GOR Day 3: Rocks and Wrecks

After the town of Port Campbell, the Great Ocean Road only follows the coast for a few more kilometers before turning inland again. But some of the sights along this shoreline are exquisite. 

This is “London Bridge” - there were once two arches one after the other. Until a fateful day in January of 1990 when the arch connecting the bridge to the mainland collapsed. Two tourists who were standing on the outer arch of the bridge when it happened had to be rescued, and luckily no one was hurt. The name of the formation should probably be updated to “London Arch”, since there’s no longer a bridge to the land. 

Another interesting and smaller arch nearby is called “The Grotto”. 

The last lookout we came to before the road turned inland was the “Bay of Islands”. 

It was just as pretty as the Twelve Apostles, in my opinion. 

Heading inland, the Great Ocean Road becomes what I would call “the Great Farmland Road” because it wound between pasture after pasture of dairy cow herds grazing happily. Which explains why we started seeing signs for an attraction known as “Cheese World”. Well, it was lunchtime…so of course we couldn’t pass it up. 

It was in a building just across the street from the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory. They had a marvelous selection of local cheeses and we were able to order a cheese board so that we could sample a few. 

We are staying in the town of Warrnambool, and we visited the excellent Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village museum. The open-air museum is a collection of historical buildings from the original town and surrounding area. Yes, it does have a lighthouse (two, in fact). 

Inside the main museum we were reminded once again why there are so many lighthouses here. The exhibit featured artifacts salvaged from the Loch Ard and other shipwrecks. 

This image shows another wreck called The Falls of Halladale. It ran aground in a dense fog due to a navigational error. Everyone aboard survived and made it ashore but the crew left in such a hurry that they left all the sails set. The ship took weeks to break up, and during that time spectators often gathered onshore to view the doomed vessel. 

The little town was fun to stroll through and peek into buildings like the bank, the dressmaker’s shop, candy store, and shipwright’s workshop. We then went back to our hotel for a rest before dinner. 

Later in the evening we returned to Flagstaff Hill for the "Tales of the Shipwreck Coast" sound and light show. 

They illuminated the seaport and projected a short film narrated by a salty whaling ship captain onto a fountain of water in the middle of the pond. Definitely worth doing if you are ever in Warrnambool!