The Grotto - Great Ocean Road Australia Attractions

The Grotto - Great Ocean Road, Australia

The Grotto is sinkhole geological formation located along the Great Ocean Road. To further explain what a sinkhole is, let me quote this excerpt from the US Geological Survey site,

Sinkholes are common where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can naturally be dissolved by ground water circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground. Sinkholes are dramatic because the land usually stays intact for a while until the underground spaces just get too big. If there is not enough support for the land above the spaces then a sudden collapse of the land surface can occur.

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London Bridge / London Arch - Great Ocean Road Australia Attractions

Great Ocean Road in Victoria Australia is home to some of the most amazing natural landscapes. It's a place where you can experience God's creation. London Arch or London Bridge as some call it, is one of the many tourist attractions along the Great Ocean Road. This is also part of the Port Campbell National Park.

I'm sure you're familiar with the song/ nursery rhyme London Bridge is falling down.

London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.

Well, the London Bridge didn't actually fall but this London Bridge in Port Campbell (Great Ocean Road), Victoria Australia did fall! The whole coast is eroding about 2cm/year.

The arch was known as London Bridge because of its similarity to its namesake.

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Loch Ard Gorge - Great Ocean Road, Australia Attractions

The Loch Ard Gorge is a visible example of the process of erosion in action.

It's named after the shipwreck of a clipper ship named Loch Ard which ran aground on Nearby Muttonbird Island on June 1, 1878 from a 3-month journey starting from England to Melbourne. Two people, Pearce & Carmichael survived out of the 51 onboard. Pearce was washed ashore and rescued Carmichael before proceeding to climb out of the gorge to alert patrolists to do a rescue attempt.

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Gibson Steps - Great Ocean Road, Australia Victoria

Gibson Steps - One of the must see places in Great Ocean Road, Australia

Great Ocean Road is a great place to connect with nature as this is home to some of the most amazing landscapes on the planet. One of the recommended places to visit when traversing the Great Ocean Road in Australia is the Gibson Steps. This is the first place to check out when heading westward along the Great Ocean Road. 

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Lorne, Great Ocean Road - Australian Road Trip

A year in the making as you've read my intro post. This is one of the highlights of our Australia 2011 trip.Driving around the city, Melbourne in particular might be a challenge but driving along the Great Ocean Road is a different experience overall -- awesome experience, that is! If you have the chance to rent a top down sports car, do it!

Traversing along the famous Great Ocean Road

FYI: Drive on left in Australia

Our road trip started with a quick subway breakfast before we left our serviced apartment. We had to gas up along the highway because we were afraid that we couldn't push the van if we ran out of gas. It was also a great experience gassing up. Oh, they are called Petrol stations there by the way. Almost everything in the petrol station were self-service.

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Split Point Lighthouse - Great Ocean Road, Australia

Split Point Lighthouse. On the left is the 'Eagle Rock' (Image Source)

A little trivia about the Split Point Lighthouse:
The Split Point Lighthouse at Otway National Park was built in 1891 and was originally called Eagles Nest Point and was also called the White Queen. The popular children's television series Round the Twist used the area around the Split Point Lighthouse for many external scenes. The lighthouse features prominently as the scene of a murder in Arthur Upfield's detective novel, "The New Shoe" featuring his famous detective Napoleon Bonaparte.

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