Day 8: Great Ocean Road Continued

Well, the hype about the Great Ocean Road is well deserved. We drove most of the rest of it today, and despite the continued rain, were amazed by all the sights. Chris, Mary, and I drove out past Apollo Bay and onwards; Hunter had to return to Melbourne today to meet up with other friends, so Kendra and Farnaz drove him back to Geelong where he could catch a train, then drove part of the road themselves.

We first stopped for a walk in the Otway Forest, which took us into the rainforest along a very well designed path. It’s incredible that we’re only a couple hours away from Melbourne, which feels somewhat like a desert (similar to LA), and were suddenly in the midst of ferns and beech trees, with small streams everywhere. The weather while were there left no doubt that these trees got plenty of rain!

Just a bit further down the road were the 12 Apostles, a collection of limestone pillars along the coast, where the coast has been carved out around some 150 foot tall towers of rock. The rain was really coming down when we arrived, so we ran out to the lookout point (about ¼ mile) where we could hide behind a low stone wall and be somewhat protected from the wind while we took some pictures and looked at everything. There are only 8 apostles left at this point, due to continuing erosion by the sea – given the 15+ foot waves we saw, it’s incredible any are left. My camera got a bit wet while I attempted to take some shots, but Chris got in some great pictures. Luckily my camera has recovered entirely!

We also went to see the London Arch (it used to be the London Bridge…), Loch Ard Gorge, the Grotto, the Blowhole, Thunder Cave, the Gibson Steps, and several of the other amazing formations along the road. The weather cooperated more at all of the other sites luckily and we were able to go down to the beaches at many of the sites and see the rocks from sea level. Words can’t really do justice to these rocks – see both our and Chis’ photos for a sampling of what we saw.