Date: Either 1968 or 1969
Time: Approx: 1:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m.
Hi, My name is (name removed) and I am now 64 years old. I lived in Melbourne until 1973 and then moved to the Far North Coast of NSW where I still reside.
My UFO sighting occurred in the early hours of New Years Day (approx. 1:00 – 2:00am) either 1968 or 1969 when I was aged 20 or 21. My friend (name removed) and I had celebrated New Year's Eve at Lorne, Victoria. Back in those day, the New Year's Eve celebrations drew big crowds of young people listening to rock 'n roll and partying in the streets. Even though a lot of people drank excessively, neither my friend or myself did. My friend was a dedicated surfer who didn't like to suffer from hangovers.
Back to the story. We left Lorne in the early hours and drove west to our camping spot at Kennett River. At the time we seemed to be the only car driving along that section of the Great Ocean Road. Suddenly a huge UFO appeared from the right over the ranges with smaller ones trailing. It was the shape of a cigar and it did have lights along the side we could see. It really was huge, but seemed to be very high in the sky also. The ones trailing were just specks of light.
I can't remember now if there were 3 or 4 or about a dozen. My friend and I were really shocked. We had time to pull to the side of the road in one of the parking bays, and just watch this huge UFO with the little ones following for a couple of minutes. Like I said before, it appeared from the right over the ranges and then disappeared out to sea in the Great Australian Bight, and if I remember correctly, this took a number of minutes. After they disappeared into the distance, we just sat there talking about what we'd seen and how frightened we felt even though nothing untoward had happened to us.
After a while we continued driving back to the camping ground at Kennett River.
The next day or day after, I read a small article in a newspaper (and I can't remember which one) about UFOs being sighted near Lorne by thousands of New Year's Eve revelers.
Of course, when relating my UFO story over the next 40 years, people always fall about laughing when I tell them it happened on New Year's Eve near Lorne, because everyone thinks we were drunk or stoned. Not so. I always add that I'm not saying it was from outer space, but it was an Unidentified Flying Object with smaller ones flying, and I have never seen anything like it before or since. It was huge, very high in the sky, and in sight for 2 - 3 minutes.
What really puzzles me is that I haven't been able to find any reference to this story on the internet, and a few years ago, whilst in Melbourne, I went to the State Library and spent some time checking old newspapers, to no avail, even though it was reported that thousands of people saw it. I've also lost contact with my friend who would be in his late 60s by now. I would love to hear if anyone else can remember this incident.
If you have seen anything like this in the same area please be kind enough to contact Brian Vike at:
sighting@telus.net with the details of your sighting.
All personal information is kept confidential.
Sightings.com website: http://www.sightings.com/
