Monday, February 12, 2024

2/12 Melbourne (Geelong), Australia

We took a great tour out of Geelong to see the famous Twelve Apostles – a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of Port Campbell National Park in Victoria. While it was a very long day (11 hours), it was a day well spent. We drove along the Great Ocean Road and stopped at some beautiful beaches, saw some Koalas in the wild along the highway, had a wonderful lunch in Apollo Bay, and arrived at the Twelve Apostles around midafternoon. They are beautiful limestone stacks of which there are seven, not 12. We learned that there actually weren’t 12 when they were named – evidently, that was a marketing ploy, LOL! There were nine at the beginning of the 21st century; one collapsed in 2005, and another in 2009, leaving seven. Of those, more will wash away and others will form, along with arches and bridges, with the crashing of the rough waves along the coast.

We then stopped at Loch Ard Gorge along Shipwreck Coast, the site of the most famous shipwreck along this 130 km stretch of coastline that has been the final resting place of around 700 ships. The Loch Ard ship ran aground crashing into Mutton Bird Island in 1878 when traveling from England to Melbourne, killing 52 of the 54 people on board. The limestone cliffs were gorgeous, and one could easily see how dangerous the rough seas along the coastline were for ships.

The Great Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road Sculpture
The Great Ocean Road Sculpture

Beach along The Great Ocean Road
Beach along The Great Ocean Road

Koala along The Great Ocean Road
Koala along The Great Ocean Road

The Twelve Apostles
The Twelve Apostles

Sheryl at The Twelve Apostles
Sheryl at The Twelve Apostles

Shipwreck Coast
Shipwreck Coast

Rodney at Shipwreck Coast
Rodney at Shipwreck Coast


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