Sorry I've been delayed in updating. With the start of the Red Sox and playoff time for the Bruins and Celtics I find myself getting distracted a little more easily keeping up with that. Anyways two weeks ago I took a trip down the Great Ocean Road. I took a full day bus trip out of Melbourne and headed for the coast to see several highlighted spots along the way. We had a group of about 10 of us on the tour and we had 2 guides Ryan and Stew (I've met more people named Stewart since I've been down here pretty common name here).
Anyways so we took off around 7 am for Bells Beach. IT about an hour and a half northwest of Melbourne and its the site of the Rip Curl Surf Competition every year. The morning was overcast and a little rainy but we arrived a week before the competition so there was quit a bit of energy and around the area when we arrived. They were currently having their "grom" competition, which is held the week before Rip Curl every year for younger teens and for sponsors trying to discover the next big thing.
So we checked out the set up watched a little surf and were soon on our way down the road. As i soon found out the Great Ocean Road officially starts in Torquay a city right near Bells here is the archways leading to the Road behind me below. So a little history I learned in regard to the road is that when the Australian Army returned from war the soldiers were returning to no jobs and little opportunity for work. So the governement looking for this road to be built along the coast "hired" them to build the road which took about 13 years to construct. They were offered land which they had to build the house on and only given rations of food as compentsation for said construction and so they accepted and got to work. If you ever happen to make this trip you will notcie that it is very windy and quite inconveniently so. I was informed of two reason for this 1) that they had little to no dynamite so all the roads were hadn dug and not much was blown up which would have made it much straighter. 2) One day while working some of the men noticed a shipwrecked boat out on the sand dunes below. They went to investigate/help and realized the shipe was a cargo ship moving liquor which offered enough booze for 3 weeks of heavy drinking. So now us travellers must wind and twist and turn unendingly through the caost line to travel the 250 kms from start to finish.
I must say though that the coastline is quite amazing to see first hand and that inspite of rainy weather through most of the day that it was very well worth it. Here is a shot below as we approached Apollo Bay. (I skipped one part of the trip where we stopped to see Koalas but I will add picture of them after I finish this) Apollo Bay was our next stop with Surfing, beachside shops, a golf course, and a great set of restaurants along the beach. Its a staple for tourists on the G.O.R tour so I'm sure they pride themselves on taking care of those that pass through.
So as we meandered our way along we passed through a huge national park of which I will add some pictures below (I can only have 5 in each blog I write so I can't always show everything I am writing about). Port Campbell National Park has some of the oldest and tallest trees in the world in the rainforest down here which I found pretty amazing. They have a pretty fascintating amount of wildlife and plantlife which was pretty cool to get a taste of.
From the National Park we made our way to a few of the real "touristy" places that people "just have to see". TO be perfectly honest they are a bunch of rocks sticking out of the water. They have two main attractions down on the coast one called London Bridge and another named the 12 Apostles. I saw both they won't blow you off your feet but they are tourist attractions so what do you expect.
I did pay the extra 50 bucks to fly around for 15 minutes which was pretty sweet heading out over the ocean getting a few good shots of these so aptly named "12 Apostles" and seeing the coastline for a few kms in both directions.
Little tidbit of information for those of you who can't count and for anyone who might like to see how a simple naming convention can turn something into a million dollar tourist attraction, but there are only 9 "Apostles" not twelve as the biblical reference would infer, one which fell in 2004 leaving only 8 now. Our pilot informed us that when they named it that BOOOOM goldmine...
Which brings us to London Bridge which is perhaps the most useless toursit trap ever. When I add pics below you can add your own sentiments. Its basically an eroded rock that waves have slowly formed a n archway in that is now frestanding in the water but was once also connected to land before it collapsed in the mid-80s. Apparently the week before there was a car show for BMW that displayed its 1985 line of cars on the bridge that connected it to land so many Australians like to blame the Germans for that rocks collapse but it was most likely just time for it to go.
Quick little story that made it somewhat worthwhile though. On the day it collapsed people were out on the "bridge" when the part to land collapsed. It was a married couple, however, they weren't married to each other. They were on a little "business"trip and took about 8 hours to get rescued. Conveniently the news people were the first to arrive and identify the people rather then there naval chopper which was out on duty and unable to retrieve them for quite some time. Our guides don't know what came of the couples but sucks to be you.
Lastly, before our return trip home we stopped in this little place called Loch Ard Gorge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ard_Gorge). I forget why they named it that I think it was for a boat that crashed there. Basiaclly to make a long story short. Boat crashes...2 people of 50 survive a man and then he finds a woman the next day and carries her into the gorge as well. They hide out in the Gorge in the coast of Australia some nomads or settlers on the coast find them. They get saved...they have plaques and historic landmarks....
So guys that about sums up the Great Ocean Road. If you are here I'd say take Sunday do a day trip not expensive the sights are gorgeous. Our tour guides were great and it got me out of Melbourne for a nice day of traveling, meeting new people, and some great sights.
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