Port Campbell to Portland, Great Ocean Road, Australia

London Bridge

The Arch

Today was a shorter day than we expected, but that turned out well in the end.  We left Port Campbell fairly early in the morning thinking that all the stops we had planned for the day would take far longer than it actually did.  It ended up that all the stops between Port Campbell to Warnambool, where we were stopping to go to Tower Hill (an extinct volcano) only took about 10 minutes each!  So, we headed back out along the Great Ocean Road toward Portland making several stops along the way, hitting several lookouts.  Our final destination was Adelaide, but the majority of people who travel the GOR turn around at Port Campbell (we found out why nobody goes beyond Portland the next day!).  

Our first stop was The Arch. Even though it was very early, the day was already hot and humid (although at the time I thought it was humid, it cannot compare to Cairns!). Because the sun had not quite fully risen over the horizon, it was a beautiful view of the coastline to the west with the bright sun shining gold and orange and highlighting the cliffs’ orange rock and dirt. There was a misty haze over the water that made it look so pretty too!

View of the Grotto from above

Our next stop was London Bridge, which has fallen down (he, he, he).  The bridge fell in 1990, leaving two people stranded on the newly formed island pillar (they were there for several hours before a helicopter rescued them).  It was early enough in the morning that the sun was still leaving a golden light that gave us beautiful views of the rocks and cliffs; again, the mist over the ocean was beautiful.

Inside the Grotto cave

Next, we hit the Grotto, a small cave-like area that is being eaten away by the saltwater.  At the top of the cliff, the view was spectacular.  Standing near the edge looking out to the endless ocean and being surrounded by orange cliffs was very soothing so early in the morning.  From the cliff top, it was a few flights of stairs down to the ocean level where the “cave” is located.  It was cool and wet down there, and you could tell that when there was a high tide, the ocean waves crashed into the cave area and drenched it.  It was an interesting point-of-view to look through the hole that has been eroded away by the salt water and to look out to the ocean view.

Our final stop before going to Tower Hill was at the Bay of Martyrs (the site of the 'Falls of Halladale' shipwreck, which hit a reef in 1908 (all survived)) and the Bay of Islands (right next to each other on the walking path) in the Bay of Islands Coastal Park (32km of coastline). 











Again, the views of the coast and beaches were magnificent.  And, like the 12 Apostles, these areas are dotted with limestone pillars and islands that have formed from the erosion of the saltwater along the coast.  There was one particular stack that you could see the foundation being eroded by the waves, which was really cool.

From our final “beach” stop of the day, the road headed inland to Warnambool, where Caytie and I went to the Tower Hill Reserve, a park that has at its center an extinct volcano (last recorded eruption is 6,000 to 7,000 years ago) surrounded by flat marshes and lakes. 

Some of the vegetation was quite interesting.  One tree looked like it had pea pods hanging off of it.  Another tree had these yellowish-white blossoms that were pretty awesome.  We also got to see kangaroos (which never really got old)!  We did also see at Tower Hill one of the most prevalent birds we saw in all Australia (other than the cockatoos in Sydney):  the Australian Magpie, which makes such an unexplainable sound…it woke us at the crack of dawn when we camped in the Snowy Mountains!  Later, as we drove up and out of the “crater,” we also saw (very far away) emus! 

Emus in the field of the "Crater"

Me half way up the Peak Climb

View from the top of the Peak Climb, volcanic rock, and the ocean in the background

We decided to do the Peak Climb, which goes to the top of the tallest hill overlooking the volcano.  It was a brutal climb.  Short, but extremely steep (the pictures do not do it justice), and I was sweating by the time we were a quarter of the way to the top!  I took a few pictures of the crater of the former volcano, as well as the steep hill and the view from the top.  There is a piece of volcanic rock at the top of the hill.  The view was amazing; you could see to the ocean.

On the way up and out of the “crater,” we stopped off to take a picture of the rocks that had formed from the previous eruptions…pretty cool!

It was still morning when we left Tower Hill Reserve, and headed on to Portland.  We drove through a few small towns that had some beautiful, old stone churches. 

We ended up arriving in Portland in the early afternoon, which was great!  We checked into the motel, and headed to town!  We hit the Information Centre, and had lunch at the waterfront in a park.  Afterwards, we headed to the Laundromat.  It was wonderful to be able to relax while we got our cloths washed.  We hit the grocery store next door and resupplied on breakfast and lunch items.  We went back to the motel and vegged out for the evening, having dinner in.