Diane’s Blog and Blurbs: #44 - Australia

Sadly, our time in New Zealand has come to an end. But we are on our way to Australia for a week, so the adventure continues there. When we flew out of Dunedin, NZ we noticed this sign above the door at the airport that said, “Welcome, if you’re visiting you’ll probably want to refund that return ticket”. It’s very, very, tempting to stay here. Jeff and I love New Zealand and we will return!

Our Air New Zealand flight took us to Melbourne, Australia where we stayed downtown in a high rise apartment overlooking the harbor. It was beautiful, but after enjoying the city for a couple of days, we jumped in our rental car and headed out to the “Great Ocean Road”. This route took us along cliff tops, near surfing beaches, and through lush rain forest for over 100 miles.

The coast line, much of which is now a National Park, has been sculpted over thousands of years to become one of the most impressive natural sites in Australia (and the world). Jutting towers of rock, stacks of rocks, arches, islands, and inlets have been carved out of the soft limestone cliffs by ocean waves, wind, and rain. The rocky coastline can be a treacherous area to navigate by boat and so has earned the title of “Shipwreck Coast”.

I have a couple hundred photos on my camera, but snapped a few with my iPhone just to give you an idea of what we saw. The first day, we arrived at The Twelve Apostles just before sunset. A perfect time of day to see these pillars that rise out of the ocean. They were once connected to the mainland, but wind and waves carved them into caves, then arches, and eventually battered them down into 150 foot tall columns. There are only 8 left (4 apostles bit the dust) but when the next stretch of cliff becomes pillars, there may be more!

The Twelve Apostles (minus a few)

The Loch Ard Gorge is a beautiful beach inside an impressive gorge. It is the location of the Loch Ard shipwreck which had only two young survivors.

The still clear water in the cave of the Grotto casts reflections contrasting with the fast moving water of the oceans behind it. This cave and sinkhole is located about halfway up the cliff from sea level.

The Grotto

Our next view was of London Bridge, originally a bridge with a double arch connected to the mainland, but it collapsed in 1990. A couple of tourists were standing on it at the time and when the two pieces of rock were separated, they had to be rescued by helicopter. Today, people are not permitted to venture out onto these rocks.

London Bridge

The Arch is a masterpiece of nature. It is mounted on a harder rock below that serves as a platform for the arch. Water pours through the arch in swells cascading out the other side. It shows the middle stage of an island transitioning from tunnel, to arch, which will ultimately collapse to form two rock stacks.