19:14:23
picture poll
german version

© 2002-2004 Matthias Weiland,


Build on 11/05/2002, last update on 23/04/2023.

Down in Down Under - Diary - 02/04/03

---01/04/03--- | table of content | ---03/04/03---

twelve apostel and all the other stuff

First of all we went a little bit back today to visit the Twelve Apostels. Unfortunately we were not very lucky concerning the weather, because it was very cloudy and stormy. Nonetheless these "towers", looming out of the water are very impressive and more manifold than expected. An even if there actually are not twelve of them, there are potential ones all around here - of course thinking long term. They emerge out of small headlands, which loom into the ocean. At some time an arch or natural bridge developes, as the water is washing away softer stone first. This arch gets instable at some time and collapses due to its own weight. This happened at Lodon Bridge in 1990 for example. Thus new Apostels are formed. On the other hand, the existing ones are slowly washed away as well.
Afterwards we went to Loch Ard Gorge - just a few K's further down the highway. There the Loch Ard was wrecked in a storm in 1878 and just two people survived this catastrophe by swimming into the gorge. Just next door there are some more spectacular rock formations, Razor Back and Thunder Cave, which somehow express the power of the water. After this our next stop was west of Port Campell at the Arche, on of these archs, which I personally did not find spectacular at all. After this we went to London Bridge. There we just quickly jumped out of the van to take a picture, as it just had started to rain. This weather should chase us the whole day. Thereby you of course start thinking about the weather here on all the other days of the year. Is there any blue sky and sunshine at all - possibly not. Would all these attractions have such a big effect in front of a blue sky and sunshine?
This was it basically concerning the Great Ocean Road and after little shopping in Warnambool we crossed the border to Southern Australia at some time. Our goal for today was Mt. Gambier - a town, situated next to a extinct put still pretty young volcano. One of the craters meanwhile is a big water reservoir, which is supposed to have a spectacular blue colouration between November and March - well, we missed that. We wanted to stay at Blue Lake Motel for the night. You expect this situated somwhere near the lake. After looking for quite a time we eventually found it at the complete opposite of the city. The night there is pretty cheap, but a little bit scary as well, as the whole complex appears to be deserted - the rainy weather contributed to this feeling of course as well.
top

the twelve apostels

the twelve apostels

the razor back

loch ard gorge

loch ard gorge

the thunder cave

london bridge

top

---01/04/03--- | table of content | ---03/04/03---