Tuesday, March 15, 2016

TWELVE APOSTLES AND GREAT OCEAN ROAD

So about 45 minutes drive from Warrnambool on the Great Ocean Road is the 12 Apostles however there are some amazing sights to see before you hit the Apostles, so to see as much as possible we allowed half a day.

Some interesting information on the Great Ocean Road...

The Great Ocean Road is permanent memorial to those who died while fighting in World War I, carved in rock, it winds around the rugged southern coast. Built by returned servicemen it was a huge engineering feat ending decades of isolation for Lorne and other coastal communities.
Before the road, travel between the coastal settlements was far from pleasant. In the 1870s, a trip from Lorne to Geelong was long and arduous via a rough coach track through dense bush to the railway at Winchelsea. Previously the ocean supplied the link to the outside world.

Early plans

Plans for an ocean road emerged in the 1880s but only gained real impetus towards the end of the First World War. The chairman of the Country Roads Board, Mr W Calder, contacted the State War Council with a proposal that funds be provided for repatriation and re-employment of returned soldiers on roads in sparsely populated areas. Calder submitted a plan he described as the 'South Coast Road' which suggested a road starting at Barwon Heads, following the coast around Cape Otway and ending near Warrnambool.


Hmm surf's up at Pt Campbell!


Some of the land that has been etched away over history is truely an amazing spectacle!

These columns are scattered right along this coast 




The pictures don't do the scenery justice



Stunning! ;)


On the way down to the Grotto (hole in the wall)


The Grotto


Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.....


The number of amazing pictures have been too numerous to put on the blog but here are a few more;












And finally we meet the Apostles.  In the foreground you can see the remnants of one of the larger Apostles that crashed into the ocean on July 3, 2005


There are actually only 8 of the 12 apostles left standing today, however apparently there have been another 5 that have just been found but are submerged beneath the sea




 Can you see the face in the rock surface?


Now that's one way to see the Apostles!


and we say goodbye to the Apostles heading further East on the Great Ocean Road...


 
  Heading East of Cape Otway and toward our destination of Lorne




 This stretch of the Great Ocean has sheer cliff faces




 A part of the Great Ocean Road that was ravaged by bush fire late last year


Much of this road is a high risk accident area with many accidents occurring.  Possibly because in most areas the safe speed should be around 50 - 60kph however the speed limit is actually 80kph, go figure!!


High risk accident area, 80kph really?



Oh who's that stunning couple? ;)


Often rocks will fall from the cliff faces to and land on the road.









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