On to Adelaide

We have spent the last three days travelling The Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Adelaide with Pierre of Natural Treasures Tour.  Strangely Pierre is originally from Sweden! The road is a permanent memorial to those who died fighting in World War I. It winds around the rugged southern coast for a distance of just over 1000 km (621 miles). The road was constructed by soldiers returning from the war and was completed in 1932.  Day one was very scenic as we travelled along the cliff-hugging road and stopped to view beautiful beaches ideal for surfing.

In the afternoon we stopped at a wildlife park to see parrots and koalas in the wild.  The parrots were happy to land on an open hand, or head, for food.  One was particularly taken with the Canada flag pin on my hat. It kept trying to peck it off.  Lazy koalas watched from the eucalyptus trees.

Day two began with a walk through a temperate rain forest gully to once again admire the lush greenery.  Then on to view the "Twelve Apostles". These limestone stacks are created by erosions of limestone cliffs.  Arches form then break away from the shore to form free standing rocks. The number is constantly changing.  There have been as many as 8 but now only 4 can be seen.  Down the road we stopped at the site of the Loch Ard shipwreck. We heard the story of the voyage to the exposition in 1880 from England ending with the loss of all lives but two.

On to our final day which was mainly through large fields of cattle and sheep and vineyards.
We took a tour of the Naracoorte Caves, a World Heritage Fossil Site, where we saw impressive formations and fossilized bones of animals that fell into the caves and were trapped below ground.