When we stayed in some cottages for a couple of days near to Johanna Beach on our way back to Adelaide from Melbourne, Ari and I walked along the Old Ocean Road in the Otway Forest. This was a back country road with very little traffic, and so it was ideal for meandering along carrying a digital camera, the baby Linhof, Gitzo tripod, 6×9 film backs and light meter in the late afternoon.
As the Old Ocean road was situated within the Otway Ranges but outside the Great Otway National Park, it was okay for Ari to accompany me on the photowalk. This section of the road was about 8 kilometres but we only walked a couple of kilometres before I used up the colour and black film.
This is rain forest country—we have nothing like this in South Australia—and the Great Ocean Road and Otway National Park are iconic tourist areas. Though there were masses of international tourists on the Great Ocean Road itself and at the various beaches—eg., Lorne-— we had the Old Ocean Road to ourselves. I imagined living a life in this place that was both attentive to its natural surroundings of light, trees and bark, and darkness and photographing it whilst dwelling in it.