The Great Ocean Road

After our terrific time traveling Tasmania we flew to Melbourne and into a cold, cloudy and rainy day.  We picked up a car at the airport and drove west on the southern coast of Australia along the Great Ocean Road.  This road is full of scenic areas and unusual sights such as the Twelve Apostle rock formations, Loch Ard Gorge and Koalas.

Most exciting for Adriana and I were the Koalas.  We had seen most of the iconic Australian fauna up to now with the one exception of the Koala.  Along this drive on Grey River Road we saw tons of them.  They are inconspicuous and easy to overlook at first.  Just a ball of fluff located high in the air at the branching of spindly Eucalyptus trees.  Once we got a decent search image formed in our minds they started to appear all over.  Naturally they all looked to be in a near comatose state, as would you and I if our sole food source was also a potent drug.  Eventually one lively little fellow actually made the effort to lift his heavy head and open his weary eyes to take in the fast-paced noisy apes staring up at him.

While standing around to check out a few Australian King Parrots perched low in a tree we suddenly became swarmed by them.   They alighted on our heads and arms without hesitation.  People have clearly been feeding these birds for some time for them to have developed such a sense of security around humans.  Although not a great behavior for the birds to develop it was amusing to have a few hop around on us.

Australian King Parrot

Apparently a Parrot Rack

Crimson Rosella

A little further on down the coast we came upon the Twelve Apostles.  These are dominating formations of rock left standing in the ocean as the cliffs of the south coast fall away from the constant battery of the wind waves.  As we approached the area of the Twelve Apostles the sun began to break through the clouds and spit its rays in patches over the coast.  They had that dramatic lighting effect that comes only from those days with the strongest of suns in the sky yet still encumbered by the heavy clouds that can all but shut out its rays.  If we had more time and money we would have spent a day or two exploring all of the hidden gems set alongside the Great Ocean Road but after a few half a day we had to start moving Northeast toward our last stop in Australia, Sydney.

Some of the Apostles

Adriana loves the Great Ocean Road.

2 /12 Apostles

Near Loch Ard Gorge