*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: 4 (8th November 2024) 13.5km

After the previous nights rain, it was a damp camp and grey skies kind of morning, with us again on the trail reasonably earlier.

It promised to be a shooter day in terms of distance, however, there was a lengthy 6 kilometre beach section today, that depending on conditions, can sometimes (apparently) take hours!

Our flexibility was tested early too, with a fallen tree requiring us to bend and twist our way through, and make that call. Leave packs on, or take them off!?

We were also sporting our rain jackets, a decision that sure, protected from any drizzle, but got us warm quickly (well, at least Chris was getting warm), so provided something of a quandary.

The presence of Wallabies or Kangaroos was evident with pawprints in the sand, but for now, we couldn’t see the animals themselves (I felt like some sort of indigenous tracker when I first found their tracks, but look at the prints. Who could honestly miss them?)!

The overnight rain and morning drizzle had at least left the sandy path reasonably firm underfoot, and despite the threat of more rain, the fresh sea breeze was actually quite invigorating!

Soon, the trail began to veer towards the beach, which also meant downhill, initially our footing aided by wooden slats, and for a time, we strode the trail with ocean to our left, and rocky cliffs to our right.

With the salty wind and waves crashing, it was quite glorious. This was the Great Ocean Walk we’d been expecting!

By now the trail made for easy walking, the sand having given way to hard packed soil, as we snaked our way along the coast.

Patchy cloud was by now allowing the sun to poke through, so I’d long ago ditched my rain jacket, with my thin hoody now enough to keep me warm despite the cool winds.

Later, just shy of mid morning, our path intersected with the Great Ocean Road for the first time since Marengo (on day 1), and for the only time whilst we we’re on the trail at the quite gorgeous looking Castle Cove.

We simply rounded a corner, and there it was.

The perfect place for a quick snack, before we the trail, still hugging the cliffs, took us around the edge of the cove itself.

We chose to ditch our packs for a bit, and head down to the beach itself.

The sand was cool, the wind blustery, but at least the overnight rain prevented (mostly) the sand from whipping us like a sand blaster.

A couple of locals turned up with their gorgeous dog… just a shame it’s supposed to be a dog free beach.

Oh well!

Back up off the beach, we retrieved our packs from where we’d dumped them in some long grass, and once again hit the trail, where it immediately veered away from the road (Castle Cove would make a suitable food drop if you didn’t want to carry all your food for the duration), and took us up to what promised to be a cliff top walk.

We could actually see part of the school group from yesterday arrive as we made to depart, a few flyers at the front, by now well ahead of their main group which remained out of sight.

We were 7.5km from our campsite according to the signage near the beach, meaning we weren’t yet halfway through our day (in terms of distance), but the day was still early and we were happy with the progress being made.

Of course, seemingly much of that listed distance would be on beach sand, so the going may slow considerably, not to mention the matter of crossing the Johanna River.

Our path largely hugged the clifftop, snaking its way with the contours of the coast.

Before long, the first of the school kids, the ones who were seemingly trying to sprint to Johanna, caught us, so we allowed them to pass.

We began to see our first grass trees alongside the trail as well, those very Australian plants that always make me feel like I’m now genuinely out in the bush!

For a time the scrub got a bit thicker, and there were even some trees for a small section, but it soon opened up again again and was quite breezy.

A long stretch of boardwalk carried us over some very firm looking ground, so we could only assume it was to keep us removed from the environment, as Cinnamon Fungus (more commonly called “Dieback”) is apparently a real threat to many species of plant, the Grass Trees we’d started to see, apparently very sensitive to the condition.

Soon, Johanna Beach could be seen in the distance.

It was a snaking descent down to the beach itself (some of it courtesy of large stone steps), the skies fairly blue but that ever present breeze keeping things cool.

We could see almost the entire length of beach (the exit to the carpark is near its western edge), however, we still weren’t entirely sure about the tides, and whether it meant we’d need to race the water at any point, or if it may even inflate the width of the river we needed to cross.

