Great Ocean Road

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As the biggest island (or smallest continent) in the world, Australia has plenty of coastline, but everyone there knows what is meant by "The Great Ocean Road;" that moniker belongs to the stretch of Highway-12 along the Victoria state coastline from Torquay to Nelson. Fresh from New Zealand, we were used to some great coastline, but Australia's Great Ocean Road offers unique experiences for the most jaded coastliner. Where else can you watch kangaroos hopping on the beach, or marvel at the giant sea-carved towers, the Twelve Apostles, wondering how they got their name when you can only count 8 of them?

We headed for the coastline on the morning of March 28th, driving west along Highway-12 through Geelong, Torquay, Anglessa, and Lorne. Along the way, we stopped at a couple of beaches and ate from the huge cache of food Aunt Julie gave us. We were a little worried by the weather; it was was cloudy and occasionally wet, but it only improved as our trip continued. Somewhere around Apollo Bay, we turned off onto a dirt road through some forest, an area known for good koala sightings. The ecualyptus trees were tall, and we weren't really sure we could see any of them, but eventually Eva did manage to spy something in the trees. We stopped the car and sure enough, we discovered several fur balls high in the trees. Great-Uncle had lent us his binoculars, which were crucial in getting a good look at these guys. A few koalas was eating, but most just slept. They reminded me of the sloths seen high up in the trees in Costa Rica; I suppose the koala could have been named sloth if history was a little different (and if they moved less while awake).

We continued our drive to the Otway National Park, where we would spend our first night at the Blanket Bay campsite near a beautiful, secluded beach. We were more than a week before the Easter holiday, the major holiday for Australians, so the park was rather empty. Plus, there were no rangers about to collect camping fees, so it was free! Walking towards the beach, we got a glance of a dark brown kangaroo (or wallaby - I still don't really know the difference) about as tall as me hopping away. Soon after, Eva spotted her first echidna on the side of the trail leading to the beach. She lamented that she didn't have her camera with her at the time, so we just watched it as it wandered deeper into the brush. Later, other campers showed us a koala in a bush right along a trail only about two feet off the ground. His head was tucked into its chest and his back was facing us. I couldn't help but remember a stuffed koala my brother owned as child, and the koala was close enough that I could have just reached out and touched it. I resisted of course - koalas are not very social with other koalas, and would hardly want or understand being petted by a human.

That night we were invited to join a bonfire by a very friendly Aussie family. Dad and his two teenage girls were taking an extended tramp along the coastline, while Mom met them in the van at the few points where the coast and the highway intersected (the highway is mostly inland as it crosses Otway National Park). Tramping through the Otways and the coastline for 3, 4, even 7 days was a celebrated activity in Australia. At some segments along the trail, you could go for days without seeing civilization. Even better than the Great Ocean Road itself is the Great Ocean Walk - 96 km from Apollo Bay to within sight of the Twelve Apostles - and next time, we're doing it (or at least a portion of it)!

We woke the next morning to discover a koala sleeping in a tree just a few feet above our tent! Luckily it had not defecated on us or our things. Still I couldn't help but wonder... what would they taste like? We continued our journey west, stopping at the beautiful and well-maintained Cape Otway Lightstation, the oldest surviving lighthouse on mainland Australia. We took a lot of pics, had some tea and scones, and watched a video about the history of the lighthouse and the Shipwreck Coast. I had known that many people came to Australia in chains, but I was surprised that others risked and sometimes lost their lives coming here voluntarily to get to the colonies in Victoria and New South Wales. The ocean waters we had been enjoying were apparently a vast underwater graveyard. The lighthouse was put in place in 1848 after many maritime disasters. Prior to the construction of lighthouses, ship captains always faced a tough decision: risk the rocks along the Victoria coast through Bass Strait, or take an extra month circling wide around Tasmania. If they decided to take the shortcut via Bass Strait, there was also the additional challenge of navigating past King Island, which was located at the entrance of Bass Strait and south of the Otway Penninsula. Even though the 75km width at the narrowest point between King Island and the mainland was not miniscule, it was a tiny target to shoot for compared to the vastness of the ocean for which the ships would have been sailing for several months. Even after several lighthouses were built in that area, many ships and lives were still lost throughout the 19th century.

The Great Otway National Park encompasses many different types of ecosystems and forests including ancient rainforests, open woodlands, and coastal heathlands in addition to its rugged coastline. After leaving the Otway lightstation and continuing our drive west, we managed to get a taste of Australian rainforest at Maits Rest, which had a self-guided boardwalk through tall wet eucalyptus forest, myrtle beech rainforest, and gullies lined with tree ferns. Unlike the tropical Bolivian Amazon, the Otway rainforests were cool temperate rainforests, much like that of the rainforests in the Pacific Northwest. In fact, the rainforest at Maits Rest reminded me much of the Hoh rainforest - mossy with many ferns and fungi. However, the towering tree ferns and myrtle beech trees were unique to that area.

