The Great Ocean Road

 The Great Ocean Road  

It was an early morning start to leave the Crowne Plaza in Melbourne for our trip along the great Ocean Road. We hadn't gone far when we encountered our first wildlife and our first stop. We turned of the main road to stop at the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery. We wer early, so we waited for it to open.

The chocolate and ice cream stop is in the background. In the foreground is the colourful kangaroo, a reminder of the cows at Ashdown in Tasmania.

When we welcomed by a colourful bird. One of my twitcher friends will tell me what it is. It hopped across the wind screen wipers as it searched for an easy meal of insects squashed against the windscreen. 

Then it was int the shop and factory. To one side of the entrance is a wall of glass between the shop and the factory where all the goods are made and packaged.

The shop floor was surprisingly large but it catered for all flavours of both chocolate and ice cream, in all sorts of sizes and combinations.

Outside there were more kangaroo sculptures. The Ocean Road Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery are proud to support the Alannah and Madeleine Foundation. Their aim is to provide support for children to live in a safe environment and free from bullying.  The creamery  showcased 40 art kangaroos created by Australian artists and raised AUD200,000 for the charity. The three in the gardens were one covered with coloured sugar balls...

...one with an ice cream cone on its back ...

...and one with chocolate sauce tipped over its back.

Then we moved on to the Ocean Road. It is a popular piece of coastline for both tourists visiting and a place for second homes. One particular house was pointed out standing on the steep slope next to the road and the seashore. It is a single storey house built on a single tall pillar. It featured in the Australian version of Grand Designs.

Then we arrived at the start of the road itself which has an arch across the road. 

The road was built to xommenorate those that had fallen in the First World War. Previously, the communities along the coast were isolated with their only connections with the rest of Australia by ship. Construction started in 1919 and it took 3,000 workers years to complete the 240 kms road through the rugged coast line, finishing in 1932. A monument to the workers.

Much of the start of the route is along the coast but the road does dip inland in places where the coast is too rugged. There are koalas in the trees.

We stopped for lunch in Apollo Bay, the only sizeable settlement along the road. At the right time of year, there are whales out to sea and penguins nesting on the beach. There are also a lot of birdlife such as these Galahs. There is a long distance pth that leads along the coast away from the road that starts at Apollo Bay and finishes in Warrnambool.

Then it was the highlight of the trip, a visit to the Twelve Apostles.

These are sea stacks standing just off the mainland coast. There are no longer twelve as erosion by the sea has caused soe to collapse.

The massive viewing platform juts out above the  liffs to give a better viewpoint.

A different view of the sea stacks.

And more sea stacks.

The next stop was the Loch Ard Gorge. In 1878, a ship was wrecked off the coast with just four survivors. Two, Tom and Eva, were washed up on the beach here. Tom climbed the cliffs and walked for miles to get help.

A view of the gorge from the seaward end.

An arch on an island. When the arch collapses, it will create two new sea stacks, replacements for the Apostles further back along the coast.

More islands.

This is the London Bridge. One arch remains but in 1990, the arch connecting the promentoryto the mainland collapsed. Vehicles used to be able to drive over the arches to the end. Luckily when it collapsed, no one was injured but two people were stranded at the end and had to be rescued by helicopter. 

There are some lovely beaches but the water is cold and there are dangerous currents and rip tides. We drove through rainforest to reach Warrnambool and the end of the Great Ocean Road.