The Great Ocean Road!

Welcome! You are about to partake in a spectacular virtual tour with me on the Great Ocean Road. Strap in; this is going to be a long post. But before we begin, here are a few terms and conditions you need to accept:

1. I was too distracted to pay much attention to the history, so I didn’t take many notes from our tour guide. However, since I’m desperate to keep what few of you I have interested in this blog, I have included a few facts (via Wikipedia, most likely) and thoughts on these places.
2. Words and pictures on this blog will not do justice to the beauty I actually saw (…but since you are not physically here you readers just gotta get take what you can get). Therefore, I will not be held responsible for any feelings of admiration, wonderment, awe or praise.  If any of these do occur, please contact Jesus immediately.

If you choose to accept these terms and conditions, continue scrolling!

HERE WE GO!

Here’s a map of the places we’ll be seeing, and the blue lining along southernmost edges marks our course, from Torquay to Port Campbell:

This is our tour guide Tracy.  She picks us up bright and early at 7 AM in the city, about an hour from where about seventeen others and we are to begin our 12-hour scenic extravaganza along the coast of Southeastern Australia.

We start off at Bells Beach in Torquay. Famous for its prime surfing conditions, world surfing competitions are held here often.  It’s super windy, and if you tried surfing here for your first time, you’d probably die.

Then we stop at the Memorial Arch. According to one plaque’s inscription, the Great Ocean Road was built by three thousand Australian soldiers and sailors who returned from the First World War. For these otherwise jobless men, the project offered a source of income and rehabilitation back to every day life.

At this point, we have arrived at a secret location whose name I unfortunately cannot divulge. Nonetheless; here we play seal and sit on the rocks, basking in the sun. I hope by now you have put on sunscreen; because the hole in the ozone layer falls nicely on Australia, this place has some of the highest cancer rates in the world.

As we drive along the coast, we have ample opportunities to hop out and examine the landscape set before us.  We pass places like the Howard Hitchcock lookout, Cape Patton, and Apollo Bay.  The last one mentioned is quite famous. We’re not quite sure why though.

Before stopping for lunch, let’s take a detour to a seemingly random and deserted region.  There isn’t anyone for some miles around to hear you scream, but trust that if you do shout, it's out of pure joy. Why?

See ‘em yet?  Well here are some better pictures:

Lunch at the Cape Otway Lightstation is the standard Aussie BBQ (which anticlimactically is a hot dog on a piece of sandwich bread). Nonetheless, we are pretty keen on coming here since it houses the oldest, surviving lighthouse in all of Australia.  Cape Otway was a welcome sight of relief for European immigrants who spent months at sea.  The lighthouse was fairly high, and coupled with a maritime effect it was windiest places one can experience.  The strength of the waves and wind here made shipwrecks all too common here.

After all that food, let’s take a walk through the Great Otway National Park and work it off. We are supposed to see the Big Tree here, which stands over 60 meters (196 ft), and here it is!

…Ohp. I guess what's left of it.
Let’s just move on to the Twelve Apostles at Port Campbell National Park. If you’re a tumblrfan and follow scenery or travel tumblrs, chances are you’ve come across photos of this place.  It’s by far one of the most gorgeous sites now etched in my memory.

Interestingly enough, the naming of this place has no religious affiliation.  But that’s not to say God isn’t dwelling in his masterpieces.

These limestone rock stacks, created by erosion, are continuing to erode at 2cm a year.  Good thing you saw it before it’s all gone!

The Loch Ard Gorge, named after the ship that was wrecked here. Of the 54 passengers, only two survived.  After beings washed ashore, 18-year-old Tom Pearce climbed up out of the gorge (an undeniable miracle but a feat impossible today due to erosion) to alarm local pastoralists.

Our final stop before heading back home is the Gibson Steps, named for, well, its steps, which you can see if you click closely enough.

So that’s it! Thanks for taking the tour with me!  Excuses for the abrupt ending; my internet's quite slow and this took about 12 hours to upload (coincidentally the same length of the tour!). Now, the glorious three-hour ride home (or click that red X in corner).