Travelling the Great Ocean Road

My title is referring to the "Great Ocean Road" of course.The road was built by 3,000 returned soldiers and sailors from World War 1. They had survived a terrible war of which 330,000 Australians had volunteered to fight in Europe, Turkey and the Middle East.  The casulaty rate for Australia was 64% higher than any other country.  Finding employment for the returned servicemen was a crucial factor to their rehabilitation to civilian life.  In Victoria the 'Great Ocean Road' project offered the chance to work again and share mateship and contribute to the growth of Australia.  It was officially opened in 1932 and is the 'Largest Enduring War Memorial in the World', symbolising the sacrifice made by so many during the war.  It is a living memorial to our forefathers.We had already travelled the GOR from Torquay to Lorne, 5 days earlier.  Yesterday we left Geelong and came as far as Apollo Bay.  The 45 kms trip from Lorne to Apollo Bay is the most spectacular I think.  This section of the Great Ocean Road is along the cliff face. Even more amazing when you reflect that the returned servicemen had little machinery and the road was basically built with a pick and shovel!  We had booked into the Big4 Caravan Park in Apollo Bay and what a lovely park it is.  Sure could come back here again when the weather is a bit finer and warmer, than it currently is.  Last night was absolutely freezing!  Tonight is not as cold and I suspect that is largely due to the fact, it is going to rain tomorrow.  Fortunately the weather has held off and we have been able to see most of the tourist attractions today.Yesterday afternoon Peter and I drove back over the road we had travelled in the morning.  Back to the little town of Wye.  In the morning I had been madly snapping while we were travelling.  Val and I have shared the photos we took of the rigs travelling the road.  Our first stop was at Kennett River, where we found ourselves some Koala's on Grey River Road.  There were also some of those gorgeous parrots.  They are so pretty.  There was a small 'Natural Attractions' tour bus at Kennett River.   They feed the parrots bird seed, so they come down and sit on the tourists hand.  There were actaully two koalas sleeping in the trees just off the GOR.  So the tourists didn't have to go far to see a koala!  Something even us Aussies want to do!  We went further up Grey River Road and saw quite a number of koala's asleep up in the trees.  Once you have found a couple, they do seem to be easier to spot!   I will be able to do a nice koala page for my Storybook I reckon.  It was about 3.30pm and they were starting to wake up and eat gum leaves.Today we have had a fantastic day.  We have travelled the 100kms to Port Campbell and back.  Kevin and Val took their vehicle as far as Laver Hill as they wished to go further inland on the way back.  When we got to Gibsons Steps, down we went, thinking the two sandstone rocks in the water were the first of the 12 Apostles.  Well one doesn't know these things do they?  And there's not 12 Apostles in the water anyway!  I thought there were nine, but now there are eight.   And there has never been 12!  First they were called 'Sow and Piglets' then the 'Apostles' and then they decided to add the 12, because that is how many Apostles there were!  It really doesn't make sense to me!  If there has never been 12 sandstone structures in the water, why not just leave the name as 'The Apostles'.  But I guess I am not the only one to talk about them in this way.  After all successful tourism is all about successful marketing!   We took lots of photos and enjoyed every minute of being down on the beach.  I'm sure we were not the first, and will not be the last to think we were at the start of the '12 Apostles'!   They were actually around the corner in the bay! A little further up the road, we came across the large carpark for the '12 Apostles' and the base for the helicopter rides.  We decided to check the helicopter rides out first and before I knew it Peter had paid for us both to do the 25 minute ride down to the 'Bay of Isles'. We also have a video recording on a USB for some more dollars!  Well we are on this holiday of a lifetime, travelling this wonderful country, we are so fortunate to live in.   The flight was worth every dollar and I can remember a p2P member blogging once of a trip she did on the Great Ocean Road with her daughter.  I think it was Janice G.  She said "She had travelled the GOR a number of times, but never been able to do the helicopter ride because it was too windy"!  I thought that we may not have been able to do it for that reason, but it was really quite smooth.  There was only Peter and I (maximum is three passengers) in the helicopter and the video will have our conversation with Michael the pilot, as well as lots of video of the flight.  We haven't had a chance to view it yet!  By the way the 'Pixie' who blogged about her GOR experience, did manage to do the helicopter flight! From there we went to Port Campbell and ate our packed lunch on the foreshore.  Port Campbell is only a small town of about 500 residents.  It has a very nice 9 hole golf course on the edge of the ocean.  The town was settled in the 1870's and a wharf was built in 1880.  Campbell's Creek does flow into the bay of Port Campbell, but not very often by the look of it.   There is a caravan park on the creek.  On the way back we called into Loch Ard Gorge named after the ship that was wrecked there in 1878 whilst sailing from England to Melbourne.  It struck Mutton Bird Island and the 1700 tonne ship was dashed onto the rocks.  Only two of the 54 passengers and crew survived.  A cabin boy and a young woman, who had been washed on wreckage into the cove.  This cove is now Loch Ard Gorge.  It is believed 700 ships have been wrecked on the Victorian coast, but fewer than a third have been discovered.  Tourists can follow the signposts on the GOR Historic Shipwreck trail and trace 25 of the best-known wrecks.  The weather was starting to deteriorate so we didn't do any more of the tourist attractions in that area.  Hopefully we will be able to call in tomorrow on our way to Port Fairy.  The GOR finishes at Peterborough so we were told today. On our way back to Apollo Bay we called into Cape Otway and paid the $17.50 concession price, to look over Cape Otway Lightstation and Telegraph Station.   We climbed Australia's most significant lighthouse, of which the light has continuously been in operation since 1848.  It is perched on towering sea cliffs 80 metres above where Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean meet.  The giant lead crystal lens was shipped from England and is valued at $5 million.  The views from the lighthouse were quite spectacular and the guide told us so people ask "If it is possible to see Tasmania from the lighthouse"?  The horizon was 1/6th of the distance to Tasmania.  Bit of trivia I guess!  The guide told us a couple of stories when we visited the little museum of relics.  The one about the shipwreck 'Jenny' took him 4 minutes!  He said if we had 4 minutes to spare, he could tell us the story.  He was a bit of a character the way he rattled off the info!