The highlight of our 6-day visit to Melbourne last week was driving the Great Ocean Road to see The Twelve Apostles, massive limestone pillars that rise 65m out of the Southern Ocean in an area aptly known as The Shipwreck Coast — 700 ships have come to grief here over the last few hundred years. The erosion of the cliffs, 2cm a year, shows the power of the sea, evident in the relentless pounding of surf on shoreline. It’s an awesome place and draws hordes of tourists, the beneficiary being the village of Port Campbell where we overnighted. The weather wasn’t great but we got a brief burst of sunshine early in the morning which made for some dramatic lighting. The Twelve Apostles are part of the Port Campbell National Park and the authorities have done an excellent job building a tunnel under the main road which leads to excellent boardwalks and viewing platforms of the coastline. The vegetation along the walkways and planted by the cliff the cliff edges is interesting and attractive. Nearby you can access the beach and two impressive Apostles by way of the Gibson Steps, worth doing so as to get a sense of the scale of these wondrous formations.
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