The second week of my holiday in Australia I drove the Great Ocean Road:

Another spectacular part of this amazing country! Very different (and much colder…) compared to the first holiday week.

Torquay

On Monday I flew from Sydney to Avalon airport, where I hired a car and drove to my first motel in Torquay:

I had booked motels for every night, but hadn’t exactly planned what I would visit every day… and there is so much to do and see along the Great Ocean Road! So there was some last minute planning to do… water to hand (I was in Australia after all, where everyone seems to carry a bottle of water around all the time), phone and computer, but also my trusty paper map – love a good paper map!

After a big thunderstorm, the weather improved significantly, and we ended up having a lovely evening and sunset:

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Note how much the trees along the coast are grown completely bent due to the prevailing wind from the sea (yes, the sea was on the right hand side in that photo).

Start of the Great Ocean Road

The next morning it was grey and drizzly weather. But that couldn’t dampen my spirit for the day: I was going to drive the Great Ocean Road, which I had been much looking forward to.

It would be a week of driving, but probably at least as much stopping – to enjoy the scenery. First stop was therefore already as quick as 5 minutes from Torquay: Bell’s Beach, renowned for surfing. Not that I’m such a keen surfer, or am particularly interested in the sport, but when in Australia, it is almost unavoidable. And it makes for nice pictures…

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Loveridge Lookout

My next stop was at the Loveridge Lookout. The weather started to brighten up a little, and the views were in one word amazing:

Loveridge Lookout itself was built in 1938 in memory of James Loveridge by his widow Bertha Loveridge. According to a information panel, it was the favourite place of her former husband to look out over the Bass Straight.

During the Second World War the lookout was an observation post for the Volunteer Air Observers Corps. From 1942 to 1945 it was continuously manned, and played an important role in the ground warning strategy of the Royal Australian Air Force.

Great Ocean Road war memorial

The Great Ocean Road is the world’s biggest war memorial. It was built between 1918 and 1932 by the returning soldiers who had fought in the First World War, and dedicated to the many soldiers killed during that war. A memorial arch has been erected between Lorne and Aireys Inlet:

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Being from The Netherlands, which remained “neutral” during the First World War, my knowledge of this part of world history isn’t the greatest – the Second World War has made much more of a scar in Dutch society, and therefore that is talked about much more. I certainly had never realised that so many Australians (330,000 according to a plaque at the war memorial) had volunteered to fight in Europe, Turkey and the Middle East, as “when the [British] Empire is at war, so is Australia at war” as the then Prime Minister of Australia, Joseph Cook, said. 60,000 men would never return as they got killed, and another 160,000 were wounded, making the total casualty rate more than 64% – very sobering data.

In order to rehabilitate successfully in civilian life again after returning from the grueling experience it was important to find employment. 3,000 of the returning service men found work building the Great Ocean Road. Despite the hard work that was needed (most of the rock had to be hacked away by hand!), the conditions were relatively good, as there was regular pay for working 8 hours per day and half a day on Saturday. They had access to a piano, a gramophone, newspapers and magazines – what more does a man want… Relatively good quality food was also provided and sold for a small fee. In addition, it was an opportunity to again work outside and share comradery.

Teddy’s Lookout

The next stop at Teddy’s Lookout nicely shows how this part of the Great Ocean Road literally curves around the rocky curves of the coast line.

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Erskine Falls

Inland of the Great Ocean Road is Great Otway National Park , which is known, amongst other things, for many water falls. So I had to visit at least one of them. Be warned, though:

I’m glad to report that I didn’t see any falling trees… or snakes for that matter… The path was somewhat slippery indeed, and there were in particular a lot, I mean, really an AWFUL LOT of steep steps:

But it was worth it… here is the view from the bottom:

And finally – the lush surroundings (I took plenty time during the climb up to take pictures… I mean, to catch breath taking these steps up again…):

Howard Hitchcock Lookout

Howard Hitchcock was the founder of the “Great Ocean Road Trust” in 1918: a private company that secured a vast amount of money for building the Great Ocean Road.

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At this lookout it was very clear that the road was literally hewn out of the rocks. And as was the case from every lookout that I stopped at, the view was stunning again…

Last Stop

I really cannot remember where I found the information to stop here, so I cannot remember where exactly this is… it is not one of the usual lookouts that are advertised on most websites. But it is a nice stop nevertheless that got me close to the sea (ocean…? ok, water side).

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Apollo Bay

Finally – Apollo Bay where I had booked a motel for the night. The weather had become really nice indeed, so I went for a lovely evening walk along the coast.

After a bit of preparation for the next day, an early night: the next part of the Great Ocean Road would turn inland before passing the Twelve Apostles… something I had heard and read about a lot already, so was looking forward to see with own eyes. But not before I had spent an interesting morning visiting Cape Otway Lightstation… More about all these interesting things in the next blog DV!