Matt Down Under

Route: Devils Kitchen — Twelve Apostles — Port Campbell

I was glad it was the final day on the trail, it was really a lot colder at night that I would have liked. My equipment was simply too light for conditions like that. I was also pretty tired from the long walk the previous day.

My gas can ran empty during breakfast, I just so managed to cook another cup of tea. It was the right decision to skip one day.

When I left the campsite I had cold hands and it really took a while to warm up since the first half an hour of the track was not covered by sunshine.

It didn’t take long and I could get the first glimpse of the Twelve Apostles on the horizon — it was still a long way to go. At least the weather was improving, I was lucky with my trip planning again and got to enjoy the last day in sunshine.

Until Rivernook the track was mostly traversing light forest and bush land, easy walking but not very scenic. From Rivernook down to the Gellibrand River Mouth car park the track was more open and sandy. I saw a few black wallabies there.

From the car park the track followed a road for a couple of minutes, then it turned into a walking track again, across the dunes towards the Twelve Apostles.

About 2km before the Twelve Apostles visitor centre the track ended rather abruptly at a car park, with a sign saying something like ‘sorry, this is currently the end of the track’. It wasn’t great, but at least there were track works underway to extend it to the visitor centre until 2012.

I walked at the side of the road to the Twelve Apostles visitor centre. In the bathroom I changed into less smelly clothes, then bought a few snacks and went to take photos. I had been there before in 2008, but lost most of the photos.

Afterwards I watched the arriving and departing people at the car park for a lift to Port Campbell, the nearest town. It was Saturday, so there was no public transport. It seemed like the Twelve Apostles are the largest assembly point of Asian people outside of Asia.

I paid money to a tour guide to sneak me onto his bus. We even made another stop at Loch Ard Gorge so I got some kind of scenic tour before arriving in Port Campbell. I checked in at Port Campbell Hostel — by far the best hostel there, it’s very modern and clean. I ended up staying there for about a week to relax, wash clothes and do some work before travelling on to Adelaide.