Great Ocean Road Trip!

Our Christmas present to Darren's parents was a 3 night trip on the Great Ocean Road.  The Great Ocean Road is a 243-kilometre (151 mi) stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. The road was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world's largest war memorial; dedicated to casualties of World War I.  

We woke on the morning of January 7th to a lovely hot day, and drove inland to our first destination - the beacutiful bay of Port Campbell.  Port Cambell is a seaside village towards the Western end of the Great Ocean Road - a good place to start our trip back along the Great Ocean Road.


 
We spent the afternoon on the beach........

and then trying to find some shade.....

Our Port Campbell accomodation

Waking in Port Cambell, we went to a lovely restaurant for breakfast - Waves - before heading to the see some of the amazing natural sights that the Great Ocean Road has to offer.
First stop - London Arch - a natural arch in the Port Campbell National Park. It was formed by a gradual process of erosion, and until 1990 formed a complete double-span natural bridge.  The arch closest to the shoreline collapsed unexpectedly on 15 January 1990, leaving two tourists stranded on the outer part until they were rescued by a helicopter. No one was injured in the event. Prior to the collapse, the arch was known as London Bridge because of its similarity to its namesake.

London Arch

The Arch (in the background of this photo!) - formed by the sea cutting through a rock ledge

Next stop was Island Archway near Loch Ard Gorge - which was a 25 metre high arch when we visited almost two years ago! It is now two new features after the middle section collapsed into the sea in June 2009. The pillars have since been officially named Tom and Eva after the two teenage survivors of the Loch Ard shipwreck

This used to be Island Archway!

Pudding Basin Rock in the backgroud (I think!)

And then a short walk to Loch Ard Gorge.  It is named after the clipper ship Loch Ard, which ran aground on nearby Muttonbird Island on 1 June 1878 approaching the end of a three-month journey from England to Melbourne. Of the fifty-one passengers and crew, only two survived: Tom Pearce, a ship's apprentice, and Eva Carmichael, an Irishwoman immigrating with her family, both of whom were 18 years of age. According to memorials at the site, Pearce was washed ashore, and rescued Carmichael from the water after hearing her cries for help. Pearce then proceeded to climb out of the gorge to raise the alarm to local pastoralists who immediately set into plan a rescue attempt.

Loch Ard Gorge

And no trip on the Great Ocean Road would be complete without seeing the Twelve Apostles.  The Twelve Apostles are giant rock stacks that rise majestically from the Southern Ocean and are the central feature of the rugged Port Campbell National Park. They have been created by constant erosion of the limestone cliffs of the mainland that began 10–20 million years ago. The stormy Southern Ocean and blasting winds gradually eroded the softer limestone, forming caves in the cliffs. The caves eventually became arches, and when they collapsed rock stacks up to 45 metres high were left isolated from the shore.