Next we headed for the true Great Ocean show-stopper: the famed Twelve Apostles in Port Campbell National Park. The Apostles are freestanding limestone stacks carved out by the salty winds and waves of the Southern Ocean, eroding away the (relatively) soft limestone cliffs that line the coast. Erosion would first form caves, then arches, and when the bridge of the arch finally collapses, the tall limestone stacks are left. There were only ever 9 stacks, but one collapsed due to erosion in 2005, leaving only the 8 currently seen. Apparently, the "Twelve Apostles" was a better name for tourism than the "Sow and Piglets," which was its name until 1922 (according to wikipedia). It was a fantastic place for pictures, and was abuzz with people from all corners of the world (us included). As luck would have it, Eva spotted another echidna, this time just on the other side of the railings near the viewpoint. Actually, it wasn't that hard to spot - at least another 5-6 people were stalking him with their cameras. At least now she got her picture-perfect shot of our second-favorite monotreme!

Further down the limestone cliff-coast encompassed by the Port Campbell National Park was the Loch Ard Gorge, another area similar to that of the Twelve Apostles, but without all the busloads of tourists. Like the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge had plenty of boardwalks with breathtaking views of the gorge and its offshore limestone stacks, arches, and islands, the largest one being Muttonbird Island (which was the "sow" of the original "Sow and Piglets"). There was also a Blow Hole, the hole at the inland end of the Thunder cave, of which ocean swells rush in and crash along the inside walls of the cavernous tunnel, generating loud thunderous booms. Signs along the boardwalk told the story of the famous Loch Ard shipwreck. Loch Ard had spent 3 months sailing from England to Melbourne when it rammed into the cliffs of Muttonbird Island during a storm on June 1st, 1878. Fifty-two people died, and only 2 teenagers survived - one of them named Eva (the other one was Tom). They had apparently washed up onto the beach and took shelter in one of the nearby caves. There were stairs/steps from the cliffs down to the beach where you can climb down and see the cave, but it was getting late and the tide was rolling in. We didn't want to be part of the continuing story.

After marveling at the natural beauty and filling our heads with history - both geologic and human - we set off for the town of Port Campbell to find somewhere to pitch our tent. We settled for a holiday park, set up camp, and headed for the shore for one last look that day as the sun set over the water. That night, we dined at a hearty casual restaurant nearby - I had a porterhouse steak with salad bar and gravy. The TV was playing the Big Bang Theory, one of our favorite shows. Thank goodness for the dominance of America culture!

We were greeted the next morning with beautiful bright sunshine - a welcomed departure from the previous day's perpetual cloudy overcast weather. Being a bright sunny day, we revisited the Twelve Apostles to take some more (better) photos and took in one last look before leaving the coast of Port Campbell National Park.

Our drive back home to Melbourne took us past several cliffs with sandy beaches below. We parked by one of the cliffs and took the trail and steps down to the one called "Wreck Beach," which has two rusted anchors - all that remained from two ships wrecked on that coast. The trail was lost once it led us onto the beach and it took a bit more walking before we were able to spot one of the two anchors partially buried in the sand near the water. That was the anchor of the Marie Gabrielle (1869). The other anchor, that of the Fiji (1891), was much further down the beach. With our binoculars, we could spot an upside-down anchor stuck in the rocks far off in the distance, but it was too far to reach, the tide was coming in, and Eva also wanted to visit Triplet Falls before our long drive back home.

After getting back to our cars and emptying our boots of sand, we drove east back into the Otway Ranges. Our last stop in the area was Triplet Falls in the Great Otway National Park. So back to the rainforest we went! The hike to the falls was only about 2km and took about an hour round trip. Triplet Falls was quite beautiful and we learned about the logging history in the Otways along the way, but since we had already hiked Wreck Beach earlier that day, I was pretty exhausted by the time we got back to the car.

The drive back home was uneventful. I took the faster more direct inland highway route, while Eva fell asleep as usual. We paused briefly in Geelong to wash the car (which belonged to Great-Uncle) and enjoyed some surprisingly excellent Spanish Tapas for dinner. It was already nightfall by the time we finally pulled into the driveway at the house in Box Hill, exhausted and ready for sleep.

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Photos

The White Queen
Nickname for the Split Point lighthouse at Aireys Inlet east of Cape Otway.

Vew of the Island Archway
from the Lord Ard Gorge walkway