Once again up with the alarm and on the road by 8:00, continuing to gasp in awe at the beauty of this Great Coast Highway. Apparently it was dedicated to the soldiers and sailors of The Great War, and built during the 20's and 30's, a remarkable engineering feat, without a doubt. Again, stunning all along the way. We stopped at a small animal, self-sustaining sanctuary shortly before we reached the 12 Apostles, because I wanted to get up close with as many Australian animals as we could. No Koalas, but we did get to pet some kangaroos, see some dingoes, and get close to a bunch of other birds and mammals. Plus I got my sheep fix! Every since we left New Zealand, where literally you couldn't drive for 15 minutes without passing flocks of sheep, I've been going through sheep withdrawal! Today, we managed to see sheep a couple of times, both in the sanctuary and along the road, so I've got my sheep fix for the day. Anyway, after we spent an hour walking around the 40 acres site, we bought a couple of cups of coffee and muffins and back on the road we went! We stopped at the 12 Apostles visitor center and walked down to the first lookout, then Hubby stayed behind while I walked the rest of the way, taking some incredible pictures of this remarkable phenomena, large sections of limestone have been washed away from sections of land, leaving free standing monuments of real estate. Amazing! We then made our way west along the coast, stopping at a whole series of these natural monuments, with names like The Arch, the Grotto, and London Bridge. In Port Campbell we stopped at the visitor center, where, unlike the national park center, we found some maps, and a lot of information about a famous shipwreck that happened in these parts back in 1878. Nearly 80 people on board, and only 2 survivors, only 4 bodies found, the rest washed out to sea. Was glad we finally got some information, we were surprised at how little is provided at the sites themselves. Hardly anything on how the erosion phenomenon occurred, almost nothing about the local flora and fauna, other than a few vague references to how hard it is for a few creatures to live on the harsh conditions of the coast, and an unkempt cemetery that's been mostly tarred over as a walkway, while the graves themselves are overgrown. Kind of sad, really. Anyway, after going as far as the Grotto, where I jumped a rock wall so that I could actually put my hand in the water, the Southern Ocean I soon learned, along with young man who wanted to get a couple of rocks for his turtle pen, Hubby and I headed out again. Having decided that we didn't have time to get all the way to Adelaide and still do all the things we wanted, we headed back to Port Campbell where we filled up on food and fuel, then north to another free campsite north of Ballarat in a regional park in Cresswick, passing through much more rural areas with lots of cattle and sheep (really got my sheep fix at the end of the day!), and settling into the woods early, by 6:30 tonight. No need for dinner! Just going to be early, reading, and will be up again in the morning!
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