It's all in a name.....

I have just about recovered from the shock of finding out that Mark has avoided the Great Ocean Road so I have been looking instead at the inland route!

And in the spirit of 'you learn something new every day', there is a lake along today's route to explore. Lake Corangamite is actually Australia's largest natural lake which normally has water in it. Many of Australia's lakes are ephemeral, the best example being Lake Eyre which is little more that an inland drainage basin which only occasionally gets flooded.

Unlike Lake Eyre, Lake Corangamite has never been completely dry since European settelment. However, the lake has no outflow to the sea and because it is very shallow, recent global warming is believed to have the potential to completely dry up the lake due to large reductions in rainfall. The presence of the lake and of the other small lakes nearby is due to relatively recent (geologically speaking) volcanic activity which produced craters and small lava flows which impeded natural drainage patterns in the area. The region around Lake Corangamite is apparently sometimes called 'Lakes and Craters' country and the image below, taken close to Colac, certainly gives an impression of craters and of 'young' volcanic rock.
...and another, this time with lake Corangamite in the distance This evening Mark is in Sorrento. It is bizarre how frequently these European names keep cropping up. Earlier today he was near to Wensleydale and Torquay. Strangest of all, however, is the fact that Sorrento's neighbouring settlement is Blairgowrie which has a namesake in rural Perthshire, Scotland close to where Mark was brought up. How small the world is! If you have been following the web diary, you will understand why Mark finds himself in Sorrento - having decided to avoid the worst of Melbourne's traffic by taking a detour to the south. This necessiated a ferry crossing at the mouth of Port Phillip Bay from Queenscliff to Sorrento. Full details of the company and the ferries which ply the waters between the headlands at the seaward end of Port Phillip bay are here. And as for Sorrento .....