November 2, 2014 - Great Ocean Road, The 12 Aposities

Daily itinerary were:

• Drove on the Great Ocean Road
• Stopped at Anglesea
• Stopped at Eastern View
• Lunch in Apollo Bay area
• The Twelve Apostles in Port Campbell National park
• Drove to Ballarat
• Checked into Ballarat Lodge
• Dinner at Ballarat Lodge 

We started early today to drive from Melbourne through Geelong and got onto the Great Ocean Road to visit the Twelve Apostles in Port Campbell National Park, then to Ballarat for lodging.

The Great Ocean Road is an Australian National Heritage listed 243KM stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the victorian cities of Torquay and Allansford. It was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932 and it was dedicated to soldiers killed during World War I. It is the world's longest war memorial and it is winding through varying terrain along the coast and providing access to several prominent landmarks, including the Twelve Apostles limestone stack formations.

Due to winding nature of this road, one has to drive very slow just like the car traveling in the East Taiwan highway.  The scenery is beautiful with the road hugs coastline affectionately known as the Surf Coast between Torquay and Cape Otway (near Great Otway National Park and Apollo Bay) and the Shipwreck Coast further west of Cape Otway, providing visibility of Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean.  The road traverses rainforests, as well as beaches and cliffs composed of limestone and sandstone which is susceptible to erosion.  We stopped at Anglesea for rest room break, Eastern View for photo opportunity, and Apollo Bay area for lunch.  When we got to Apollo Bay, the weather was a little bit on the cold side.  However, some of us still venture out to the park next to beach to have a picnic styled lunch and then walked to beach to enjoy the view of Bass Strait.

After lunch, we continued on the Great Ocean Road and arrived to Port Campbell National Park where the Twelve Apostles is located.  The Twelve Apostles is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park.  The proximity to one another has made the site a popular tourist attraction.  Currently there are 8 apostles left but the name remains as the Twelve Apostles.  The apostles were formed by erosion caused by the harsh and extreme weather conditions from the Southern Ocean.   It gradually eroded the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then became arches, which in turn collapsed; leaving rock stacks up to 45 meters high.  Because of this erosion there are less than 10 remaining. On July 3, 2005, a 50-meter-tall stack collapsed, leaving eight remaining.  The rate of erosion at the base of the limestone pillars is approximately 2 cm per year.  Due to wave action, eroding the cliff face existing headlands are expected to become new limestone stacks in the future.

Most of us just walked to the paved boardwalk to view the spectacle limestone stacks. However Mike Yeh took one of the helicopter tour to view the Twelve Apostles from the top and from the ocean side.  He was the only one had a peek of another attraction - London Bridge.  The London Bridge was listed as one of the attractions we suppose to visit, however, Alicia claimed that we did not have enough time and skipped it.