The Great Ocean Road

We took a Grayline coach tour with Adrian our driver/tour guide along the Great Ocean Road. T he road was created as a 'make work' infrastructure project for soldiers returning from WW1. It is about 200KM in length and winds along the southern coast of Australia.

We stopped for lunch in Apollo and sat with an Asian couple from Virginia who were also on the coach. We also stopped at a point of land that demarc's the joining of the Pacific ocean and the Indian Ocean at the "Bass Strait'. The only thing between that point of land and Antarctica is 2000 miles of Ocean.

The highlight of the tour was visiting the 12 apostles. The Twelve Apostles have been created by constant erosion of the limestone cliffs of the mainland that began 10–20 million years ago. The stormy Southern Ocean and blasting winds gradually eroded the softer limestone, forming caves in the cliffs. The caves eventually became arches and when they collapsed rock stacks up to 45 metres high were left isolated from the shore.
We took a heli-tour for 8-10 minutes along the coast for $70Aud each but it was well worth it, judging by Peggy's smiles. We learned about the wreck of the Loch Ard, which ran aground near Muttonbird Island. There were only two 18 year old survivors, a ship's deckhand and a girl passenger, of the 50+ on board who came ashore on what is now known as Loch Ard gorge.
Muttonbirds migrate 30000 miles from Alaska to brood on this rock every year. They spend the day searching from food, returning to the rock in the late afternoon. The Helicopters are grounded so they don't interfere with the birds' routine.

We returned to Melbourne around 754PM and had a late dinner of Pizza and pasta at a small cafe in Degrace lane, around the corner from our hotel, before turning in.