Tag:gibsons steps
Victoria’s shipwreck coast stretches 172 kilometres from Cape Otway to Port Fairy. Along this spectacular coastline, filled with the history of over 200 shipwrecks, you will find rugged cliffs, impressive limestone rock formations, sandy bays, and raging surf beaches.
The ‘shipwreck coast’ lies within the world famous ‘Great Ocean Road’ snaking along cliffs past stunning surf beaches, Gibsons Steps, Twelve Apostles, London Bridge, Loch Ard Gorge, etc. The Great Ocean Road ultimately spans 400 km. It begins in Torquay and ends at Nelson on the South Australian border.
Shipwrecks
Bass Strait was the major shipping route for ships to Victoria. The early wooden sailing ships, and later the steam-powered metal ships, took the Great Circle Route around Cape Town before heading across the Southern Ocean towards Bass Strait. The most treacherous part of the voyage was the ‘eye of the needle’ at Cape Otway. Over 200 ships sunk between Cape Otway and Port Fairy
Sinking of the Cataraqui
Australia’s oldest surviving lighthouse, the Cape Otway lighthouse, was built in 1848 in response to the loss, in 1845 of the Cataraqui and 400 deaths off the coast of King Island. The Cataraqui was a 73m long barque that left Liverpool bound for Australia. Aboard were 411 people emigrating from the UK and Ireland.
At 4.30 am, in stormy weather, the ship hit a reef on the west coast of King Island, less than 100 metres from shore. By morning, the 200 surviving passengers and crew still clung to the deck, but the ship broke in two mid-afternoon, flinging survivors into the raging waters. Only nine made it to shore floating on debris. One passenger and eight crew. They sheltered on King Island for five weeks before a passing vessel, the Midge, rescued them and took them to Melbourne. The admiralty then banned ships using Bass Strait until the lighthouse was constructed.
Cape Otway
Known as the ‘Beacon of Hope’, Cape Otway is Australia’s most significant lighthouse. The beacon shines out over the Bass Strait shipping lanes. Constructed of sandstone, it was so well shaped that no cement was required to hold the tower together.
The Lighthouse
The lighthouse was the first sight of land for thousands of 19th-century migrants who had spent months travelling to Australia. The 84km gap between Cape Otway and King Island is known as the ‘eye of the needle’. Ships would hug the victorian coast to avoid being driven, in bad weather, onto reefs around King Island. However, reefs also around Cape Otway led to many ships foundering.
The lighthouse was extraordinarily isolated and received supplies only every 12 months until 1859, at which time they increased to twice a year. The lighthouse lantern was manufactured in London and consisted of 21 polished reflectors and lamps mounted on a frame. Originally running on oil, later converted to electricity, the light has been decommissioned and replaced with solar power.
Wreck Beach
Within the Great Otway National Park lies Wreck Beach. Considered a challenging walk, it’s 350 steps down to the beach where the Marie Gabrielle and the Fiji anchors lie. Both ships foundered at Wreck beach, and it’s not hard to see why. But, unfortunately, it’s only accessible at low tide and subject to large swells.
Gibsons Steps
Continuing westward along the great ocean road and 27 kms from Wreck Beach is Gibsons Steps. Named after Hugh Gibson, manager of Glenample Homestead. Gibson liked to fish and cut steps into the sandstone cliffs to get down to the beach. The 86 steps are steep, safe at low tide, and provide incredible views and the opportunity to walk along the beach beside Gog and Magog.
Twelve Apostles
Just one km further on is the world-famous twelve apostles. The seven towering limestone stacks rise 45-50 metres up from the ocean floor. The eighth stack collapsed in July 2005. The stacks were originally known as The Pinnacles and Sow and Piglets, with Muttonbird Island being the sow and the stacks, the piglets. So the name officially became the Twelve Apostles. However, there were never twelve stacks.
Loch Ard Gorge
Continuing, we come to the Loch Ard Gorge. Site of the most famous shipwreck along the coast.
The Loch Ard departed England on March 2nd, 1878, bound for Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne. Captained by 29yr old Captain Gibbs, it was packed to capacity with 17 passengers, 37 crew, and a cargo hold full of expensive goods.
