Another one of Australia's national heritage listings is the great ocean road, a stretch of road along the southeast coast of Australia, beginning by Torquay, just a bit southwest of Melbourne. The road is among the most famous coast-side roads in the world, hugging the coastline of the Surf Coast with nothing but a drop to the ocean below on one side, and steep hills and mountains on the other. Additionally, there are several prominent landmarks that are accessible from the Great Ocean Road, including the Twelve Apostles and the London Arch, as well as beach towns such as Port Campbell and Apollo Bay.
Above: Aerial view of a section of the Great Ocean Road
The apartment complex I was living in was offering a subsidized one day tour of the Great Ocean Road for only $15, so of course I grabbed a seat on the trip along with a handful of other exchange students. Granted, one day isn't enough to see all of the sites along the road but it would be enough to see several key landmarks. The bus was due to leave at 7:30 from Melbourne Central that Friday, which meant we had to meet at 6:30 am on campus to leave for the city to have time to grab food, etc. Once we were awake we walked to the train station and headed for Melbourne central.
On a side note, since I've been here there really hasn't been too much "Australian" food to experience. I mean, outside of the kangaroo and emu burgers I tried, vegemite, and some chains like Boost there is more Asian food than anything else! But there was one thing I'd seen but hadn't gotten a chance to try: meat pies. They are very common hear, sold at sporting venues, stands, etc. A bakery was one of the only things open so early at the station so I finally got around to getting one.
And it was good, sort of like a cheesesteak in a bite sized pie.
Anyway, shortly afterwards it was time to load onto the bus. Enough people had signed up that there were actually two busses, we picked one and grabbed our seats.
The trip started with familiar highways and bridges leading out of Melbourne. Even the highways taking us to Torquay was familiar, but once on the far side of Torquay the Great Ocean Road began.
1. Torquay, the beginning of the Great Ocean Road
Torquay is where the road begins, with a huge sign you can't miss to signal it's start. We didn't actually stop in Torquay (I had been in Torquay before during a surf trip) but instead drove through.
From this point on most of the entire trip was on a road between the coast and a steep hill. I was seated on the right side in an aisle seat, truly the worst spot I could get. I didn't have a window, nor was I on the right side of the bus to face the ocean on the way out, I should have thought ahead when I sat down. But I grabbed some of my friend's pictures from online to try to give you an idea of what the road looked like while driving along it.
Above: A long stretch of the coast we had just driven along
Just about the entire day of driving was on the Great Ocean Road with these sites outside of the window the entire time.
2. Lorne
The first place we stopped at was Lorne, a beach town on the Louttit bay. During out of season months it is quiet, but during the summer it can be a busy beach location. For example, on New Years (remember, that is the middle of the summer for Australians) up to 12,000 people flock to Lourne. Additionally, around the same time of the year it hosts the Pier to Pub swim, where 20,000 spectators watch the Guinness World Record's largest organized ocean swim in the world, with up to 4,000 competitors in it each year. The town has cafe's, shops, etc. as well as fishing piers and docks.
During the middle of May while we were there, well into the fall season, it was quiet. But we were glad to hop off the bus, stretch our legs and explore.
Lorne was also filled with cockatoos and wild parrots, such as the one above. They look neat, but their squawking becomes quite annoying over time.
After going in shops, walking through town and on the beach, we were called back to the bus to hit our next destination, Apollo bay. On our way there, though, we stopped in an area that has many Eucalyptus trees and is known to be home to a good amount of wild Koalas. The busses stopped and it took less than a minute to spot one.
Above: Wild koala bear along the Great Ocean Road, outside of Lorne
Although I had seen them a couple of times in zoos and pet one at a sanctuary, it was still neat to see wild ones just chillin in the trees along the road. After some ooh-ing and ah-ing we got back on the bus at got to Apollo Bay.
3. Apollo Bay
Apollo Bay is another seaside town, very similar to Lorne. It is considered quieter and less popular than Lorne, but it set up all-in-all set up very similarly. It had a beach against a large open park area, with town shops and restaurants behind it. Due to the considerable driving between each location and our stop at Lorne it was now lunch time, so we set off to explore as well as find food.
Apollo bay, similar to Lourne, hosts sporting events and music festivals, but not to the scale that Lorne does.
After scoping out some places for food we settled on a small italian diner, the three of us that wanted to eat here grabbed their lunch special for the day.
Because it was later in the day it was a bit busier so we walked into town a bit more and continued to kill time before we were called back to the bus to head to the next location.
4. The Twelve Apostles
The Twelve Apostles is the most famous landmark we visited on the Great Ocean Road and the one I looked forward to most. The Twelve Apostles is a famous collection of limestone formations off of the hill side, formed by erosion over millions of years. As shown in the pictures below, they are in the form of large vertical rock formations set out into the water. It is located just outside of the town Port Campbell, which had constructed walkways along the cliffside to take pictures of and see all of the apostles. There was even a helicopter tour available if you wanted to pay for it.
Despite the deceiving name, there were only ever 9 limestone stacks to begin with, formed by the waves eroding the cliffside into caves, and then bridges, and ultimately collapsing into these stacks. In 2005 one of the stacks collapsed, leaving 8 left. They erode at a rate of 2 cm per year at the base, and eventually all will have collapsed. But erosion into the cliffside may cause new ones to form over years and years.
From the parking lot we jumped out of the bus and headed down the walkway towards the cliffside.
Once we reached the cliff, there was a very long path to walk along and look at the Twelve Apostles and take pictures - here are some of the best ones. taken from various spots.
After time here and reading about the site at the information center it was onto out last major stop.
5. London Bridge
The London Bridge is another limestone formation, formed in the same way the Twelve Apostles were. Remember how I said the apostles are formed by waves eroding the cliffside into caves, then a "bridge," and finally collapsing into these stacks? Well the London Bridge is, obviously, in the bridge stage. It wasn't much longer of a drive to this formation, and was another cool one to see.
The bridge was originally connected to the mainland on the left with a cafe running underneath similar to the cave you se above, to the right of the gap between the bridge and the mainland. In 1990 that bridge collapsed, separating the London Bridge off the the side as an Island, as it is today. Eventually, the London Bridge will collapse into two pieces and form stacks just like the ones at the Twelve Apostles.
When the arch connecting the London Bridge to the mainland collapsed, there were actually two people that had just walked across it and were then stuck on top of the London Bridge! A helicopter had to rescue them, they must have felt lucky that they weren't standing on the section that collapsed when it did.
We made a few more stops after this into some towns, as well as visited another surf beach, but the spots above were the highlights of the trip. Having left Melbourne at 7:30 we started our drive home by 5:30 pm to be able to make it back by 8:30. It had been a long day and a good trip, one of my very last adventures in Australia.
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