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On the first night of our expidition along the Great Ocean Road we discovered the small hamlet of Wye River, named after the Wye River which enters the Ocean here.

We camped in a Big 4 campsite which is a very short walk from the beach, and has access to a shop and a bar. This was in fact the first time we had used the tent setup in anger so we got a photo of it to give an impression of the general experience!

After setting up camp, we took a walk onto the beach (photographed) and found a big gang of sulphur crested cockatoos sitting around eating something at the edge of the beach (see photo) and I just managed to take the photo when a fisherman wandered up and scared them all, allowing me to somehow manage to get a pretty decent photo of some of the flock mid-flight!

If you read my original musings about why we came to Australia, you’ll know that the lack of interesting birdlife in Britain was listed as a contributory factor… I’m sure you’ll agree that the sulphur crested cockatoo is more interesting than our boring old blackbirds…

Anyway, the Big 4 joint is a good place to stop off along the Great Ocean Road, and is reasonably priced at around AUD$28 during Feb for a pitch. They have a camp kitchen, good showers and toilets as well as a big bouncy castle (which I didn’t think we should go on as we’d launch the little children who were on there a fair distance if we did). There is a fair bit of bush land around the site so there is a good amount of wildlife in the campsite itself: you don’t have to hike far to see some native fauna…

Unfortunately though, when I spoke to the Big 4 people, they felt they could not sponsor us by providing free pitches at their sites, so I still need a dollar (or pound) to help me get around the rest of Australia.