all, then Loch Ard Gorge wins hands down! Where else can you find rugged natural beauty, towering limestone cliffs, offshore stacks, mysterious blowholes and friendly nature trails to explore? Oh yes! Let’s not forget the stories of shipwreck and survival!
Twelve Apostles
There’s no better place to leave behind life’s daily trivia than the dramatic and wind-swept coastline where the iconic Twelve Apostles sit. I first saw the golden cliffs and crumbling pillars from a helicopter during my first tour of the Great Ocean Road. At that time, nine apostles were still visible. My second time here is not worth mentioning as I only got as far as the Visitor Centre!
This third time, however, I was determined to see something – anything, so I made my way under a tunnel leading out to an extensive walkway complete with viewing platforms.
Powerful waves and wind of the Southern Ocean pound the rugged, windswept coastline, carving them into caves, then arches, and eventually battering them down into columns that rise up to 45 metres high! They used to be connected to the cliffs of the mainland some 20 million years ago. The stacks continue to be eroded at a rate of roughly 2 centimetres a year. Over the years, some have given up the battle against nature and today, only seven stacks remain.
Long ago, the Twelve Apostles was known as “The Sow and Piglets”. However, I’m sure you’ll agree that the name “Twelve Apostles” lends more credence and dignity to this weather-beaten magnificent landscape.
It’s an invigorating, end-of-the-earth feeling to watch this dramatic coastline being whipped by howling winds and foaming seas. No photograph or video can accurately capture the ocean’s raw power and the emotion it brings out, unless you’re standing there yourself.
Walkway leading to the Twelve Apostles
Seen behind the Visitor Centre. The narrow path less travelled.
Proof that I was here!
Pond behind the Visitor Centre that attracts birdlife
Wild Koalas and Birdlife at Kennet River
Native animals and wildlife are certainly not shy in the Kennett River area, located half way between the seaside towns of Apollo Bay and Lorne. In fact, the wildlife appear to coexist with the residents there. How refreshing it must be to look outside everyday and spot a koala or kookaburra in the trees!
A popular stop to see koalas, king parrots, rosellas and kookaburra is the Grey River Road. This dirt road winds up amongst some beautiful eucalyptus trees with wild koalas feeling right at home in their natural habitat. There are wild birds and cockatoos in the trees near the parking area. They are so used to humans gawking at them that they are no longer camera-shy – like this kookaburra below!
Memorial Arch
Memorial Arch marks the gateway to the Great Ocean Road. The arch is a tribute to the 3,000 returned soldiers from WWI who built the road between 1919 and 1932.
The 243-kilometre stretch of road itself was built as a memorial for all those who had lost their lives in WWI. It extends from Torquay to Allansford and is the longest war memorial in the world.
Next to Memorial Arch is a sculpture of two returned soldiers working on the Great Ocean Road. The sculpture was built to honour the men who used only pickaxes and shovels to clear the way and smoothen the road. The difficult and dangerous nature of the work resulted in a high level of turnover and a number of deaths.
To give an idea of what life was like back then, bush camps were set up at the site, with a piano, gramophone, playing cards, games, newspapers and magazines for recreation and relaxation. Accommodation was in individual tents, with a communal dining marquee and a kitchen. The soldiers were paid 10 shillings and sixpence ($1.05) for an eight-hour day and worked a half-day on Saturdays. Meals were not provided, and food costs came up to 10 shillings week. Due to the distances involved, few soldiers were able to go home to their families during their rest days, so swimming, fishing and hunting became popular weekend pastimes.
Sunset at Memorial Arch.
Surf Beaches
The Great Ocean Road is dotted with many surf spots, attracting surfing professionals from around the world.
Torquay, at the beginning of the Great Ocean Road, is the birthplace of surf culture. The leading surf brands of Rip Curl and Quiksliver were established here more than 30 years ago and are now global market leaders in clothing and equipment for surf, snow and adventure sports. The internationally renowned Bells Beach is home to the famous annual Rip Curl Pro event.
We stopped at Torquay for a hearty Bubba’s Pizza dinner, spread across a barbecue bench next to the beach. There was a full moon that evening and its light across the darkened sky signalled the end of an enjoyable and satisfying day on the Great Ocean Road!
The Nobbies is actually the more popular name for Point Grant, located at the western tip of Phillip Island. In addition to boasting of panoramic ocean views and dramatic sea bluffs, the Nobbies is home to one of the largest fur seal colonies in Australia. It’s not quite certain as to how the Nobbies got its name. Perhaps it was from the domes at the end of the point, or from the rocks that protrude from the water like knobs when the tide reaches a certain level.
Unlike Cape Woolamai where the hike can be quite challenging, the one-kilometre walk around the Nobbies is a relaxing one via a series of wooden boardwalks and stairs that wind around the edge of the cliffs, offering uninterrupted views of fiery waves and white water crashing against the rocks.
The Nobbies showcases nature at its best. There are many native birds and wildlife in the surrounding area, and they turn up at the most unexpected moments. If you are thinking of coming here, consider bringing along a pair of binoculars. We spotted quite a number of wallabies hopping about, and admiring us while we admired them. Elsewhere, there were Grey Geese wandering about with their goslings. It’s amazing to think that little penguins land here and climb the cliffs to their burrows every night. We spotted many man-made burrows and even spied little penguins inside some of them.
Wallabies are plentiful here.
A penguin inside her burrow.
Birds are abundant.
After crossing a level stretch of the boardwalk, we arrived at a viewing platform for the Nobbies Blowhole. There is a 12-metre-deep sea cave just below the boardwalk. When smashed by a strong wave, the blowhole returns fire with a mist of air and water that sprays out of the hole. It was mesmerising to watch this phenomenon from the safety of the platform.
There is a sign along the boardwalk to explain how this force of nature works. Those with a physics bias will appreciate this additional information.
1. A large wave enters the blowhole. 2. The wave fills the tunnel from floor to ceiling, compressing air against the rear wall. 3. The wave hits the rear wall and rebounds, its speed increased by the explosive force of the compressed air. This creates a jet spray from the tunnel entrance.
Are those white streaks caused by seals, dolphins or whales?
The plus point about the rugged scenery of the Nobbies is that there are no entrance charges for the the pram-friendly boardwalk. Free. Now that’s a word I rarely hear these days! Don’t forget your jacket and scarf as it can get very cold especially if you are visiting during winter and spring.
Dancing With Shadows 