The Apostles

We seem to have fallen into a pattern of late to bed, late to rise.  It may have something to do with the glorious effects of day light saving, or simply the fact that none of us are morning people.  But hell, we're on holidays!  Needless to say it was after 9am before most of the family dragged their sorry hides out of bed this morning.  By the time we'd gotten our little show on the road, it was past eleven.

Fletch dressed himself!

 



On the way out of the camp ground, just a short distance along Manna Gum Drive, we came across a bunch of wildlife officers in the process of  'translocating' the local koalas.  Having seen some of the equipment used in this process at Bimbi Park, we pulled over to check out the capture technique. 

Unfortunately we were quickly headed off by the nearest wildlife officer who fed us the public relations blurb that had something to do with "maximum of four persons in the vicinity in order to not place undue stress upon the animal".  Yeah right.  From what we could see and hear in the short time we were stopped, the process wasn't going to be pleasant for the furry little fellas, and I guess the less witnesses to this unpleasant necessity the better.

It was just a short but picturesque drive to Princetown and our overnight camp spot at the Princetown Recreation Reserve.  A small coastal village bounded on two sides by National Park, it was the perfect spot to base ourselves while we explored Victoria's number 1 tourist attraction.

The world famous collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park are well known as the Twelve Apostles.  What is not so well known, though, is that there is not twelve of them, and never has been. 

These are the world's tallest limestone stacks, and they have been formed by erosion.  The extreme weather conditions gradually erode the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, and these caves become arches which eventually collapse leaving the rock stacks.  The rock stacks also collapse, the last one disappearing in 2005.  You can see the remains of this 50 metre pinnacle in the foreground of the above photo.

So now there's eight Apostles.  There was nine, but there was never twelve!  It remains a mystery as to why they were given this name, except that it's a little more marketable than the Sow and Piglets, which is what the site was known as until 1922.

I don't think it would matter what they were called, or how many photos you've seen of these ancient rock stacks, the fact remains that it is absolutely breathtaking in real life.  The stormy southern ocean and blasting winds simply enhanced the experience, adding to the dramatic effect of this rugged coastline.



We felt the signs were a little dramatic too!

From the Twelve Apostles car park we decided to take the 2 km return walk to Gibson Steps. 

From the small designated viewing area atop Gibson Steps we got a great view of Gog and Magog, the local names given to the two offshore stacks seen here.  They are not considered to be part of the 12 Apostles. 

The view was spectacular, but we weren't quite done yet.  After all, the name Gibson Steps refers to the staircase leading down to the beach. 

Ok the sign did say closed, but we'd come such a long way!  It also meant we had the whole beach to ourselves!  With an agreement that we'd all blame Fletcher if confronted by the ranger, we headed down the 86 steps which were carved into the cliff by local settler Hugh Gibson who worked on traditional access used by the original Kirrae Whurrong inhabitants.

Wandering along that magnificent beach, dwarfed by the cliff line and the ancient offshore stacks, was breathtaking.  The splendour of nature and the enormity of the views was humbling.

We lapped it up.

We got our feet wet.

We ran running races.

We jumped off some rocks.

It was a wonderful, memorable afternoon.  It was well worth the verbal drubbing we received from the group of  grey gonads gathered at the lookout on our return.  No sense of adventure!

Our last stop for the day was Port Campbell, a delightful little fishing village snuggled around a horseshoe shaped bay.

 

As we pulled into town it started to rain so we took cover in the 12 Rocks Café & Beach Bar.  Here we indulged in coffee and a delicious honeycomb caramel cake while enjoying spectacular views of the bay.  We found a great little gift shop where I purchased yet another pair of thongs.  I swear we've left at least one pair in every State and Territory of Australia.

 

Back at the caravan we enjoyed a delicious dinner of traditional Italian spaghetti and meatballs, courtesy of Rosa in Mildura.  Buonissimo!