London Bridge: Uncle Harry’s Revenge!

London bridge is...

This image (Circa 1988) is from Panoramio by atiiota

Falling down…
“Enough of the kid stuff!”

Uncle Harry…

“No son, the blokes reading this blog thing of yours are adults, not a mob of screeching galahs.”

I’m not treating them like galahs…

“Don’t come the raw prawn with me.”

Are you quite finished?

“Only for the moment.”

Right then, I’ll go on.

The coast here is being continually carved by wind and wave. London Bridge lies eastward of Martyrs Bay. Until 1990 it was a double arched formation, when the landward arch collapsed, two unlucky (or perhaps lucky) walkers had to be rescued by helicopter.
Nearby this set of stairs…
leads down to the Grotto.
Back in the car we drove on, stopping in Port Campbell for lunch.

The next place we stopped was at Loch Ard Gorge. This area is named for the clipper ship the Loch Ard which was wrecked here in 1878. There are a number of fascinating sights here.
First we walked along to the Blowhole.
The cave in the picture is the mouth of a tunnel that leads to the ocean about 200 metres away. The spray is from a wave that has come all the way through the tunnel before hitting the wall.
To give some idea of scale, it is about 20-25 metres down to the surface of the water.

Also at the Loch Ard Gorge is Thunder Cave seen here looking into the mouth of the cave.
And from the cave mouth out to sea.
Above the cliffs is the Loch Ard cemetery. Of the 54 people on board when the Loch Ard was wrecked 52 perished. Only four bodies were recovered, they are buried here at the cemetery.
This grave contains the remains of two members of the Carmichael family, the bodies of five more were never found. An eighth member of the family Eva Carmichael, was one of the two survivors of the wreck.

Our final port of call on our way along the Great Ocean Road was The Twelve Apostles. Originally called the “Sow and Piglets” they were renamed in a brilliant piece of marketing back in the 1950s. They must be one of the most popular tourist attractions in Victoria, if not Australia. It has never been possible to see 12 stacks from one place at the Apostles and it is getting harder, the boulders in the front are the remains of stacks that have collapsed from erosion in the past few years.
The height of the cliffs can be judged by how small the people look at the top of this lookout near the Apostles (click on the picture and you'll see what I mean).

By the time we had reached here it was getting late and we elected to head straight for home, bypassing places like Cape Otway (so at some point I foresee another trip down the Great Ocean Road).

We stopped for fuel at Apollo Bay which is really beautiful, although nowhere near as rugged as further west.
Now what do you think Uncle Harry, are you happy now?

Uncle Harry?