Saturday, 1 April 2023
The Great Ocean Road runs along the coast west of Melbourne from Torquay to Port Fairy. Our all-day tour did not go quite as far west, traversing the stretch from the Twelve Apostles to Torquay.
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| The Twelve Apostles are eroded sandstone cliffs along the coast of Victoria. Twelve sounded theologically correct, but there are only four to seven "apostles" - depending upon which pillars you consider to be an "apostle". |
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| Near the Twelve Apostles are the Gibson Steps, allowing beach access. |
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| Looking east from the base of the Gibson Steps. |
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| Looking west from the base of the Gibson Steps towards the Apostles. |
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| Lon on the beach at the base of the Gibson Steps. It was a windy, blustery day. |
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| The Great Ocean Road area has a number of waterfalls just inland from the ocean. This is Hopetoun Falls. |
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| There are also a handful of experimental redwood plantations. Turns out redwoods grow too slowly to be suitable for lumber plantations. |
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| We saw lots of tree ferns in wet areas - both temperate and tropical. |
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| View of the Great Ocean Road from the lookout in Lorne. |
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| Eucalyptus trees ("Gum trees") at the Lorne lookout. There are over 700 species of eucalypts, most of which are native to Australia. |
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| The beach at Aireys Inlet, near the east end of the Great Ocean Road. |
Wildlife
The Great Ocean Road and nearby environs gave us some of our best wildlife viewing.
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| Totally Australia: Koala sleeping in a gum tree. |
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| Kangaroos at the Cumberland River. |
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| Another kangaroo at the Cumberland River. |
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| I didn't know that the kookaburra was a kingfisher - just look at that beak! |
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