Those schoolkids who had raced ahead were also visible like little ants, their small pack now broken into a lead pair, and stragglers scattered behind along the sand.

Down at sea level, the wind was much stronger, and to our misfortune, was smack in our face.

Yep, a headwind, and after hours of sun beating down on the once wet sand, much of the top layer (at least the stuff a bit higher up the beach) was now dry, the gusts whipping it directly in our faces.

We both thought we’d use our poles for support in the softer sand and to fight the wind, but I quickly got Sarah to help reattach mine as we slogged our way on.

It was a fine line between being too near the waterline where the sand was firmer, and being too high where every footstep felt like you were sinking into deep snow.

A workout for the legs it certainly was, and about two thirds of the way along the beach, we were suddenly under dark grey clouds and wrestling to get my rain jacket on (Sarah already had hers on still) as we were treated to a heavy shower.

In the absence of sun, it now being wet and windy, it suddenly felt quite cold, with the prospect of the river crossing ahead (for a long period, we could actually see the river to our right, as it hugs the base of the dunes before turning towards the sea at the end of the beach).

Then, the dark clouds disappeared as quickly as they’d come, and the crossing of the Johanna River… talk about an anti climax!

I’d seen videos of people making mad dashes across the river, knee deep & trying to dodge the incoming waves.

For us, it was an ankle deep (or maybe calf deep if I’m generous) crossing.

Our wet feet now picking up sand from the beach, we decided to walk the final few hundred metres bootless.

Getting off the beach actually proved the hardest part.

The incline was steep, and the sand really loose, and with the weight of our packs pulling us backwards, it took a bit more effort than we had expected after the solid beach walk.

Surprisingly, our beach section which we thought might take us a couple of hours, was done in about 40 minutes, headwind and all!

We found a nice bench overlooking the beach, shared some lollies as we cleaned our feet, and continued on (after donning our flip-flops), expecting our camp to be just around the corner from the carpark, from where the gaggle schoolkids now milling about, would be heading back to Melbourne from.

Yet it was not, our path now along a gravel road, with the coastal scrub to our left, and green, cow filled paddocks on our right.

Another carpark, but still more walking, some of it uphill as again, the strong winds quickly blew in some more cloud and it began to spit a light rain as our trail took us through some coastal She-oak.

Rounding the back of hill, and suddenly the trail forked.

To our left, was signed Johanna Beach GOW Campsite, and we were there, just in time as the rain got a little heavier, so we quickly took advantage of the camp shelter which we had all to ourselves.

Within, someone had actually left a little bit of rubbish, amongst which was a partially used gas canister, which, given Sarah’s fears that we’d not brought enough with us, was quite the discovery!

We lunched, deliberated over where to set up our tent (the front of the campground has amazing ocean views, but is exposed to the wind, whilst the backside is behind a hill and much more sheltered), and lazed in the sun when the weather allowed it.

Close to the evening, as we began to assume we had the place to ourselves, a family with two young girls wandered in (another family had done so earlier to check out the views, then left).

This was Ben & Kez (Kerryn) with their 2 lovely daughters who, it turns out, were here to complete their 3rd & final section of the GOW (they’d broken the journey up into 3 separate adventures), and a few friends (who’d turn up later in the evening) with the young girls carrying their own smaller packs as well.

Super impressive, & super lovely people too!

So lovely in fact, that they even took pity on this pair of stinky, sweaty hikers, & shared their bottle of red with us as well (I’m sure we had a few too many of their corn chips as well).

It really was appreciated.

Once their friends arrived, as well as a another pair of female hikers, what had until quite late in the afternoon been just the two of us, was suddenly a super busy camp ground!

The winds proved quite cool once the sun dipped, so bid a goodnight to our new friends, and fell asleep to the beautiful sound of the crashing waves…

* 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 3 of our Great Ocean Walk Adventure HERE

Continue to Day 5 of our Great Ocean Walk Adventure HERE