We always keep an eye on the weather and knew that there was some more hot temps coming so on Thursday 30th we packed up and moved the 20kms to Port Fairy. We had already staked out the caravan park and requested the bay closest to the beach.......good planning! That little effort was pretty much the only thing we did that day other than some quick house work (a sweep and a dust) and a stroll into town (we needed a newspaper and milk!!!)
The following day we had decided that we should investigate the Great Ocean Road - dah dah dum!!! Everyone says it is a 'must do' so whilst I was concerned that we would be doing a lot of driving just to see some rocks (I have after all seen a few rocks in my life already!) we headed of in good spirits and with plenty of snacks.
BAY OF ISLES
Our first stop was at the Bay of Isles.....this was when I realised that this coastline (full of rocks) wasn't going to be anything like all of the other rocks I have seen. It was mostly steep cliffs and little bits of land that had not eroded away yet....very spectacular and as you can see we chose a fantastic day for sightseeing!!
LONDON BRIDGE
The next stop was London Bridge....this used to have another arch that joined it to the mainland until a few years ago when unfortunately the middle section collapsed.....this was even more unfortunate for the people who had walked out there and found themselves suddenly stranded. With that piece missing isn't it really just a bridge, rather than London Bridge :/
PORT CAMPBELL
Port Campbell was another surprise because by this time I felt we had nailed the idea that the coast was mostly cliffs with small bits that hadn't eroded away yet, but then we drove down a sweeping bend and find ourselves at this little oasis. It is a large section of the coast that has eroded away to form a bay. It is protected from the wind and has this amazing swimming beach. By this time we were getting hungry so hit the local bakery for pies and pasties and had a very tasty lunch at the beach.
LOCH ARD GORGE
Moving right along we next came across the Loch Ard Gorge (The Loch Ard was a ship that sank just off the coast giving this Gorge it's name) This gorge kept cutting back into the mainland like a dry river bed. The thing about this area is that even though we weren't remotely near any major centres there were tourists EVEYWHERE!!! Every stop we came to there was a decent carpark and plenty of people walking around, and by this stage we were seeing the same cars/people every time we stopped as we were all travelling at about the same pace.
LES AT THE TWELVE APOSTLES !!
And last but not least we arrived at the Twelve apostles....the grand finale of todays trip!!!! It's a funny thing that there isn't much signage announcing that they are there until you are right on them and then there is NO CHANCE that you could miss them as there is a big info/kiosk building with a carpark that would hold approx. 200 cars. Tourists were swarming everywhere (as an aussie I don't count myself as a 'tourist' so much as a 'visiting local' so am justified in feeling a little peeved when these 'tourists' take up valuable viewing area of us 'locals') It was a very professional tourist spot with large display/info boards and a walk way built under the highway for us to safely get to the many viewing stages. It was great to finally see the Apostle's and definitely worth the drive.
The Apostles were less that 90km from Port Fairy and yet the day took us 7 hours from leaving home to getting back home.....a looong day but worth the effort.
TODAY !!!!!
Now the hot weather has arrived and we have spent the weekend walking over the dunes to the beach for many lovely swims, then walking back to the van for food/TV/airconditioning.....we need to recuperate from all of Fridays sightseeing after all!
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