We left Apollo Bay and set up camp at Princetown Recreation Reserve. Nice spot, $20 p/n unpowered, payment to continue up grades to the grounds.
I will let the pictures speak for themselves as there are only so many descriptive words you can use.
Bloody hell I love Australia!!
The second leg of our Great Ocean Road trip started with Loch Ard Gorge, the site of the wreck of the sailing ship The Loch Ard, only 4 lives were lost. Despite the loss of lives the whole scene left us gob smacked at how beautiful it was and things just got better from there.
Next stop was Island Archway and Razorback, again gob smacked. What else can I say.
Shipwreck Walk was stunning and the stairs down to the beach gave us our daily work out. The stairs going back up (same stairs) would have challenged Jane Fonder.
Mutton Bird Island is a sanctuary for migrating birds as there are no predators on the island. The migrating Mutton birds fly 15,000 km to the island, build there burrows, lay there eggs wait until their chicks are hatched and then fed nice and fat, the parents then fly back and the chicks who have never flown before, when ready seem to have the built in instinct to find their own way home.
Thunder Cave is stunning and loud with the crystal blue water rushing in and crashing into the back of the cave! It sounded like cannons going off, they could not have named this monolith anything else.
Broken Head it seems to be every wave is its enemy. Wave after wave, they just keep coming and smash straight into the face of the rock. The front of the rock face has fallen off, but there is plenty more rock to go before this one crumbles into the sea.
We had been told by fellow travelers to see the 12 Apostles hassle free get in early before the tour buses full of overseas visitors arrive from Melbourne. The Apostles site was not to busy at all it was so much easier to take pics. There are helicopter flights as well as small planes to see the 12 Apostles from the air but at the price it was not for us.
Not too far from the 12 Apostles was Gibson's Steps. These steps lead down to a sheltered beach front and is a good place to take more pics of the Apostles from a different angle. Like the stair case from yesterday these steps gave a similar work out on our legs.
We drove through Port Campbell and on to The Arch, its name speaks for itself. There were more waves, sandstone and limestone creating stunning formations but everyone of them unique.
Only four more to stops to go, first is London Bridge, this sandstone island use to join up to the main land but as you can see some of London Bridge has indeed fallen down. I think the rest of the bridge will be still there for quite some to come.
The Grotto was the next to amaze us, once again stairs down to the lower section were there to give the legs another work out. From the top the waves put on a spectacular display but when you get to the bottom, that is where the magic photo opportunity reveals itself.
The Bay of Martyrs formations are not as tall as the Apostles, but still stunning in their own way. The limestone and sandstone formations are slowly being eroded at the base of the rock from the consent pounding of the sea.
Last but not least is the Bay of Islands. While some of the formations are not huge they are unique as these structures are made of a combination of limestone and fossilized sea shells. The sea shell layer being stronger than the limestone have shaped these rocky out crop into a fantastic spiky display.
We had lunch at Peterborough at an inlet with a small beach and were treated to an awesome display from the waves colliding with the rock formations and a rock shelf that was just above the waves. Even Clem our travelling companion on the dash had nothing to complain about.
On the way back to camp we took some back roads and was surprised how close the the farms were to the coast. You don't realize how the coast, the rain forests and the farms all sit side by side in harmony.
Not being able to help ourselves we called into another chocolate place called G.O.R.G.E Chocolates and had a delicious hot chocolate each and just had to pick up a block of chocolate or three as well.
I will let the pictures speak for themselves as there are only so many descriptive words you can use.
Bloody hell I love Australia!!
The second leg of our Great Ocean Road trip started with Loch Ard Gorge, the site of the wreck of the sailing ship The Loch Ard, only 4 lives were lost. Despite the loss of lives the whole scene left us gob smacked at how beautiful it was and things just got better from there.
Next stop was Island Archway and Razorback, again gob smacked. What else can I say.
Shipwreck Walk was stunning and the stairs down to the beach gave us our daily work out. The stairs going back up (same stairs) would have challenged Jane Fonder.
Mutton Bird Island is a sanctuary for migrating birds as there are no predators on the island. The migrating Mutton birds fly 15,000 km to the island, build there burrows, lay there eggs wait until their chicks are hatched and then fed nice and fat, the parents then fly back and the chicks who have never flown before, when ready seem to have the built in instinct to find their own way home.
Thunder Cave is stunning and loud with the crystal blue water rushing in and crashing into the back of the cave! It sounded like cannons going off, they could not have named this monolith anything else.
Broken Head it seems to be every wave is its enemy. Wave after wave, they just keep coming and smash straight into the face of the rock. The front of the rock face has fallen off, but there is plenty more rock to go before this one crumbles into the sea.
We had been told by fellow travelers to see the 12 Apostles hassle free get in early before the tour buses full of overseas visitors arrive from Melbourne. The Apostles site was not to busy at all it was so much easier to take pics. There are helicopter flights as well as small planes to see the 12 Apostles from the air but at the price it was not for us.
Not too far from the 12 Apostles was Gibson's Steps. These steps lead down to a sheltered beach front and is a good place to take more pics of the Apostles from a different angle. Like the stair case from yesterday these steps gave a similar work out on our legs.
We drove through Port Campbell and on to The Arch, its name speaks for itself. There were more waves, sandstone and limestone creating stunning formations but everyone of them unique.
Only four more to stops to go, first is London Bridge, this sandstone island use to join up to the main land but as you can see some of London Bridge has indeed fallen down. I think the rest of the bridge will be still there for quite some to come.
The Grotto was the next to amaze us, once again stairs down to the lower section were there to give the legs another work out. From the top the waves put on a spectacular display but when you get to the bottom, that is where the magic photo opportunity reveals itself.
The Bay of Martyrs formations are not as tall as the Apostles, but still stunning in their own way. The limestone and sandstone formations are slowly being eroded at the base of the rock from the consent pounding of the sea.
Last but not least is the Bay of Islands. While some of the formations are not huge they are unique as these structures are made of a combination of limestone and fossilized sea shells. The sea shell layer being stronger than the limestone have shaped these rocky out crop into a fantastic spiky display.
We had lunch at Peterborough at an inlet with a small beach and were treated to an awesome display from the waves colliding with the rock formations and a rock shelf that was just above the waves. Even Clem our travelling companion on the dash had nothing to complain about.
On the way back to camp we took some back roads and was surprised how close the the farms were to the coast. You don't realize how the coast, the rain forests and the farms all sit side by side in harmony.
Not being able to help ourselves we called into another chocolate place called G.O.R.G.E Chocolates and had a delicious hot chocolate each and just had to pick up a block of chocolate or three as well.
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