The Great Ocean Road - 23 - 25 November 2008

Our next activity (and yes, I'm starting to think of them as activities, as though I'm on the world's longest field trip) was to drive the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. We didn't manage to make it there during our first trip to Australia in 2003, so it's turned into a "must-do."

As you might expect after the last post Jennifer handled the driving duties. There really wasn't a discussion, it was just understood.

The drive is notable for the scenic views of rock formations, such as the 12 apostles. There's also quite a bit of wildlife running around. The weather wasn't very cooperative, but we still managed to get some good pictures.

While visiting the 12 apostles we managed to spot an echidna in the wild:

This little critter caused quite a stir, with hordes of tourists crowding around the railing to capture him on film.

Here's the requisite shot of (some of) the 12 apostles:

And of course a (sun-blinded) man-ox at the 12 apostles:

We also visited the Cape Otway lighthouse, and learned that the first Americans killed in WWII died on a ship off of the point, victims of a German mine.  We toured the lighthouse and the radar station, and got quite a chuckle out of the warning sides for the cliffs:

I'll be sure to use jazz hands if I go flying over the edge...

All along the road there are warning sings for  koalas, echidnas, and cows (yep, cows.  Never seen one of those before).  Here's one of the koala signs:

As it turns out, we actually saw a koala in the wild - and the little buggers can move a lot faster than I expected.  This always makes me giggle:

I've replaced the Himalayan gallery with pics from the drive - Enjoy!