Wonderful drive today along the Great Ocean Road. The road is 151 miles long -- it was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932 --- and is the world's largest war memorial.
The name of the road is a bit deceiving -- less than 50% of it is right along the coast -- the rest is through forest and farmland.
Most of the features were created by erosion --- the harsh & extreme weather conditions from the Southern Ocean gradually eroded the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then became arches, which in turn collapsed; leaving rock stacks up to 45 meters high.
The road is most famous for the Twelve Apostles (weirdly there were ever only 9 limestone stacks in the area --- with 1 of those collapsing in 2005). I was a bit disappointed by the apostles -- it's hard to see all of the stacks -- and I thought that the Bay of Islands & Martyrs were better (and a lot less touristy).
Stops:
Weather: mix of sun & clouds - rained for about 15 minutes, 55 - 65F
Miles Walked: 6.8
kms Driven: 256
Book/s Read: Moving Target by JA Jance (Alison Reynolds series); just ok -- plot had some good moments -- the writing was horrible
Pic Notes:
The name of the road is a bit deceiving -- less than 50% of it is right along the coast -- the rest is through forest and farmland.
Most of the features were created by erosion --- the harsh & extreme weather conditions from the Southern Ocean gradually eroded the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then became arches, which in turn collapsed; leaving rock stacks up to 45 meters high.
The road is most famous for the Twelve Apostles (weirdly there were ever only 9 limestone stacks in the area --- with 1 of those collapsing in 2005). I was a bit disappointed by the apostles -- it's hard to see all of the stacks -- and I thought that the Bay of Islands & Martyrs were better (and a lot less touristy).
Stops:
- Bay of Islands
- Bay of Martyrs
- The Grotto (very very pretty)
- London Arch (aka London Bridge) - until 1990 this was a double-span natural bridge. The arch closer to the shoreline collapsed (unexpectedly) on Jan 15, 1990 -- leaving 2 tourists stranded on the outer part -- they had to be rescued by helicopter.
- Loch Ard Gorge (very dramatic looking -- I think this was my favorite stop)
- The Twelve Apostles
- Apollo Bay
- Kennet River (Koalas!)
- Lorne
Weather: mix of sun & clouds -- rained for about 15 minutes, 55 - 65F
(note: I skipped a couple of the sites along the way --- (1) I wanted to make sure I got to Lorne before dark -- and (2) at one point I was close to running out of gas. note: I did stop earlier in the day in Princetown --- unfortunately their 1 gas pump was out of order --- would have had to backtrack 30kms to get to the nearest gas station -- decided instead to make it to Apollo Bay -- fortunately I made it to there with about 1.5 gallons left in the tank.)Weather: mix of sun & clouds - rained for about 15 minutes, 55 - 65F
Miles Walked: 6.8
kms Driven: 256
Book/s Read: Moving Target by JA Jance (Alison Reynolds series); just ok -- plot had some good moments -- the writing was horrible
Pic Notes:
- 1: early morning - Port Fairy
- 2 - 14: Bay of Islands
- 15 - 23: Bay of Martyrs
- 24 - 27: The Grotto
- 28 - 33: London Arch
- 31: The Twelve Apostles off in the distance
- 34 - 47: Loch Ard Gorge
- 48 - 56: The Twelve Apostles
- 57 - 58: Apollo Bay
- 59 - 62: Random shots on the drive
- 63 - 68: Kennet River - Koalas
- 69 - 78: my cottage in Lorne -- more on that tomorrow
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