The Great Ocean Road

Thurs. Nov. 7 - Well, we've saved the best for last. We've seen some awesome sights during our time in Australia, but what we saw on Thurs. makes everything else almost pale in comparison.

On Thurs. we drove the "Great Ocean Road". There really are 2 different parts - with different types of scenery - along the Great Ocean Road. From Warrnambool to Apollo Bay is the first part we drove; from Apollo Bay to Torquay, the second part. I'm going to talk about the second part first.

The drive from Apollo Bay to Torquay was similar to the Big Sur coast in California.

The large waves of the Southern Ocean beat against the tall rocky cliffs. Sometimes there are patches of small, sandy beach areas. As we drove along the winding, curving, ocean road, we'd catch glimpses as we rounded a corner, of the rocky coast, sometimes stretching out for miles.

It was truly a gorgeous sight. But the most spectacular part of the drive, and in fact, the most spectacular thing we've seen in Australia was the scenery along the first part of the Great Ocean Road.

The coast here consists of tall limestone cliffs. The limestone cliffs tend to be eroded in parts, as the soft rock is mixed with some harder, more durable rock types.

The softer rock tends to erode faster. This coastline is along the Southern Ocean. This ocean extends all the way south to Antarctica.

There is nothing between the continents of Australia and Antarctica to break the waves as they traverse great segments of this ocean expanse. As a result, some pretty furious storms and pretty violent waves wreak havoc with this coastline, and the waves can be heard booming against the cliffs.

As the tempestuous waves batter the limestone coastal cliffs, thereby eroding the softer parts of the rock, what is left are remnants of limestone pillars standing majestically off the shore in the shallow coastal waters. The waves from the wide ocean expanse come in and break around the pillars on their way to shore. The limestone pillars tend to take different shapes, depending on the direction and velocity of the wave action, as well as the types of rock being pounded and the shape of the coastline. Most of the overlooks are named to reflect the shapes left behind. Some of the overlooks we stopped at were: Bay of Islands, Bay of Martyrs,

the Grotto, London Bridge (Broken), The Arch, Loch Ard Gorge, Thunder Cave, and The Twelve Apostles. At the Grotto, there was a rocky ledge along the pillar.

The power of the waves could be witnessed as they came raging in and washed up over the ledge. At the "Broken" London Bridge, the pounding, crashing surf was continuously and relentlessly breaking down the "bridge". Segments of limestone became detached from the mainland, giving the appearance of a bridge missing a span.

The Arch was a coastal version of the large, massive arches found in Arches National Park in Utah. The limestone was shaped like a huge arch with waves finding their way through the gap. At Loch Ard Gorge, there was a very narrow inlet between two massive limestone walls. The two walls extended up in to a beach area, giving the appearance of a gorge. In the back waters of the beach area, a cave had formed, with very prominent stalactites.

The most impressive, and most well-known formation was the Twelve Apostles. There were a number of pillars aligned along the coast, eroded by the constant attack of the ocean, and left standing as a series of solitary pillars. The spectacular sight of these pillars was simply breathtaking.

In between the limestone cliffs of the first part of the Great Ocean Road, and the rocky coasts of the second part, the Great Ocean Road veered away from the coastline for awhile. Here the road climbed in elevation, going up into the inland mountains, and soon we were enshrouded in fog. It almost seemed like we wandered into a different part of the world - so different was this mountain/forest drive from the ocean/beach/coast drive we had just been on. Along this part of the road, we saw a kangaroo hopping around merrily in the middle of the road. He almost was hit by an oncoming car, but at the last minute, he dodged the vehicle by hopping into our path, right in front of us. Fortunately we had spotted him awhile back and had slowed down enough to give him time to go hopping back into the woods. Again we saw many, many sheep, pretty much on every hillside, some of them climbing or resting on very steep hillsides. The trees in this forest were very tall, some of the tallest we've seen. The whole area had a very serene, pastoral feel to it. The temperatures in this ocean/mountain/ocean environment were the coolest we experienced to date, ranging from low 50's to low 60's most of the day. Along with the fierce wind coming off the Southern Ocean, it was a blustery day. Despite the cold, though, the scenery was absolutely some of the most spectacular we've seen, perhaps ever.