Great Ocean Road --Melbourne to Twelve Apostles and back, February 11, 2019

Yes, it was a long day, starting with getting on the bus at 8 am and getting home at 10 pm.  The trip was billed as a small group tour, but there were 24 of us, and we were the last to be picked up :-(.  I was able to get the seat next to the driver, but Harold, Gil, and Deborah were smashed into the long back row of seats – very uncomfortable for them!  Other than the discomfort for them, we saw some wonderful scenery and a totally different aspect of the land in Australia on our 350-mile journey from Melbourne and back.

We stopped 8 times, and in this posting, I’ll mostly be posting pictures of the 8 different locations, with just a bit of commentary on each one: Torquay, Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch, Kennet River, Lorne, Maits Rest, Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, Gibson’s Steps, and Colac.

Torquay (breakfast):  This first stop was at the surfing capital of Torquay.  We were able to walk to the beach and see a ton of surfers vying for space in the rather large waves rolling in.  This location sponsors a huge international surfing competition every year in the winter, but people never really know when it will start.  The competitors have to be there, and when the waves get to a certain height, the competition starts.  We didn’t see huge surfing waves, but that didn’t stop the surfers. We also had some breads and coffee/tea/hot chocolate -- which was really more like colored hot water.

Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch:  This Great Ocean Road was built by veterans returning from The Great War.  There were no jobs at the time, so the government created this project to give the veterans something to do and a paycheck.  They dug out the 150-mile long road using chisels and axes.  At this location, there is the commemorative arch and a bronze art piece depicting the workers, alongside with informational placards.  Here are some pictures of the start of the road, as well as some pictures of the ocean as we drove along.

Lorne:  This was mostly a bathroom stop, but there was a huge competition between teams of ocean rescue squads.  Team members were racing on the sand, with other team members cheering them on, particularly the winners.  We also saw kayak races, and there were other events befitting teams of ocean rescue squads.  Tons of people.  Food being sold.  All the same kind of stuff you see at athletic competitions in the US – only the tee-shirts were different.

Kennet River: This was the lunch stop, but we also saw some king parrots and then went on a hike along a creek in eucalyptus trees to see koala in the wild.  We saw koala, but they were really high in the trees, so pictures were difficult.  They sleep for 20 hours a day, and eat the other 4 hours.  Their brains weigh 10 grams – not too smart.  That's 1/3 of an ounce for all of you non-metric folks. Apparently, if you set a eucalyptus leaf on a table next to a koala, they won’t eat it because they don’t recognize it.  The leaf has to be on a tree for them to recognize it as a tree and thereby etable.  Not a very exciting life, I’d say, but they are cute and cuddly looking.

Maits Rest: this was a longer stop where we did a jungle walk through a rain forest.  It was special because it was a section of virgin forest, untouched by loggers because a forest ranger named Mait used to rest in this location; thus the illegal tree loggers avoided the area.  The highlights were the smells, the Mountain Ash eucalyptus (they grow to 300 feet), and huge Twisted Myrtle Beach trees.  Oh, and lots of ferns too.

Twelve Apostles: Originally called “Sow and Piglets” -- the name was changed to something more “sellable” to tourists.  The outcroppings of limestone really are beautiful and an intriguing manifestation of the effects of nature.  They are formed by erosion, with the Southern Ocean harsh weather conditions eroding the limestone to form caves in the cliffs.  These caves then become arches which collapse, leaving rock stacks up to 150 feet tall.  The erosion of the sandstone pillars continues from the base because of the waves and there are only 8 left with the last one collapsing in 2005 (a stack that was 160 feet high!).  They truly are stunning!

Loch Ard Gorge:  This area was a series of 3 longer walks, one of a shipwreck location and 2 others (Razorback and the Beach Walk) out towards the ocean to view the same kinds of sandstone configurations one sees at Twelve Apostles, along with some intriguing stalagtite formations in one of the caves by the beach.

Gibson’s Steps: a series of steps down to the water carved by hand by a farmer named Gibson. About 20 years ago, the steps were covered over with concrete.  Today, they would have been preserved and walking on them would not have been allowed.  Such are changing times.

Colac: a rather large town in a farming area.  We saw lots of farm implement dealerships as we entered town:  Massey Ferguson, John Deere, as well as many Chinese brands.  The town also had a huge Target and an IGA, but other than that, the town was not really memorable.  It was interesting, however, to see the herds of cattle, sheep, and the farming going on in the area.  Apparently, this fertile area of Australia provide much of the food for the country and spread about 125 miles to the north before the land becomes too dry.  There the land sustains cattle but in huge acreages, measured in hectares because the land area owned by individual people is so large.

And one more thing – instead of “deer crossing” signs here, there are “kangaroo crossing” signs, and we saw evidence of “road kill” kangaroos in at least a couple of locations.