The Great Ocean Road, Rainforests & ANZAC Day

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After travelling through hundreds and hundreds of kilometres of fields (I had no idea there were that many sheep in Australia!), we were definitely ready to see some ocean scenery.

Although we saw bits and pieces of the ocean while we stayed in Robe and Port Fairy, the Great Ocean Road didn't actually start until we passed Port Fairy. The road still didn't hug the coast, but there were many turnoffs to the various geological formations. Along the entire road we were rained on (it followed us!), but we were able to find a few breaks to explore.

All along the road, the coastline is constantly being battered by the southern winds and waves. As time and the forces of water take their toll, the coastline is continually degraded leaving hundreds of isolated rock formations standing alone in the water. We stopped over and over again as we travelled between Port Fairy and Apollo Bay. Bay of Islands, the Lone Arch, the Razorback, Loch Ard Gorge and (of course,) the Twelve Apostles.

I really liked the Loch Ard Gorge area. The gorge is named after the ship The Loch Ard that was lost in 1878 just off the coast after 13 weeks sailing from England to Melbourne. Only two survivors survived the wreck. The area not only had a deep gorge to explore, but also a dramatic blowhole which showed an opening to an underground river that flows more than 100m inland. The Thunder Cave was also really cool with loud and dramatic wave formations.

We finally hit the Twelve Apostles - and it wasn't really any better that the formations we had seen earlier in the day. A lot more people, a much more built-up coastline with walkways and scenic stops, but the same view - lone rocks standing at sea. We could only see 8 of the formations - some are hidden behind headlands and others have fallen down over the past years.

After spending a night in Apollo Bay, the rain looked to be holding off for a bit, so we decided to take some time away from the coast and go an hour inland to explore the Otway Mountain Range. Our main stop was the Otway Fly - a steel walkway constructed through the rainforest that takes you up 25m to walk through the canopy of the rainforest. Now that was cool! There was a cantilever section that projected out into the forest without any support underneath. WOW, did it vibrate! We continued deeper into the forest to explore a less advertised trail - the Triplet Falls. The trail had just been redone, so it was a really easy and enjoyable walk through very lush forest with the falls as the reward at the end.

We got back on the road and motored through the last of the Great Ocean Road, heading for Melbourne in the evening. The road back to the coast and along the coast was very twisted. This part of the Great Ocean Road was very reminiscent of the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia - the road just clings to the edge, looking over the ocean all along the way.

Since we still had a little daylight left, we stopped in Anglesey to check out the golf course (we would have played 9, but it was late, Dad!) The pictures tell it all, I think. I think the Anglesey golf course is the only course where the rough is actually shorter than the fairway due to the constant trimming by the kangaroos. There were so many on one green, a golfer had to shoo them out of the way before hitting his approach shot! This course benefits from no need to mow or fertilize!

We landed in Melbourne for the ANZAC Day celebrations (Remembrance Day). Even though we slept in, we were able to catch a lot of the parade down the main street to the Shrine of Remembrance. The parade actually went for more than 4 hours! This was actually our first sunny day! We enjoyed it by walking all around Melbourne including the Botanic Gardens. We finished the evening and our trip by attending a comedy show - 'An American Down Under' - as part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

It was a great break. Now it's time to prepare for the next 9 week term... with a long weekend in the middle for the Queen's Birthday. The planning must now begin for our next holiday - to the northern tropics this time!

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Photos

The "Big Lobster" - get these people a thesaurus
This lobster is 17 m tall and rears its chelipeds outside a bottleshop in Kingston, South Australia. "Bulk wine available for those that bring their own container". Classy : )

The Tantanoola Caves
Fairly impressive cave with tons of straws, stalactites, stagmites, curtains and other speleothem.

A Petrified Forest
Trees get covered in sand. The tree rots creating large holes in the sand. The holes are filled with soil which is compacted over time (like, millions of years). The original sand erodes leaving rock casts of the trees... or something like that.

Wind Farm
This wind farm was located near the Tantanoola caves, just past Robe

Bay of Islands
Some islands ... in a bay.

Bay of Islands
Some more islands ... in a bay.

Bay of Islands
... more islands, same bay.

Bay of Islands
and then it started to rain. : (

Bay of Islands
... more rain and more wind.

The Grotto
A very impressive arch with a reflecting pool

The Arch
A stunning piece of geology but it needs a more creative name.

The razorback
Another rock formation along the Great Ocean Road.

The Twelve Apostles
Can you see all 12? Neither could I. The formation used to be called the Sow and Piglet but nobody showed up. Now that it has a new name there are pilgrimages from all ends of the earth. I still can't see 12 rocks, let alone biblical figures.

The Twelve Apostles
Tom and Sarah up and close with the apostles.

The Otway Fly
This 600 metre long catwalk goes through a temperate rainforest near Laver's Hill, Victoria.
It is the longest (600 m) and highest (up to 55 m) walk of its kind in the world.

A view of the rainforest
A view of the rainforest from the Otway Fly

A kangaroo fern
These epiphytic (grows on another plant but not parasitic) ferns grow up the sides of rainforest trees. The leaves look like kangaroo footprints.