Aussie Road Trip Day Fourteen, Sunday 28th July

The Great Ocean Road .... Woo Hoo!!!!

I was so excited to be setting out on our tour of the Great Ocean Road this morning. This was, after all the reason for the whole trip and how come Ailsa and David came to join us on this leg of it.

It all started out with a casual comment during our New Year phone call to Ailsa and David to exchange good wishes for the year. "What are your travel plans for this year?" they asked. "Well I've always wanted to do the Great Ocean Road" said I. "Yeah, so do we." That's about all it took to convince them to come with us. So the trip was born .... and here we are at the Great Ocean Road on a wild wet and windy day, absolutely LOVING it!!!!

John at the Bay of Islands

A lone Corella sits on a rock warmed by the morning sun

David goes where Angels fear to tread

John, Barb and Ailsa at the Bay of Islands

Barb dancing for joy on the beach

Wisely (in our view) we got going early from Warrnambool. The weather forecast for the day didn't look too promising so we took advantage of the early morning sun while it lasted. Our first port of call was the Bay of Islands. This is, well, a bay of limestone stacks forming islands. But wow! What a way to start the day. It was simply stunning and the bright morning sun as it came up hit the rocks giving a magical glow to the formations and infusing some welcome warmth to the chilly air.

Next was the Bay of Martyrs. Again we marvelled over the amazing rock formations with their multi-coloured strata. We were able to get down onto the beach via a steep set of stairs and I danced for joy on the sand.

David was determined to get the very best photographic shots and risked life and limb to do so. No edges for me thanks! I stayed well clear, being a fraidy cat of long standing. It was hard to NOT get good photos anyway, the scenery speaks for itself.

The magical Grotto

We also went down a long set of steps at the Grotto to look through a window of rock to the churning sea beyond. I just know my quads will burn tonight from all the walking up and down we've done today, but it was sooo worth it!

London Bridge really did fall down. Not while we were there, fortunately. It is, or was, a pair of connected limestone arches reaching out from the mainland. Then in 1990 the nearer one forming the bridge to the land, fell into the sea. We noticed large fissures and cracks on many of the columns of rock that we saw today, so I guess it won't be the last rock collapse to occur.

London Bridge is falling down.....

The Arch

The Arch was another formation we viewed today. It was difficult to drag ourselves away from the splendid scenery we were gorging on to the point of sensory overload.

Hunger drove us to find somewhere finally to have breakfast. We found the Twelve Rocks Cafe on the waterfront at Port Campbell. With its floor to ceiling picture windows looking out over the pier and bay we were able to enjoy a hearty breakfast in toasty warm comfort while looking at the increasingly horrible weather outside. This nasty weather had been predicted and was starting to roll in with heavy gloomy clouds and a wind whipped from the Antarctic sea. We were delighted to have seen so much before having to deal with the elements at their worst.

Loch Ard Gorge

Ailsa and David brave the rain

The Loch Ard Razorback

Not far on from this was Loch Ard Gorge Razorback. It's easy to see why this area was called the shipwreck coast. The Loch Ard was another pioneering vessel to founder on this rocky coastline. Only two survivors, a young lady and cabin boy made it safely to shore where they scandalously spent the night alone together before being rescued.

Driving on towards the Twelve Apostles we managed to miss the turn off as it was on the opposite side of the road from what we expected. It turned out that the viewing platforms are accessed via a tunnel under the road.

Barb on Gibson's Steps

John on beach at Gibson's steps

We decided to see the Gibson Steps first (John: they were the only place to do a U-turn, we had little choice!) before backtracking back to the Twelve Apostles. Of course this - Gibson Steps - also involved another climb down a set of very steep and slippery stairs to the beach below. There were surfers again out here. We couldn't believe it. We were wet through and freezing, no umbrella could survive the wind without being blown inside out and by this time my hair was either plastered across my face or whipping into my eyes. It was lovely looking up at the sheer cliffs from the beach, although I kept a wary eye on the rapidly advancing tide so I could scurry back up the stairs if required.

David, Ailsa and John at 12 Apostles

Some of the Twelve Apostles

Inaccessible bay where seals live

We finally got back to the Twelve Apostles and we found where the rest of the tourists were congregated. This was clearly the place to be (John: ha! B****y Victoria!), and even on such a vile weathered day there was no shortage of foreign tourists posing in front of the Apostles. As did we. It was hard to stop yourself just going mad with the camera. I'm not known for holding back at any time when it comes to taking photos, and today was not the day to start!

Ailsa blown away by Apollo Bay Marina

We drove the rest of the way through some very winding road to Apollo Bay, only stopping briefly at Castle Cove to admire the view. After checking into our motel we had a late lunch in town and then ventured to the marina for a look around. Even the harbour was choppy with boats bouncing around on their moorings. Ailsa was nearly blown over by the wind. It seemed even the sea gulls were struggling to stay upright on their feet in the gusty wind. Some (fool) hardy golfers were attempting to play a round of golf on the nearby golf course. I'm predicting it wasn't a low scoring round.

The view from Marriner's lookout

Beautiful Apollo Bay

We then drove up to Mariners Lookout which overlooks the town of Apollo Bay. The views were spectacular from up on the hill. More photo opportunities! We were unable to see the Mariners Waterfall as the road there was closed, so it was back to the warmth of our motel to rest and look through our massive cache of photos from the day. We later learned that the road to the Mariners Waterfall was closed because of water over a ford on the way there. Waterfall, rain, water on road ... now why didn't we think of that?