Great Ocean Road - Day Two

    After a great brekky (breakfast) at a cafe (La Brisa) with amazing views of the ocean and surrounding hills, we left Apollo Bay and followed the Great Ocean Road inland a bit toward Cape Otway.  Cape Otway is the second most southerly point of mainland Australia and the farthest south any of us has ever been.  It's typically a very rainy area and we took a short walk through the sub-temperate rainforest at Maits Rest.  Some of the towering trees are 350 years old and almost 200 feet high.





When a tree grows over a fallen tree, the fallen tree eventually decays and leaves a huge space. 

Gorgeous farming areas near Apollo Bay.

     Our next stop was at Johanna Beach, known for its wild, unsafe surf.  The Rip Curl Pro contest relocates here if the waves aren't working at Bell's Beach.  Another stunning beach but definitely not a good place for a swim. 

Aside from surfing, this treacherous section of coastline is known for numerous (around 200) shipwrecks. 

Mia and Sam decided to take over photography duty, at least briefly.

      The giant rock stacks known as the Twelve Apostles are surely the most famous site along the Great Ocean Road.  They are stunning!  It would have been great to be there at sunrise or sunset but our timing wasn't on for that.  Amazing nonetheless.



More photographic proof that I did actually join the rest of the family in Oz.

  Past the Twelve Apostles, we stopped at several other dramatic rock formations.



The Arch.

London Bridge.  This used to be a double arch until the first fell into the ocean in 1990.  Two tourists were stranded on the island until they were rescued by helicopter.

 This one is called the Grotto.

The kids loved playing around at the bottom of the Grotto.



Bay of Islands

  We spent our last night in the town of Warnambool before heading back to Melbourne.  Bojangles was a great spot for a pizza dinner.  Warnambool is known for the Southern Right whales that stay off the coast to nurse their young for several months of the year.  It wasn't whale season yet, so we'll have to watch some whales off the coast of Sydney in a few months. 
   On the way back to Melbourne the next day, we noticed miles and miles of these hand-stacked rock fences between Colac and Winchelsea.  A quick internet search told us that they were constructed in the 1850's by British stonemasons in an effort to keep rabbits out of crops.  What did we do before the internet was so easily available? 

   The trip back to Sydney was delayed due to a big security issue in the Sydney airport, but we just arrived back later than expected.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Melbourne and Victoria and could easily spend some more time there exploring further.