History

Cyril Marriner is the creator of Bimbi Park. He spent his lifetime in the Otways and was fortunate to have grown up on a farm property that stretched from the Aire River to Cape Otway.

With 7 horses he started to conduct trail rides in the Otways in 1972. On his overnight rides, he would camp at Bimbi Park. In 1976 due to water access and shelter, the local scout groups used the site to camp in. It was not a registered campground then. In 1980 Cyril registered the name Bimbi Park and the campground with the shire. He and his wife Pat spent about 30 years creating Bimbi Park.

In early 2005 Frank and Katrina Fotinas who at the time had spent nearly 20 years in the South Melbourne Market decided to sell everything and travel with their two boys “Emmanuele and Dimitri” around Australia in a camper van. One night while planning the trip Frank emailed Bimbi (which they had been Visiting for about 15 years) to ask how much it would cost to stay for a month in a powered site. As a joke he also asked how much it would cost to buy Bimbi.

A few days later Pat responded and said it was for sale.
Frank told Katrina. Katrina said ” I’M NOT LIVING IN THE COUNTRY”.
At the time Dimitri was very sick and spent most of his time in hospital. He had obstructive sleep apnea. For 3 years Katrina did not sleep.

“Just to a break from the city” Frank c onvinced Katrina to go to Bimbi and stay in a cabin for a week (he is sneaky). They packed all of Dimitri’s breathing gear and off the went. On the way just in case Dimitri had an attack they stopped off at the local hospital to introduce themselves. (Katrina and the Monash Hospital staff are all on first name basis). That night after one of Franks world famous spag (spaghetti) bowls the boys went to sleep. Kat and Frank enjoyed the peace and a bottle or two of red. They fell asleep. In the middle of the night Frank and Katrina woke up in terror. Dimitri was not connected to his oxygen machine. They ran into his bedroom and he was sleeping like a baby. No obstructions, no struggling, no waking up in the middle of the night screaming and no oxygen machine.  The week went by and it was the same. The child was cured. Katrina slept without the nightmare of falling asleep and losing Dimitri.

They bought the park in November 2005 and loved every minute of it. Frank and Katrina want to enhance the park and keep Cyril and Pat’s creation alive. Bimbi Park is going to stay a place for families, bushwalkers, school groups and nature lovers.

Fl agpole

At the front entrance to the park is the flagpole that used to be the Flagstaff of the Cape Otway Light station. Decommissioned because of a crack near the hinged base, Cyrilbought it as scrap, put the cracked section deep into the ground and still is tall enough to fly the National and Ceremonial flags as required.

Telephone LineThe telephone poles and line crossing the paddock southwest of the Park is a remnant of the original telephone line that traversed the coastline of Victoria.

Originally a single wire, its purpose, other than communications, was to provide and emergency link for shipwreck victims who as they reached the safety of the Coast could cut the line and would be found as searchers looked for the fault. It is not known if this theory ever worked. It was upgraded early in the Second World War with three lines into Horden Vale which had new lines built along the Great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay and Laver’s Hill. Cape Otway had a direct link to Horden Vales and Laver’s Hill all manned 24 hours.  The Marriner family bought the poles after the cable was laid in the 1970’s.  Cyril has retained this section of the line for aesthetic reasons.

Stump of Giant near entrance of bottom block

There are few remaining giant trees left in our Otway forests.However one of the few remaining stood right where the new alignment of the Great Ocean Road was to go. So several hundred metres from Maits Rest the Otway Giant was felled to make way for “progress”.

Cyril had the whole saga filmed and recorded and is still hoping to have it transferred from Super 8 to 16mm so it can be screened in the Theater. Cyril arranged for the contractors clearing the road to make it available for a low loader to transport it to Bimbi Park.

It was jacked off the loader and lay on its side for 10 years till a “traxcavtor” lifted it on its feet.

The tree was 275 feet high, 300 years old, and growing. The top had been broken off in storms so its peak height is not known. It is quite probable that the sea could be seen from the top of this tree. Further up the road towards Binns Road junction which is the highest point on this section of the Great Ocean Road, is what was called Cape Horne, named in the early days by explorers as they could see the ocean by climbing one of the trees.