GOR

Above: Loch Ard gorge (sorry - this one ought to be down below but when I insert new photos, they seem to appear at the top!), Lorne beach, seal at Lorne Pier, view from Teddy's Lookout, GOR

Below: various views of the 12 Apostles and nearby coastline

Noosa Heads

As promised, a few pictures this time. Not from where I am now, but from where I've been. These are from the Great Ocean Road (GOR), a truly spectacular road along the southern coast of Victoria. It's a bit hard to do justice to the place in words - hopefully the pictures will help give you an idea of what it's like. The road was originally built by servicemen returned from WWI. Before then, most of the coast was really accesible only by boat, and it's not an easy coastline to navigate (there have been quite a number of shipwrecks). Driving along today's modern, paved road you end up with a massive amount of respect for the people who originally built the thing (not to mention the people who originally surveyed the route, before any building commenced) - in many places, the cliff face is nearly vertical, and even now, it's reasonably remote.

I did the trip over two days (I decided I didn't want to drive myself, as then it would be difficult to admire the scenery). It is possible to do it as a day trip, which takes just under 12 hours. Oddly, for the two day version, you get dropped off after only just under 3 hours, meaning the second day is still quite long. The drop-off place is a town called Lorne, which is a classic sea-side town. It has a beautiful beach (the picture doesn't really give you a good sense of it) and some nice walks. I walked along the beach and out to the town pier (where I found that lovely fur seal sunning itself on the rocks). I then walked a track that followed the route of an old tramway line, which was used to move timber out of the inland forest to the coast. It was one of many tramways used for that purpose before the road was built (and before the inland area was made into a national park, meaning there's no more timber cutting allowed). I then went up (and I mean up!) and over the ridge in order to get back to town - the photo from Teddy's Lookout shows the place where I started my climb (the side bit off the main road). Thankfully, it wasn't a very warm day, and there was a fairly stiff breeze to keep things cool.

The next day was absolutely glorious, weather-wise. Sunny, warm and very clear. In fact, various people along the way commented on how lucky we were in that the weather doesn't really get any better for viewing the spectacular scenery. The area where I took the pictures is around Port Campbell National Park (for anyone who's following along on a map!). There are a number of natural rock formations along the coast, the best known of which are the so-called 12 Apostles. That is something of a misnomer, as there are currently only 8 of them (the other 4 have collapsed into the sea), and they haven't always been called that (another example of the marketing people getting hold of something!). Other formations have also had their names changed as time and tide have had their effect (e.g., London Bridge, a natural rock bridge, has collapsed, so it can't really be called a bridge anymore). Names notwithstanding, they are truly spectacular, especially on such a glorious day. One place a bit further along the coast that hasn't had its name changed (at least not recently!) is Loch Ard Gorge. It has a slightly tragic story: It's named after a ship (the Loch Ard), which had sailed from England and was only one day out from Melbourne. Sadly, it encountered bad weather and was wrecked. There were only two surivors, a ship's apprentice and one of the passengers, a young woman, and they were washed into the gorge.

Now, the sharp-eyed among you will have realized that some of the photos have a rather unusual perspective. That's because they were taken from the air! Notwithstanding my native scepticism when tour guides tout add-ons, I decided that this time I'd give it a go and took the short helicopter flight the driver suggested. It was very well worth it (the helicopter pilot was one of the people who commented on how fortunate we were with the weather and the clear water), and certainly gave a view of the coastline and the rock formations you simply can't get from the shore.

Fortunately, this area was pretty much the last stop on the tour, as anything else would have been an anticlimax. Unfortunately, it's also the point on the tour that's about the farthest away from Melbourne! Thankfully, there's a highway to get you back faster than you came out, but it's still a long haul back to the city. However, I would certainly say the GOR is one of those comparatively few places in the world that really does live up to its hype. When I was planning this trip, everyone I spoke to who was familiar with the area said the GOR was a must-do. In my experience, hardly anywhere that comes with that sort of advance billing meets expectations, but this place did. (If anyone's interested, I do have many more photos - happy to share separately.)

I have now moved on, to Queensland, and more specifically, Noosa Heads. This is a resort town on a glorious beach, about 2 hours north of Brisbane. It's another place that seems to inspire great enthusiasm, as whenever I mentioned I was coming here to people who know the place, they were quite envious. My intention was to build in some down time, and this certainly seems like a good place to be doing it (somewhat to my surprise, I've not had nearly as much time on this trip, which is now exactly one month old(!), as I had expected/hoped to simply sit and relax; that shouldn't be a problem here!). That being said, I won't just be sitting on the beach for the next few days, so look out for my next report!