We started today just before Port Campbell. There were quite a few attractions to see on a 23 km (14 mile) stretch of roadway, so we got an early start.
First stop... the Grotto...
Not quite as nice of a day as Thursday was, but actually better than what was forecast, so we'll take it. The sun did show it's face a couple of times, although we did get some rain as well. A mixed bag.
We had our breakfast and a hot drink in the camper at the next stop... London Bridge. Actually, it is the formation formerly called London Bridge... now officially known as London Arch since a big portion of it collapsed back in 1990.
There used to be an arch between these two.
The beach looking the other way.
The water was really crashing in here.
And the arch was almost filling up with water.
The sun came out just as we were leaving.
Next stop was the Arch. Surprisingly, there were very few people at either one of these attractions.
Ruth at the lookout for the Arch.
And, there is the Arch itself!
Next stop was the village of Port Campbell. A nice quiet little town that is likely a zoo in the summer. In fact, we overheard the girl in the tourist office talking to a co-worker and mentioning what it would be like at Christmas time. She called it Crazy Season!
We have no ambition to be at busy tourist destinations like this during crazy season!
Quite happy to put up with a little bit of cooler weather in order to avoid the crowds.
The harbour at Port Campbell.
No more church. Now an art gallery.
We took a little used trail, just barely wide enough for one vehicle down to a place called Sparks Gully. Neat spot, and if things would have been drier I would have made my way out to a very neat photo spot... but common sense prevailed, and I am still alive to tell about it.
View from Sparks Gully.
It is very neat how the erosion eats away at the rock.
Where the waves come crashing in to Thunder Cave.
And there is the cave itself.
Watch how the waves crash... turn your volume up!
From being parked at the Loch Ard shipwreck area, there is a lot to see. In fact, I read one sign that said to allow two to three hours to see it all. And of course, we wanted to see it all! We noticed that many people did not, especially the bus loads of Asian tourists who came and saw maybe two of the six or seven attractions. They maybe spent a half an hour or forty five minutes in total.
The Loch Ard shipwreck is an interesting story. A ship laden full of goods took three months to reach Australia from Ireland... and it didn't make it to it's destination of Melbourne. It crashed into Mutton Bird Island in 1878 with a crew of 37, and 17 passengers.
Out of 54 people on board, only two survived... a 17 yo ship's apprentice, and an 18 yo female passenger.
You can read the story here... Loch Ard Shipwreck
One of my favorite photos of the day!
At Loch Ard Gorge.
This is where the wreckage of the ship ended up.
Looking in towards the cove.
Erosion will eventually take all of these down, while forming new ones.
Nest stop was the famous 12 Apostles. Now, I had seen pictures of the area online, so I knew what to expect, and it seemed less spectacular than what we had already seen.
And it was... we were underwhelmed. Especially when you consider the number of tourists at the site. Why this garners so much attention compared to other spots, I have no idea. Sure, it's an attractive area, but no more so than the rest of the coastline!
There aren't even 12 apostles.
There were ever only 8, and 1 has collapsed.
Looking the opposite way.
The photos at 12 Apsotles area were taken about 4pm, and the sun sets at 5pm. We are going to go back first thing in the morning to see if we can get some better photos with some early morning sunshine. We'll see!
We drove inland about 10 kms (6 miles) to find a nice free camping spot at the Wiridjil Recreation Reserve. It's not an advertised site... just something we figured would do for the night, and it will. There are a couple of school buses parked here, and one of the drivers told me "nobody ever comes out here, you'll be fine". And so we are. Quiet as can be.
Sorry for all the photos, but expect to see even more tomorrow!
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Record low price on the EcoSmart 27 Tankless Hot Water Heater.
And in Canada...
Again great photos. The Chinese tourists got their selfies. with the backdrop. That is all they seem to care about, not actually seeing what they are photographing. So sorry that there are only seven Apostles. We do rather dupe people about them.
ReplyDeleteThank you Andrew, we are so glad that you are enjoying them. Lol, you talk about the Asians with they selfies and having a backdrop, we had to laugh because there were two girls, one taking the other's picture but they we taking it towards all the shrub brush, instead of out to the beautiful coastline at Loch Ard Gorge area!
DeleteYeah, we don't quite get the meaning of the Twelve Apostles when there were never even twelve to start with. Kevin found an article online they they originally called the formations "The Sow and Piglets" but somewhere along the way it got changed to the Twelve Apostles.
Have you done any Southern Hemisphere star gazing....seen the Southern Cross yet?
ReplyDeleteWe have definitely been looking up at the sky when we have a clear one, and we have been amazed at the amount of stars that we have seen as well as having such a great view of the Milky Way. We haven't looked for the Southern Cross, mostly because we aren't really familiar with it. We know a few basic constellations but that is about it. I will look it up and find out how to find it in the sky and hopefully the next time we have a clear sky at night we will be able to look at it. Thanks for the suggestion. :-)
DeleteWith all that erosion, is the continent shrinking? Seen similar landscape along Oregon, Washington coast. The orange dirt looks like Georgia dirt. Yes, do look up at the night sky and tell us what you see. I recently went home to rez, a remote area, and looked up to see the Milky Way but it was barely visible and it seemed less stars than when I was a kid. But the stars I did see were brilliant and it seemed they hung low over us....amazingly beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWe have no idea, but we do know that the earth has always been changing!
DeleteYes, some of the Oregon/Washington coastline is similar. We remember our drive through that area last fall and we loved that coastline as well.
We have seen the night sky all over the world now and on a dark clear night the stars are amazing along with the Milky Way no matter where we are as long as there is no light pollution.
We did the Great Ocean Road in 2009 and didn't see a single kangaroo on our trip! Today we are in Austria and haven't seen any there either. Fun fact about Austria: everyone sounds like Arnold Schwartzenegger.
ReplyDeleteThat's like me being in Newfoundland twice and not seeing one moose! We actually saw our first wallaby or kangaroo today as we were driving on the Great Ocean Road, actually it was a section of the "old" Great Ocean Road. Lol, we would have been surprised if you had seen a kangaroo along the road in Austria!!! ;-)
DeleteEnjoy your trip in Austria, it is another country that we want to visit some day.
Excellent story about the shipwreck. Keep your eyes open for something that might wash ashore. A long time ago, but you never know.
ReplyDeleteIt is a pretty interesting story and then being able to be in the area where it all happened just made it more surreal.
DeleteWe always keep our eyes open on the beach, you just never know what you may find! :-)
Great photos despite the weather. We were at the Apostles on the day #11 fell over. The news reporters were everywhere. I didn't realise that there were never 12 of them. I've learnt something today! The reason people say the trip is better driving from east to west is because you are driving on the left hand side nearer the coast side, but we have done it both ways and enjoyed both. Looking forward to more photos as its been a while since we were on the GOR.
DeleteI guess that would have been the day #8 actually fell over rather than # 11. We wish we knew why they called them the Twelve Apostles?!
DeleteWe understand that the driving east to west isn't suppose to be as scenic as west to east but to be honest we have found the scenery from the Twelve Apostles to Warrnambool to be much prettier than from Twelve Apostles to Apollo Bay and onward, but maybe that is because we prefer the rugged coastline. We have also heard that it is much easier to pull off into the pullouts going west to east which is true.