A painting trip to Apollo Bay with friends.
From Sydney and Canberra we flew to Melbourne for our 4 th painting adventure. This time it was Apollo Bay in Victoria. Jeanie and Peter from Murray off road adventures met us at the airport and off we went to the sunny coast? Well wasn’t too sunny, we were greeted by cool windy weather!
However we all settled in to our wonderful Apollo Motel and Apartments anticipating our painting time together. An early start on our first day to The 12 Apostles so we could beat the tourists and get some quiet time to paint. It was windy! But we found little nooks and crannies along the Boardwalk to sit and paint the amazing sculptural formations along the coast. Driving back to Apollo Bay the rain set in and continued the next morning. Our subject today was the port, which was just right as we had some shelter to paint and had our lunch of fish and chips. It was yummy.
After lunch we went to a picnic spot in the rainforest, very cold and damp. Lovely trees, tall, with bark bright orange in colour from the rain. Green of every shade amongst the trees. Some sat under ferns to paint, and I managed a sketch sitting under the shelter of the bus door at the back. Yellow breasted robins hopped around wondering if we were mad, whilst the kookaburras laughed loudly. We all got pretty wet and damp, but nothing was going to stop us !!!!
Next day Maites Rest. More rainforest. A beautiful walk through this magical place. One expected to see a dinosaur any minute. It was so quiet and wonderful. After our walk we went back into the forest to paint. Despite the cold we were inspired. Afterwards, we had a short time painting some rocks and the beach before dinner.
Another highlight was a drive to the Otway tree walk and fly. We walked above and through the trees at different levels on a walkway which gave us another view from above the Forrest looking down. It was fantastic and magnificent.
The trees in the forrest comprised mostly Mountain Ash standing tall and straight as they reached for the light. Ferns gathered thickly below creating a green shelter for any animals about. A plantation of Redwoods was our next spot, large round trunks with shades of red, purple and green in the bark, standing on a carpet of leaves. This was a very cold day I wore three layers and a rain coat as did the others wrapped in their mountain gear.
On our last day before heading home, out came the sun! Warm! So beachy painting this morning near some interesting rocks. This was wonderful and we painted all morning. Our last trek was a steep climb to a lookout over the town.
What a view!
This trip has been inspirational. A discovery of some wonderful rainforest areas in Great Otway National Park, and the lovely beaches of Appollo Bay. Lots of reference brought home, and who knows what masterpieces may appear!