Melbourne is situated on Port Phillip - an enormous bay that shelters the city from the Bass Strait, separating Tasmania from the mainland. However, heading west along the coast, one can look out directly onto the Southern Ocean, beyond which lies only Antarctica.
We can travel along this stretch of coast thanks to one man: Howard Hitchcock. During the post-World War I recession, he wanted to stimulate the economy and, presciently realising that the 'motorcar' would play a significant role in the future economy, he raised public funding to build a road - the Great Ocean Road.
Returning soldiers worked on carving out the road using manual tools and, in total, 3000 veterans were employed between 1919 and its completion in 1940. The road has subsequently been finished and widened, but a gate marks the place where the shovels and pick axes first cut the ground. The gate has been replaced several times after road widening, fire and storms.
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| Gonna build a road |
Along the road, there were some very tame wild birds. One of the parrots, unbidden, took a liking to K's head and perched there for a good while. Others were rather more well behaved and stayed in the trees.
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| Not a dead parrot |
Melbourne was an Australian 'free settlement', but before this prisoners were shipped from England to help establish new settlements. Our guide told us of one such prisoner, William Buckley, who was - according to him - wrongly accused of stealing a lady's scarf and was deported for a new camp on Port Phillip Bay. However, this settlement had trouble getting started and, when it was mooted that it would be moved to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), Buckley escaped.
Amazingly, Buckley survived. Having first attempted to walk the one thousand kilometres to Sydney, he gave up and was eventually captured by aborigines. Having stolen a spear marking the grave of a village elder (previously shot by white men), he was taken as a ghostly reincarnation of the deceased and assumed a privileged position in the clan. There he lived happily among the aboriginal people for many years. This, it is said, is the origin of the Australian phrase, "you've got Buckley's (chance)", meaning little or none.
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| View from Teddy's lookout |
We stopped at Room Six in sunny seaside town Port Campbell for lunch and enjoyed a tasty and zingy rice salad.
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| Simple yet flavoursome |
The winding ocean road hugs the coast for most of its 243km length, diverting only briefly inland. The area entering Bass Strait is known as "shipwreck coast", having claimed over 2000 ships in the years since Europeans started to navigate these waters. The passage is particularly narrow and the sea rough.
The Loch Ard is one particularly famous shipwreck. Of the 54 passengers on board, there were only two survivors after it crashed in fog and storm. Tom Spencer washed up in a gorge and managed to swim out to rescue a lady who had fallen unconscious. Fortunately, the ship's cargo had been spilled in the crash and the quick thinking man used a bottle of brandy to revive her.
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| A gorge |
The remainder of the cargo was snaffled up by a man named Gibson, who went so far as to carve a set of steps into the steep cliff face down to the beach to help himself to the washed-up spoils. Gibson's steps are still there today and used to access the beach for stunning views of the natural sandstone outcrops.
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| Erosion in progress |
The coastline in this area is being eroded at an alarming rate, being largely composed of sandstone with some clay and lime. However, sections of limestone calcified by the sea water resists erosion while the other softer sandstone material crumbles, leaving fingers of land that are carved into bridges by the waves. When the link to the mainland eventually collapses, isolated pillars of rock are left stranded at sea.
It is these pillars that characterise the last portion of the Great Ocean Road. Originally known as the "sow and piglets", when sighted from the sea, these structures have been renamed to the more tourist-friendly "12 Apostles", despite the fact that they are not (and probably never have been) twelve in number.
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| 'Twelve' apostles |
Our last stop was the powerful "wash basin", where the sea came crashing into the bay and churned into a foaming whitewash. It was a humbling experience to feel the raw power of the ocean at such close proximity.
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| Not sticking around for the spin cycle |
Our return to Melbourne was late, so we elected to pick up some food en route. Oddly, in a town that seemed to consist entirely of one broad road lined by shops selling agricultural machinery, at least two Asian restaurants were doing a roaring trade. At a simple wok station, two chefs threw the contents of bowls prepared to the customers' requirements into the hot wok, stirred and poured the result into those little square cardboard boxes I always see on films and television but have not eaten from. I ordered char kway teow as a reminder of Malaysia, but the spice and flavour was sadly lacking in comparison to the real deal.
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