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Published: June 17th 2017
01 Apostles
The remaining apostles at sunrise.Geo: -38.6904, 143.156
We were so impressed with ourselves this morning because we got up super early and arrived at the 12 Apostles in time for sunrise. It was so cold here but the view and the lack of tourists was worth the effort. At this time of the day the sky was a beautiful pink colour. Despite their name, there are only eight left, erosion and time was their enemy. The limestone structures are about 70 metres high. During our time here we were able to observe how the light changed on them as the sun rose.
In the end we spent about half an hour here and then continued on our journey along the Great Ocean Road, where there are so many places to stop at! It wasn't long before we stopped again this time at Loch Ard Gorge. This place is well known for a ship wreck and its two young survivors. We walked along the cliff top paths and saw blowholes, limestone stacks and cliffs.
From the top of the steps we had a great view of the beach below. We decided to walk down the many steps to the beach. We sat here for a few minutes
02 Apostles
Another view of the remaining apostles first thing in the morning. to catch our breath. The gorge is surrounded by yellow cliffs. Loch Ard Gorge is named after the ship that ran aground here in 1878. We slowly walked up the steps to the top and continued driving.
Our next stop was in Port Campbell in search of breakfast. We bought some food and went down to the beach to eat. The weather so far today has been perfect - plenty of sun and blue sky. While we had breakfast we admired the view of the ocean, the jetty and the flock of seagulls that came to say hello.
It was less than fifteen minutes after leaving Port Campbell that we stopped again. We were now at The Arch. This wasn't a very exciting attraction. There was just a small arch that had been eroded by the waves, although the nearby yellow cliffs were impressive.
We hopped back in the car for a few minutes and then we had arrived at London Bridge. This is another limestone formation. It did look more like a bridge, but twelve years ago part of it collapsed into the ocean. We enjoyed the view here of the bridge and nearby cliffs.
Our next nearby
03 Cliff
A view of the cliff at the 12 Apostles lookout point. stop was at the Bay of Martyrs. Here there are a few limestone stacks in the ocean. It was a nice view, but they were a bit far away from us.
Virtually around the corner we stopped again at the May of Islands lookout point. Same as the previous lookout point, we saw limestone stacks in the ocean. We got back in the car and drove towards Warrnambool.
It was just after 11am when we arrived at Hopkins Falls, which is 15kms west of Warrnambool. Here the Hopkins River cascades into the falls. Here we were surrounded by cows as it is dairy country. The river seemed to be a trickle, there wasn't much water in it. From the first viewpoint we had a good view of the river, falls and the surrounding countryside.
We choose to walk down the steps to have a better view of the falls. It was a short walk compared to the other waterfall walks we have done the last few days. The Hopkins River cascades over dark basalt rocks, this waterfall is 12 metres high and 90 metres wide. The view from the second viewpoint was a bit better. These falls would have been more
04 Apostle
One of the 12 Apostles. impressive after heavy rain.
Our next attraction for the day was Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve. We spent a few hours here walking along the many trails. Inside this reserve is a dormant volcano and native wildlife. We walked past the pond, saw the internal wall of the crater and wildlife. At the end of our walk we spent some time in the picnic ground near the carpark and looked for wildlife. We spotted sleeping koalas and small wallabies.
It was now time to hit the road, as we had some serious kilometres to cover. I drove us north towards Halls Gap. We were concerned about driving during and after dusk, as there are many kangaroos around here and we didn't want to hit one as we drove along at high speeds. We arrived in Halls Gap just in time.
We stopped at a caravan park and enquired about prices and availability for the next three nights. The price was great, so we checked in. The location here was amazing, as we were surrounded by bushland. There weren't many other campers here, so it was nice and quiet. We booked a cabin for our stay and bought bird food - apparently we
05 View
A great view of the 12 Apostles. would enjoy feeding the birds in the morning. It was situated on the edge of the park and next to an open unfenced area. It was nearly dark now, so we settled into our cabin and made plans for tomorrow - no more ocean, hello mountains!
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