Up at 4am for the early flight to Melbourne. Cool day, with periods of sunshine and intermittent showers. Europcar provided a Camry Elise - very nice car to drive, making the long legs on the road comfortable. My copilot Suzy (she lives in the navigation program on my mobile phone) has been a faithful companion, efficiently getting me from place to place.
The Great Ocean Road starts at Torquay, South of Geelong. It is a VERY windy road that mostly hugs the coastline for 240 km. It was originally built by soldiers in the 1920s, and parts of it were a toll road for many years. They still signpost the old toll stations!
Anglesea was first port of call - a nice, brightly painted seaside town that is obviously a popular holiday spot. Smelt there the first of a number of those delightful small town bakeries that are so hard to pass by: fresh sausage rolls and cakes and slices of every kind.
On the way south to Lorne, historic markers remind of the many shipwrecks that dot the coast. Lorne is a popular holiday destination with nice beaches and parks. Here I first noticed the very many homes that have been built clinging to steep cliff faces: no doubt wonderful views, but I am not sure how you get up to many of them. You see these all the way along the ocean road.
Apollo bay is the bottom of the southern leg of the Great Ocean Road. It is a sizeable town with many great eating places. Had lunch there. Decided to bypass Cape Otway, where Bass Strait meets the Great Southern Ocean ... I saw enough lighthouses in West Australia to last me! So the drive cut across the Otway national park, a very pleasant forest drive, past some beautiful dairy and sheep farms, to meet the ocean at Princetown.
It was here that I first encountered the towering sandstone cliffs that rise up sheer from the water. The swells that sweep up from the Antarctic have pounded against these shores for millennia and have gouged out fascinating gorges, inlets, and created outcrops of rock left stranded offshore. A few km past Princetown one arrives at the Twelve Apostles (although there are only 8). A good carpark and information centre has been created with fine walkways and lookouts preserving the area from tourist damage. Apparently 2 million visit here annually. Today there were bus loads of Asian tourists everywhere. A bitterly cold gale buffeted the cliff face, so strong I couldn't hold my camera steady and had to lean against a railing to get pics. The view is simply stunning, and has made the trip worthwhile in itself. And to cap it all, the sun came out just as I reached the car park and stayed shining for 40 minutes before the next showers came along.
Ah yes -- that conversion. Adjoining the car park is a helicopter port with several whirlybirds taking sightseers on circuits of the area. Curiosity took me over to watch. I have only every had one helicopter ride, at Mt Cook in NZ. That journey up the glacier was so rough and frightening that I swore I'd never get in one again. Anyway, watching the absolute delight of so many as they returned from their flights, I surrendered my fears, bought a ticket and had a life jacket strapped on me. I nearly bolted when they directed me to a small 3 seater that was called in to join the larger ones doing the circuits. BUT the trip was marvellously smooth despite the gales. We swept low across the 12 Apostles, followed the coast west to have other highlights pointed out, then turned a little out to sea and travelled back east past the entire complex and in to land again. Only an 8 minute circuit but the views were outstanding and from such a different perspective. Am so glad I surrendered.
By now it was mid afternoon, and I was tiring. I once again joined the traffic procession. I should explain: the road is 80kph single lane with little chance of overtaking. So blocks of traffic form processions behind the tourist buses or slow moving sightseers and move along, sometimes at funereal pace. Patience is a must! Also, I noticed at regular intervals these signs along the road. Just past Lorne I discovered the reason: I came around a bend in the road to find myself face to face with a very startled Japanese driver who was blithely motoring up the wrong side of the road. We stopped a meter apart, both somewhat shaken.Just past the Apostles is an inlet called Lord Ard Gorge, named after a sailing ship that was wrecked near there. Only 2 of the 54 on board survived - a cabin boy who was washed into this gorge and a teenage girl he rescued. There are sundry other rock formations with imaginative names and stories as you continue the drive.
Stopped for coffee in Port Campbell, another seaside holiday destination. The port looked to me to be anything but a safe harbour from the rough ocean. The last stretch of the road moved slightly inland through small farming territory to end at Warrnambool where I was happy to find my motel at 5pm. Had travelled 370 km in the day.
Today's photos here
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