Lorne

We are now on the Great Ocean Road built by returned soldiers after WW1 to link up all the little coastal towns in western Victoria.  It is a beautiful dramatic road that chases the seashore, sometimes on cliffs and sometimes right down by the beaches. which are picture postcard perfect .  It is full of hairpin bends and must have been very difficult to build.  There are magnificent pole houses from time to time anchored in the rock and peering out to sea.

We fetch up at a place called Lorne at a riverside caravan park.  Grant is displeased by the number of ducks.  This dislike puzzles me, as in moments of affection he calls me his duck.  Anyway I love them and take two slices of bread down to feed them and think how little Jacob would enjoy this.

This little town is full of birds. Clearly white cockatoos are a problem. And there are flocks of them that haunt the caravans. There are notices about them “Feeding cockatoos will make them ill” and “Feeding cockatoos can make you ill”   Certainly the picture of the skeletal cockatoo deters me.  I’ll stick to ducks.

We go to the exhibit about the building of the Great Ocean Road which is a memorial to the workers on the road.  A private company began it and so records of its employees are scarce.  The tools were primitive and there were accidents but the work was very good for the traumatized ex soldiers.  Their health improved.  One thing that upset a lot of them was the blasting which brought flashbacks of being in the trenches. In the beginning it was a toll road but eventually the government took it over.

We have a nice beer in the pub and I buy Grant a beautiful big  brown sweater which makes him look like someone out of Fortitude.  It was made in Nepal.  Poor Nepal.