The trip this way was a lot different you are not actually on the cliff edge like you are going north, and you have quite a drive before you finally get to the viewing side of it the first being the "Twelve Apostles"
The Twelve Apostles, like the other rock formations of the Port Campbell National Park, have been gouged away from the towering limestone cliffs over thousands of years.
The cliffs’ foundations were laid down some 10 to 25 million years ago at a time when this area was covered by an inland sea. Over millions of years ago, countless numbers of marine creatures died, and as they died, their bodies would drift to the bottom of the sea and mix with the other sediment. The marine creatures’ skeletons and shells were rich in calcium and as the sediment compacted over the centuries, calciferous clay, or tertiary limestone, was formed.
It is the calcium that acts a cementing product, binding the rock together. Where you have a higher calcium content, or a richer deposit of calcium, you have a stronger variety of rock. This stronger rock has managed to withstand the pounding of the waves and the whipping of the sand winds as the weaker rock has been worn away around it, leaving us today with an amazing array of rock formations.
And without any doubt, the most famous of those rock formations is the Twelve Apostles.
There are not actually twelve “Apostles”, and they say they are not sure if there ever were.The last Apostle to collapsed was on 3rd July 2005. They are the world’s tallest limestone stacks and without doubt the most recognisable attraction in Victoria.
We had to park in the car park across the road from the Twelve Apostles and then walk to the viewing area which is accessed via a tunnel under the Great Ocean Road. Boardwalks around the top of the cliffs provide great viewing
The walk way to the viewing point
The most famous is that of the Loch Ard, an iron-hulled clipper ship that was lost in 1878 while sailing from England to Melbourne.
Voyaging along the southern Australian coast the Loch Ard was caught in continuous fogs that left her captain mistakenly thinking he was some 50 miles out from the treacherous rocks and cliffs.
Instead the Loch Ard was dangerously close to land and on 1 June struck Mutton Bird Island to the east of Port Campbell. Frantic efforts to save the 1700-tonne ship failed and she was dashed on to rocks.
Only two people from the 54 passengers and crew survived. A cabin boy called Tom Pearce helped save a young woman Eva Carmichael, who had been washed on wreckage into the cove now known as Loch Ard Gorge. After they spent the night in a cave Pearce climbed the gorge's cliffs and eventually found help.
Here are phots of the gorge : and the rock which is now called "Loch Ard Gorge"
This is the beach the 2 survivors were washed up on
We then moved on to The Arch they may have not been steps to all of these places but we did a lot of walking...
Next stop was the "Razorback" each one you see betters the last one...these rock formation are amazing..
Then we moved onto the famous "London Bridge" I first saw this bright in 1990 before it collapsed, Darren my son walked out onto it with his Dad and as everyone knows I'm afraid of bridges thinking they will collapse so I never walk on them unless i really have too .... so I was panic stricken while they were on it because in those days you could actually walk all the way to the end of the bridge and it had no rails on it..Darren being a boy was jumping on it shouting to me "Its rock solid Mum it wont collapse" and 2 days late !!!!! it collapsed...so I say no more !!!!
A picture prior to it falling down
These are pictures I took today
We then moved on to the last spot called "The Grotto"
What an awesome day... very tired as we did a lot of walking but well worth it... John loved every minute of it he was fascinated..
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