Its a long drive but a very enjoyable one. Some parts of the road takes you down into a valley so your driving right along the beach then it winds back high up in the mountain along the cliff face and your over looking the ocean and then back down again and a small coastal town appears. At some parts, the road takes you away from the coast where you take in the beauty of the Otway Ranges, where everything is so green and flourishing.
We took a detour while driving thru the Otway Ranges and drove to Cape Otway to see the oldest lighthouse in Australia. You couldn't see it from the carpark. Here we found out that they charge a family $50 to look at it. Yeah right.....I'll Google it. We hopped back in the car to head back to the Great Ocean Road. Along the way we noticed a lot of koalas in the trees so the girls got out for a closer look and had fun spotting koalas.
The Great Otway National Park meets the ocean
driving thru one of the small towns
We came across our first limestone stack which was called the Gibson Steps.
The lookout at Gibson Steps
Gibson Steps
The cliff faces near Gibson Steps
We arrived at the 12 Apostles and the view was nothing but spectacular. Nothing like I have ever seen before and probably nothing like I will ever see again. We were in awe of the view.
The 12 Apostles
Cliff faces at the 12 Apostles lookout
"smile"
Next landmark was the Loch Ard Gorge. What a site! We were able to appreciate this site from various view points. There were various lookouts high above the gorge and you could also walk down a staircase onto the beach itself where there were caves and grottos to explore. We had to take turns walking down onto the beach because someone had to stay with Lilly. The beach was a little dangerous for Lilly and she would probably want to go in for a swim. Warren and Taylah went down to explore the beach first while Alicia, Lilly and I went to the lookout. Then we interchanged and Alicia and I went down.
Standing on the beach and looking up you realise how high and intimidating the cliff faces really are. Alicia and I decided to do some exploring and we climbed some rocks to get into a cave for a closer look. Half way there we noticed the tide was coming in and coming in fast and if we didn't act quickly we would get soaked by a wave or fall in. For one our footwear wasn't too appropriate for rock climbing as we both had ugg boots on and it was quite a cold day and getting wet would only make it colder. So we made a run for it and made it back to the beach dry. When I told Waz what we did, he said that he had seen a women get soaked from head to toe doing what we were doing. Lucky!
Loch Ard Gorge cliffs
Loch Ard Gorge
You can just make out the 2 half way up the sand dune is Warren and Taylah
Views from the Loch Ard Gorge lookout
Views from the Loch Ard Gorge lookout
The Razorback
We got back in the car and made our way further along the coast and stopped to view the Arc, London Bridge and Finally the Grotto. The London Bridge was a spectacular site.
The Arc
London Bridge
London Bridge
The Grotto
It took us about 5 hours to drive and look at all the sites. It was quite late in the afternoon and we didn't know where we were going to stay tonight. We found Killarney Beach Campground in the Camps 5 book and it wasn't too far away. The Camps 5 book is the best book I have ever bought.
We stopped off for dinner and fuel and finally got to Killarney Beach. It was dark when we got there and couldn't really see anything other than the amenities block. Its been a long day so everyone had an early night.
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