The Great Ocean Road *Pictures*
I think it's pretty self explanatory...it's a road along the ocean, and it's great! It does however, go into rural Australia, which means that as soon as you leave your vehicle you get the flies...just your basic flies, but still annoying all the same. They don't bite or sting, just crawl on you and drive you nuts!
Fly problems aside, the history behind it is as follows: After the First World War, the returning servicemen needed jobs and something to do. It was decided that a road would be built from Melbourne to Adelaide along the ocean. Whenever the funding and enough men were around, it was worked on. I tried to make the journey myself by taking trains and busses, but unfortunately if you don't have a car you more or less get stranded. So, back to Melbourne where I took a day trip along the road to see the sights. Behold!
This is a really common sight along the coast, the water gradually wears away at the rock face, creating these little plynths standing along the edge.
Wild koalas! They looked more or less the same as in the sanctuary in Sydney, just kind of hanging out and eating. Kind of sounds like my life, actually...
These birds kind of appeared when we stopped for lunch and a local had some seed to feed them with! They were a type of parrot...starts with an r...Roselle, I believe. Cool little birds, sharp little claws.
These next few are taken in a temperate rain forest, something we have a few of back home I believe. What was odd was the lack of evergreens! Bizarre...
The Australian coast is really quite diverse...in 10 minutes you go from the ocean to the rainforest to these wide plains and valleys.
And, finally, we have the 12 Apostles. Actually, there's only 8 of them (there were 9 but one of them fell over last year, you can still see the rubble). The real question is, was there ever actually 12...
This is a perfect shot of how the 12 Apostles were formed. Gradually, the bridge will wear down and collapse, leaving two standing stone towers. Ta da!
Loch Ard Gorge, where a captain tried to make the fastest journey from England to Melbourne. They were so excited upon arriving that the last night they got drunk and crashed the ship...only 2 survivors out of 55.
Tomorrow I'll be leaving Melbourne, flying up to Cairns to check out the tropics, cheers mates!