Great Ocean Walk - Day 4

Day 4 Aire River – Johanna Beach Campsite

The view from Johanna Beach walk in campsite

Enjoying a rest at Castle Cove

From the campsite the track meandered through the trees to a number of look out points and crossed to the bottom of the cliff front, just above the beaches. The path then headed up towards Castle Cove, and a stash of water we had left for ourselves, as just here the path meets the Great Ocean Rd. We stopped at the lookout for a rest and a nibble, as a tour group arrived and a Frenchman with a guitar, he started singing and playing the guitar, which was nice if a bit surreal!

From Castle Cove, the track heads back towards the cliff tops and to Johanna Beach. By this time the sun was out the temperature rising. The path heading into Castle Cove was totally over grown and difficult, on the other side of Castle Cove were a couple of Vic Parks Workers, cutting back the foliage, making the going much better. This also meant you had a better view of the track and any potential hazards, including snakes! Unfortunately the workers had only managed to clear a kilometre or so, so the track so became thick with foliage again. 

Throughout our walk there had been thousands of Butterflies, there were literally hundreds flying up with every step from the surrounding plants as we walked along the path. I think they were common brown butterflies although they were bright orange! 

Looking back towards Aire River & Cape Otway

After another boot cleaning station, we soon made it down onto Johanna Beach. This time walking along this beach was a little more pleasurable, as the sun was out and the wind wasn’t blowing down the beach. As with every beach we came across or were to come across, the Vic Parks warnings certainly made you think twice about doing the beach route, even though it was a calm day and we knew it was near to low tide, we still made sure we made it to the end of the beach and our way off before we stopped. In some respects this put a little bit of stress into the walk as we were always keen to make it off the beach in time. Most of the time though there was no need. 

We stopped on Johanna Beach for an hour or so, and had lunch, trying to avoid getting attacked by really annoying Sand Flies. I don’t know what they like about me but Andy doesn’t seem to get picked on by them! And they hurt when they bite!

Enjoying a rest on Johanna Beach

The campsite is about 1.5/2km from the exit point of the beach. There is another large drive in site, but the walk in site is well away from the beach, at the top of the cliffs, in a really nice spot, the nicest so far in fact!

We were the first to the site and picked a spot overlooking the beach. By this time we were pretty hot and smelly so we decided to have as good as wash as possible. So we had the best view from a shower around! But a couple of litres of cold rainwater later we were certainly feeling better and got some of washing done also. One of us carried enough boxers for the whole week and an extra day.....one of us made do with a pair of knickers for every other day! We both ended up stinking, just one of us had less to carry! We also had the pleasure of collecting box number 2. We got rid of any rubbish we were carrying or articles of clothing we didn’t need anymore and left them in the box to collect on our way home!

We certainly enjoyed our night at Johanna Beach. We weren’t alone anymore though as another couple joined us on the site. Choosing to utilise the lovely peaceful sites looking out over the fields rather than what was called “the thunderbox” by someone in the walkers log. The night wasn’t too bad as I like the sound of the waves, where as Andy wasn’t so sure! 

Airing out our clothes!

The view from the campsite

 From the entrance to the campsite you see where your next day goes, as it leads off into the fields across the hill tops.

More pictures can be found on Flickr - Australianminiadventure