One of the most famous sights, and which we shared with hundreds of other European and Chinese tourists (it's Chinese New Year and many of the burgeoning Chinese middle class are travelling overseas), is The Twelve Apostles. This set of limestone rock stacks and small islands used to be called The Sow and Piglets until some bright spark in a tourism authority in the 1960s thought a name change would make promotion easier and more attractive. However even if the rubble visible at low tide is counted, there are not twelve. It's possible to walk down to a beautiful sandy beach just to the east via the Gibson Steps.
The Apostles...
Loch Ard Gorge, just to the west...
London Bridge, originally a double arched formation with a walking track on top, but the arch closest to the mainland came crashing down in 1990 stranding two terrified tourists on the remaining arch! They were rescued by helicopter. What a memorable holiday story that would be.
We stayed one night at Port Fairy and enjoyed the pelicans in the bay...
Friday morning we visited Tower Hill Reserve, a caldera created by a volcanic eruption 35,000 years ago. This area was cleared by Europeans in the 1860s for grazing sheep. About 40 years later it was recognized to have special significance and was protected as a park however it wasn't until the 1960s that about 300,000 native trees were replanted. Fortunately the landscape had been documented by a painter before being clear cut, and this painting was detailed enough to help guide the decisions about what to plant and where. View from the top of the caldera...
Native animals such as koalas, kangaroo and emu were reintroduced and are now thriving. In fact the emu have become pests in the picnic area, and there are instructions posted on how to behave, e.g. Do not feed them! Stand up with one arm raised because they think you are a bigger emu! I had an opportunity to put this last bit of advice into practice, and it worked when both of us stood up...Lloyd was probably the more frightening!
We are now in The Grampions National Park for three nights (yet another example of how European settlers used names from home when naming new landmarks--just like in Canada). This is about 100 km inland and we are going to do some short walks and generally hang out and relax. We are staying in a lovely tourist park in a cabin called a "Retro Glamper" at Halls Gap Lakeside Tourist Park...
Last night we were amused by two guys struggling to set up their tent trailer across from us...they finally resorted to calling someone on the phone and then getting the instruction booklet out. Around dusk we were surrounded by kangaroos of all sizes grazing, with white cockatiels squawking and flying around. Here was one just outside our door this morning...
I'm still following you.
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