*This is one of our first entries since back in 2018 (pre Covid GASP). In the foreseeable future, posts will likely be a mix of entries, jumping around different trips across the past seven years*

Day: 2 (6th November 2024) 12km

After a reasonable first nights sleep on the GOW, we woke to a patchy blue sky on what was forecast to be a pretty warm one.

With the weather in mind, we’d planned to hit the trail early, allowing ourselves to finish our days walking reasonably early, and well before the heat peaked in the mid afternoon.

After a quick breakfast and brew, we admired another Koala mother with her Joey (there’d been 4 Koalas in the trees above us) before getting on our way.

Todays section promised to offer us the fewest ocean views, the journey to Blanket Bay utilising a lot of forest access roads for a good portion of what was going to be a short days walking.

The trail undulated a little, but was mostly dry and the track itself pretty sandy.

It was a mild, but not yet hot morning under the forest canopy, a lovely area when surrounded by towering ferns, and less so when the trail was rutted from 4WD vehicles that had clearly torn through the track, and the junk that they’d so unpleasantly dumped alongside the way (we were fortunately able to report our find to a ranger later in the day).

We were making good progress, so passed at the opportunity to utilise a pair of benches that felt somewhat randomly position alongside the trail, as the trail took a pair of left turns and we eventually left the Sandy Ridge Track (upon which we’d been walking).

The turn was simply another fire trail, however it had us heading back towards the sea, which is always a welcome development in my book!

Incredibly, by this point, we’d already covered more than half of the days distance, and we were hours from midday, so it was looking extremely likely we’d have a good amount of the day to while away in Blanket Bay.

We’d originally planned today as a double section (so we’d have journeyed on to the Cape Otway Campground), however, my various readings online suggested this was many hikers favourite campsite, so we opted to stay here tonight, instead making our 3rd day a double section.

After all, we were no wiser!

Eventually, the trail began to descend once again, and we began to hear the sounds of the ocean, long before it could be glimpsed between the foliage.

Overhead, the sky was actually quite dull, and we wondered if it would prove to be a hot and humid afternoon?

Heading even steeper downhill, the last couple of kilometres to Blanket Bay itself flew quickly by.

Then, just like that, we were on the calm shores of the bay, with just a couple of hundred metres across the sand to camp.

There was the potential for a river crossing as a final logistical challenge, but this was an anticlimax with water levels low enough that the river, presently resembling a small creek, not even sufficient enough to force it’s way to the sea.

A couple of beachcombers, and a young lady dedicated to her yoga craft later, and it was up a short set of stairs to the Blanket Bay campground, and the day wasn’t yet at 11am!

At this early hour, we had the campground to ourselves, with no other hikers likely to show up for some time yet, so we had a bit of a reconnoiter of the sites to see where we might want to camp.

The place was popular due to it’s small waterfall and pool towards the rear, so that seemed a likely spot, however we figured we were in no rush, and a few that were up the hill to our left might afford some nice views of the water.

We soon discovered that the ground at the other options was compact and hard earth (like concrete), so the grassy pads in the lower areas were the winner.

Our inspection of the other campsite options also revealed to us, we weren’t actually alone, as a local Echidna proved quite a delightful discovery, our first wildlife sighting since the Koalas earlier that morning!

Over the course of the day, we spied him all over the campground, fossicking his way through the dirt and logs in search of food.

Pretty cool company to have!

The other company we discovered was a bit more of a shock, in the form of our first snake sighting (an Eastern Brown), with it slithering towards the communal shelter just as we were walking by.

It quickly disappeared into the adjacent brush, and whilst we figured we’d see one (a snake) eventually, it was still something of a surprise. It also made us a little wary shortly after as we used the facility to prepare our lunch (where we were also accosted by the most annoying flies we’d encountered on the trek thus far)!

With the day still warm, we decided to freshen up with a bit of a swim (the water was lovely), before exploring some of the ancient ruins not far from the beach.

Historically, as a safe harbour of sorts, Blanket Bay had served as a place to make landfall and deliver supplies for the nearby Cape Otway Lighthouse (in the days before easy road access). The supplies were stored in a hut and there was apparently a cottage as well, but other than the remnants of some stone walls and the remains of a chimney, there wasn’t too much left to see.

The Blanket Bay hiker campground, unlike most others along the route, is situated right beside a drive in campground, something that became very apparent as throughout the day, campers would appear at the shelter, filling their large water vessels, rather than utilise the tank closer to their camp.

It’s unclear whether the level in their tank was low, but looking at the size of some of the large bottles and drums being filled, it really looked as though some people were taking more than their fair share!

We decided to explore their grounds a little further, with a bit of delight found in the form of a sleeping Koala clinging tightly to the low branches of a eucalyptus.

There was also supposed to be second ruin (as mentioned, a cottage and a storehouse), as we’d as yet only discovered one, but a little more hunting (there was a ruined set of stairs heading into the scrub) revealed it’s location, an anticlimax of sorts as there was little there, but there was little else we were doing with our time!

I thought I’d try my hand at a little drawing of the scenery (the lack of anything to display here showcases how unsuccessful that little endeavor was), and otherwise most of the afternoon was spent reading on the grass overlooking the beach, Sarah chasing the sun, and I seeking any patch of shade available to hide from it!

In the late afternoon, a posse of kids began to appear, some complaining about the weight of their packs after what we assumed was a long day.

The truth would soon come to light, as they’d only recently been dropped off at the adjacent drive in campground, and their hike was actually set to begin tomorrow.

Not a promising sign of things to come!

With the kids setting up their camps and running amok, we did our best to disappear settling in for an early night, the first of our dehydrated meals we’d made ourselves (a dehydrated pasta dish) which worked reasonably well, however, the highlight of the evening was the Campers Pantry Freeze Dried Raspberry Icecream we’d brought along.

That stuff was delicious!

As a bit of a last hurrah before retiring for the day, we took one more stroll along the beach, this time around the point onto a rocky shelf to scope it out.

The grey skies had well and truly set in by now, so dodging a few more of school kids clambering over the rocks, we took our leave and finally did call it a day.

* Reservations for each campsite was made via the Parks Victoria website and cost us $18.50 per site (at present, all National Park reservations have become free, until at least the 30th June 2025 I believe)

Jump back to Day 1 of our Great Ocean Walk Adventure HERE

Continue to Day 3 of our Great Ocean Walk Adventure HERE