Our world tour Part 2

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Monday March 20, 2017

Today for different reasons was a remarkable day. We had booked a tour for the Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles. In order to get up at 6.00AM for a tour of over 12 hours, the experience must be something out of the ordinary, and so it was.

I have written before that tours here, take you far away from the big cities and take you on long drives or boat trips, but all of them have been really worthwhile.

The road we were traveling finds it's origin in some sort of "occupational therapy" for soldiers coming back from the first world war for whom there was no real job upon their return. The highway of 244 km is dedicated to the soldiers fallen in WW1, the longest war memorial.

The road takes you along the coast line and the panorama is beautiful. A number of events, that typically have to do with ship wrecks and missing sailors, mark the road. Here again you notice that the Aussies are creating their (young) history. Events that in other places would get no attention,do here.

The high point of the tour is arriving at the site of the Twelve Apostles, basically a series of sandstone rocks ("stacks") carved out by the sea. The original name of the place was "sow and pigs" the bigger rock representing the sow (mother pig) and its piglets the smaller rocks. Trying to make the name more commercially attractive someone came up with the "Twelve Apostles" despite the fact that there have never been more than eight stacks. In 2005 one of the stacks collapsed, so today there are only seven left. Indifferently the number of stacks, the sight is spectacular and made the trip worthwhile.

Curiosity about a structure that is called London Bridge in Port Cambell: the name is derived from the song London Bridge is falling down. As the story goes, part of the bridge-like structure collapsed in 1990, leaving 2 people stranded on the not land connected structure. They had to be rescued by helicopter.

Getting back from the Twelve Apostles to Melbourne takes over 2 hours. Once arriving in Melbourne, getting to the hotel took us 45 extra minutes due to the fact that we were the last ones of our co-travelers to be taken to our hotel. Not great, but little we could do about it.

A minor disappointment today: we were expected to see coalas, but not everybody saw one. I had the luck to look in the right direction at the right time and saw 2. They are difficult to spot because they are lying on branches in Eucalyptus trees.

Tired we took a fast dinner and went to bed early.

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Photos

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London Bridge "before"

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London Bridge ""after"