Victoria, Australia
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
If you ever make it to Victoria (and I'm talking about the Australian State and not the Canadian City) you have to visit the Great Ocean Road. It is about 330 kilometres (205 miles) long. On this day I only traveled about 280 kilometres (174 miles) of it but I assure you that was more than enough. Many people would recommend that you take 2 or 3 days to travel the road but as I am on a bit of a schedule I decided to make the trip in one day.
There are many ways to enjoyed the road. After checking them all out I decided that taking a small tour was the best. This allowed me to sit back and relax while someone else did the driving. Lucky for me I managed to hit The Road on a beautiful day. Here are a few pictures from my day.
We stopped for morning tea at this little beach. A very nice first stop and technically not even a part of the Great Ocean Road.
Surf school....actually a subject in school. Not quite the same old Physical Education class I remember.
The Memorial Arc.......the entrance to the Great Ocean Road and a memorial to ANZAC Troops. In fact the road itself is considered to be the world's largest war memorial. It was built by returning WWI servicemen. It provided them (around 3000 of them) with gainful employment during a time when there wasn't much. The road took about 13 years to complete.
No you are not mistaken. Those are some cute and cuddly little koalas. You will find them at Koala Cove (not just a cleaver name). If you haven't seen one elsewhere in Australia, you're pretty much guaranteed to see one here.
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The black carnivorous snail.....another one of Australia's horrible little animals. It has been known to drag dead flesh into the woods and devour it. And I am told if you let one sit on your foot......it would start eating away at your skin.
Ignoring the little black snails we went for a wonderful little forest walk. Thank goodness for the boardwalk.
One of the giant trees you will find along the way.
Look up.....way up.
Some of the amazing rock formations you will see along the way, some of the most famous being the 12 Apostles (and I'm nearly positive this is one of them).
The staircase down to the beach to check out a few of the 12 Apostles. Now the 12 Apostles......not so cleverly named. There were only ever 9 of them.......one of which has fallen into the sea....lost forever. Eventually the other 8 will follow.
Walking along the beach checking out one of the 12 Apostles close up.
They look so close but you can't swim to them. The water is a little cold, a little rough (whirl pools and stuff) and a little shark infested. Many a ship, shipwrecked off this coast as they were bringing Europeans to Australia.
Hahaha. Don't stand under the cliff.
It's a lot bigger than it looks.
See I look tiny.
A few more of the 12 Apostles. The sun was very,very bright but I think made for some great pictures.
The same rocks.....just without me.
OMG!!!! I might die. Better stay behind the fence. Still makes me laugh.
When looking away from the sun you can see how pretty the water is....but you still can't swim in it.
An amazing coast line.
Heading towards the end of the day.
London Bridge. You use to be able to walk all the way across but the centre piece fell into the water one day. It actually fell while a couple of people were on it. They were stranded and had to be rescued by helicopter. The story goes that a man called in sick to work so that he could take his girlfriend on a picnic. They got stuck on the rock and when the helicopter showed up with a local news camera he was not so happy about it. Neither was his boss......or his wife.
The view from our restaurant. A great end to a perfect day.
The trip home was a lot less scenic and a lot quicker (we took the highway). I spent most of it watching a classic Australian movie, Crocodile Dundee. So much funnier now that I've lived in Australia and in particular the Northern Territory.
It was a great day. And once again I highly recommend it to anyone who visits the area.
http://escapediscoveryadventures.com.au/
Julie
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