We made eggs and bacon and muffins with brekkie juice (a blend of orange, pineapple, bannana and things), and it was quite nice, despite Joel's singing. We took another look at Blue Lake during the day, and headed off to find "The Great Ocean Road."

Stop Singing	Brekkie in Our Cabin	Windy Lookout	Blue Lake
Hanging On

Our first brown-sign-tourist-stop was a beach in Port Fairy, on the way from Mount Gambier. Instead of sand, this beach had huge black lava rocks strewn everywhere, down to the ice-cold water. We jumped from rock to rock and got our feet wet.

Deep Hole	Climbing Down	Breaking Waves	Little Crab
View from Port Fairy	View from Port Fairy	View from Port Fairy	View from Port Fairy
Out There	Sitting on the Lava Rocks	Ness on Big Rocks	Marnie on the Beach
My Shadow Getting Wet

We picked up a chicken and ate it on the docks in the next town over, Port Campbel. Matt and Marnie grabbed the blanket from the back of the car while we set up the plates and things on the dock. On the way back from the car, Matt unfurled the blanket and at that point discovered that a bottle of wine had been rolled up in the center. Jess had given it as a gift to Ness and Joel back in Adalaide, and they put it there to keep it safe in the car. It turned out to be the worst place for it, because it was hurled through the car park (parking lot) and shattered on the pavement. It smelled lovely, but we couldn't taste it.

Picking up the Pieces	Chicken Sandwich	Matt Took This One	Mine! Mine!
Holding Joel by the Feet

On the road, we all saw though the window this spectacular sight, and we just had to pull over and have a look. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Huge winding orange coloured cliffs along the water. The only thing I could compare it to is the Grand Canyon. It's called "The Bay of Islands" because the crashing water eroded the softer rock around pillars and mounds of straight vertical walled islands.

First View of Bay of Islands	First View of Bay of Islands	First View of Bay of Islands	First View of Bay of Islands
Second View of Bay of Islands	Second View of Bay of Islands	Second View of Bay of Islands	Second View of Bay of Islands
Second View of Bay of Islands	Second View of Bay of Islands	Islands	On the Railing
Sunlight on the Islands	Pillar	Matt	Ness and Joel
Marnie Takes a Photo	Crashing Water

We could see straight away that it was going to take us much, much longer to travel the Great Ocean Road as we had thought, because these brown tourist signs appeared every five minutes, and we couldn't help stopping for each one. The next place we stopped was called "The Bay of Martyrs." There were strange porous rock formations on the beach, and enormous piles of kelp that felt like rubber at least 1/8th of an inch thick! We walked along the beach beginning to notice how cold it was becoming.

View of Bay of Martyrs	View of Bay of Martyrs	View of Bay of Martyrs	Close Up
Fading into Mist	Strange Rocks	Framed	Crashing Wave
Through the Hole	Looks Like a Crocodile	Matt at Bay of Martyrs	Freezing
Nee!

This time round Joel got smart and brought the dooner (blanket) with him. "The Grotto" is a deep pocket and cavern carved out by the water. You can watch the crashing waves through the arch, past a calm pool. There were interesting ripples on the surface from the wind tunneling through. I had no idea all these interesting places were here.

The Grotto	Looking Through	Watching the Waves	Matt and Marnie in The Grotto
Crashing Waves	Ness Looking Out	Perfect Shot	Cows
In Case You Forgot

After that was the self-explanatory "Arch"...

Grass in Sunlight	The Arch	Windy	Marble Cliffs
Looking for a Better Shot

...Followed by the main attraction, "The Twelve Apostles." This is where all the crowds were, and for good reason. We timed our trip pretty well to arrive here just before the sun was setting. By now, it was nearly freezing, which makes sense, because we were standing on the southern tip of Australia, facing a cold 30 knot southerly wind coming from Antarctica! Everyone was shivering with their jumpers on, and I, of course, had just shorts and a tee shirt, calling them wooses. I accidentally dared Marnie to dare me to take my shirt off. I ended up more embarassed than cold, but it was a good laugh, particularly with the professional photographer standing behind me shivering with his beanie on. Moments later we saw a whole flock of penguins jump out of the water and waddle up the shore to their nests. It was a spectacular sight with the sky turning red and the waves crashing against these tall pillars, the red cliffs fading off into a haze down the shoreline to the horizon. Just beautiful...

The Twelve Apostles	Closer View	Taking the Shot	Awe
First View of the Twelve Apostles	First View of the Twelve Apostles	First View of the Twelve Apostles	First View of the Twelve Apostles
Continous Panoramic	Continous Panoramic	Continous Panoramic	Continous Panoramic
Continous Panoramic	Continous Panoramic	Continous Panoramic	Cliffs in Setting Sunlight
Sun on Cliff	Sun is Setting	Sunset at Twelve Apostles

Up the road, after dark, we found an incredible two bedroom cabin with a livingroom and a kitchen surrounded by trees for less than any of the other tiny 10' by 20' cabins we had stayed in earlier. We had takeout pizza and a bottle of wine for tea, had our book study, and fell asleep.