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Published: March 29th 2011
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Me near a large tree
Our morning hike through the rain forest. Rain Forest
First we stopped at Ottoway national park, and took a short (800 meter) walk through the rainforest. It was remarkably cool along the fern filled, moist forest floor. You could hear many birds calling, although I didn't have the zooming lens to get any photographs. The amazingly large trees and prehistoric ferns creates a unique atmosphere. It's darker on the forest floor, and everything is cool and moist. Water trickled along creeks and moss and the ground was soft to walk on without being muddy. I loved it!
After the rain forest we headed off for a second lighthouse which was a bit out of the way, but we had plenty of time to get to our next destination. When we got to the lighthouse they wanted to charge $20 a piece just to walk up to it, so we got back in the car and headed back to the road. On the plus side, I got an awesome shot of a wild koala!
The Ocean
My favorite part of the trip by far is the ocean. The coast throughout this part of Australia is limestone, which is slowly being eaten
Wild Koala
My best shot of a koala yet! away by the powerful oceanic waves. Much of the time, we drive high up on the cliff, as the cold, brilliantly blue water beats against the edges. The scenic look outs are amazing, as you stand above the beach, the wind combing your hair, gulls calling from their nests below, listening to the tide sing a lullaby.
The erosion of powerful waves and constant trickling water slowly but surely builds magneficant structures. Many of these structures are even named. Today, we made our way from Apollo's Bay to Port Fairy stopping to check out the
12 Apostles,
The Arch,
London Arch and the
Bays of Islands along the way.
London Bridge is a powerful reminder of the frailty and impermanence of coasts. This use to be a massive structure that people could walk out on, much like the cliff side lookouts I visited today. It jetted out into the ocean perpendicular to the coast, and boasted two naturally eroded arches. On January 15th, 1990 London Bridge came falling down, and the arch closest to the road collapsed. No one was injured, but two tourists were stranded on the oceanic arch and had to be rescued by
12 Apostles
You can't see all 12 from this vantage point, and I believe some of the Apostles have fallen to the ocean. helicopter. After the collapse, the structure was renamed
London Arch, since it no longer resembled the bridge it was named after.
Marine Ecology
I also enjoyed inferring about the local ecology. Although we never spend too much time at any one spot (something I plan to change if I ever return), I can still see that birds nest high on the cliffs, while seals, white sharks, and a huge diversity of algae inhabit the local waters.
On one sweep of the shore, I saw corralline reds, kelp, browns, reds, and greens. Which is quite amazing since the shore is mostly steep and sandy (high wave energy). Usually diversity of algae is low on sandy beaches, and high on rocky beaches. I didn't see much evidence of filter feeders (aside from a few sponges) so I was surprised that the water was so crystal clear. I have never seen the ocean look that blue anywhere but a post card. Since Antartica is the nearest continent, my guess is that the cold, high oxygen, low nutrient water plays a part in keeping the water magnificently clear (and crisp!).
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