Walking offers history lessons. Shipwrecks were common but always tragic; numerous along the Great Ocean Walk (the GOW). Near Parker Inlet, a sign tells of a ship, Eric the Red, bound for Melbourne’s 1880 Exhibition from New York. The Otway Reef claimed the 1580 tons of fine timber ship, tearing it open to discharge the wealth of fine cargo. Fifteen minutes and all was lost to the waves. Months of preparation and sailing to end it all so close to the destination. The next morning along the shore, children found silver cutlery, expensive tobacco, pianos, all myriad of things originally planned to showcase the wonder of grandest mechanical productions and greatest inventions of the time, according to the local newspaper Portland Guardian, 7 September 1880. Gazing out to sea, watching the turmoil of waves crashing over rocks, I’m glad to be walking.
