March 2 – Great Ocean Drive

Every once in a while, during a vacation you take an excursion that totally exceeds your expectations and becomes one the highlights of your trip.  Today was one of those days.  On the advice of John & Ellen, our Australian friends, we took the Great Ocean Drive.  This was a thirteen hour trip on the southern coast of Australia, southwest of Melbourne.  We expected to have a nice relaxing day, with maybe a stop at some beachside town.  Boy, we were wrong!

The first portion of the trip was along the area known as the Surf Coast.  This an area of the world that is worshiped by surfers and it is easy to see why.  There are multiple beaches that are several kilometers long with golden sand and surf that is enormous.  Our first stop was in the town of Torguay. The winds today were very strong and coming directly from Antarctica.  For a late summer day, it felt more like a day late in the autumn. So, there were no surfers along this ninety kilometer stretch of the coast.  

Most of the villages along this section of the coast are small and as you would expect are tailored to tourist.  Our guide told us that during the Christmas break, the Australian summer, these small towns grow from 1,000 residents to 10,000+ people.  And we thought our little village of Port Stanley, was busy on a summer weekend. We stopped for lunch in a village called Apollo Bay and had pie.  This is an Australian comfort food and is the Canadian equivalent of a mini tourtière.  Marg had a pie filled with scallops.  Unfortunately, the curry was too strong for her taste buds.

As we continued west along the the highway, our guide told us of this area's history with bush fires.  As bad as the past summer has been, there have been more serious fires with major loss of life in previous years.  It seems that some people refused to leave the evacuation area and then had no place to hide when the fires came to their neighbourhood.

Along the way, we stopped at roadside trailer park.  There was a long road that was bounded by tall eucalyptus trees.  Despite our searches we were only able to see one koala and it was high in a distant tree.  Luckily the camera’s digital zoom was able to get a half decent picture.

Next the road entered the Otway Forest.  This was hilly area, with an extremely winding road and a thick forest that blocked the sun.  We stopped in Melba Gulch and took a nature walk through the temperate rain forest.  This was only one of two areas in Australia that has this type of rainforest. The area was thick with palms, forest ash and ferns.  The dampness made it feel cold, despite the afternoon day sun.

We then left the Otway Forest and drove to Port Campbell National Park.  Here we saw the most stunning rock formations craved by the sea and wind out of the sandstone cliffs of the southern shore. It reminded me of the Gaspe in Quebec and Flower Pot Rocks in New Brunswick.  We had three stops in this park.  Our first stop was at Gibson’s Step, where the rock formations are first seen.  The second was for the formations known as the 12 Apostles, which is an Australian landmark.  

Finally, we stopped at Loch Ard Gorge.  Here we were able to get to the ocean floor and view the cliffs from the bottom.  It seemed that every time you turned around you were greeted by a new magnificent site.  The images will remain fresh in our memories for a long time.  The Australian National Parks has done a fantastic job in providing safe yet scenic access to these sites.

The gorge is associated with a romantic story a of shipwreck and young unrequited love. Back in 1878, a large clipper ship engraved with the name Loch Ard beached on nearby Muttonbird Island after a tumultuous journey from England.  It was said that the ship enters the waters of Port Campbell on a dark and misty 1st of June. Before they even realized it, the ship was in shallow waters, colliding with a rock reef and running aground near Mutton Bird Island. Unfortunately, only two of the fifty-four passengers survived, one of whom was a nineteen-year-old sailor apprentice named Tom Pearce, and the other a nineteen-year-old Irish girl called Eva Carmichael, who was travelling with her family.  Tom was first to wash ashore at the sandy beach, hearing a woman’s cries for help nearby. He bravely headed up into the waters and rescued Eva, with the two calling for help from the locals. The two soon became famous amongst Victoria, with Tom being welcomed as a hero. After about three months, Eva decided to return back to Ireland where she went one to marry an aristocrat. Tom remained a sailor and returned to England where he died at the age of 49, known as a hero of his time.

Our tour was with Go West Tours and our guide, Paul, was one the best we have ever had.  He was informative and had a great sense of humour.   I guess the sense of humour helps, when your taking twelve passengers on a fourteen hour tour.  I would highly recommend this trip to anyone who is in the Australian state of Victoria.  The scenery is outstanding and will remain with you for a lifetime.