Sinking of the Loch Ard
On June 1st, 1878, the ship sailed into dense fog, and when it lifted at 4 am they discovered they were much closer to the cliffs than they thought. The captain ordered as much sail as possible and tried to turn the ship out to sea, but the sails fell limp. Anchors were dropped but failed to hold, and despite all efforts, the ship hit a reef on Mutton Bird Island and sank in fifteen minutes.
Efforts to launch lifeboats in heavy seas failed, and all crew and passengers drowned save for two. Tom Pearce, a nineteen-year-old ship’s apprentice, clung to an upturned lifeboat and made it into what is now known as the Loch Ard Gorge, where he found shelter in a cave. After five hours in the sea, Eva Carmichael, also nineteen, drifted into the gorge hanging onto a chicken coop to keep her afloat. Tom heard her cries for help and swam back out. Bringing her to safely to the beach.
They sheltered in thunder cave that night, and in the morning, Tom set off for help, climbing the cliffs of the gorge. He came across two men working the farm, and while he returned to Eva, the farmhands went back to the homestead to get help. Eva and Tom spent six weeks recovering with Hugh Gibson and his wife Lavinia at Glenample Homestead (the same Gibson from Gibson’s steps) before Eva returned to Ireland and Tom returned to the sea. In the tragedy, Eva lost her entire family, of mother, father, three sisters, and two brothers. Still, only the bodies of her younger brother and sister were recovered, and are buried in the cemetery overlooking the gorge.
Tom and Eva Lookout
The survivors have named two limestone stacks near the Island Arch and are viewable from the Tom and Eva lookout.
The Arch
Fifteen minutes past the Loch Ard Gorge is the arch. The arch would be spectacular on any other coastline, but it’s underwhelming with the competition it gets from all the other rock formations. Experts believe that with continued erosion, the arch will collapse and create a new pillar. With the viewpoint from the lookout – every image looks the same. It’s nigh on impossible to get a different or unique image of it.
London Bridge
Travelling another 15kms along the great ocean road, past Port Campbell, brings you to London Bridge. Before 1990 the bridge arch was connected to the mainland, and you could walk out onto it. In January 1990, it collapsed and stranded two tourists for three hours on the new island until they were rescued by helicopter.
The Grotto
The grotto is a beautiful rock formation that is a must see as you travel the great ocean road. This incredible, unique rock formation combines a cave, sinkhole and archway all in one. Unfortunately, eons of crashing waves and winds have caused erosion, creating a caved a sink hole in the limestone cliffs.
The grotto is a short walk along a boardwalk to the clifftop. From there, you can see the grotto arch and the stairs leading down to it. Take the stairs to the bottom, and the magical grotto opens up with its smooth rock pools and a view through the arch to the open sea. Unfortunately, there is a low wall cutting access to the pools off for safety reasons. While the wall theoretically prevents access to the pools, no one heeds it, and if you do jump the wall, be mindful that it’s easy to slip on the rocks, and they are quite sharp. Also, if the waves are crashing – you could easily get swept off the rocks.
Port Fairy
The ‘shipwreck coast’ ends at Port Fairy. Around 30 ships were wrecked in and around Port Fairy between 1836 and 1876. In addition, port Fairy is infamous for ships dragging or parting with their anchors when a southerly or southeasterly gale blows.
The Port Fairy lighthouse was built in 1859 at the tip of Griffiths Island to allow ships to locate the bay.
More info: Explore The Great Ocean Road
Looking for Victorian landscape photography locations? While the smallest state in Australia, Victoria punches above its weight for photography locations. Within its boundaries are lush rainforests, spectacular coastlines, rugged mountains, and for the street photographer – a thriving cosmopolitan city cafe culture. While there are certainly a lot more than 5 locations – these are my favourite five, in no particular order. It doesn’t matter the weather – you can always get a top shot.
1. The Great Ocean Road
Probably the most famous Victorian landscape photography locations is the Great Ocean Road. Rated one of the best cliff-hugging drives in the world the Great Ocean Road was built back in the 1930s by returned servicemen. It starts at the beautiful seaside town of Lorne and hugs the cliff along the Southern Ocean to Apollo Bay before heading inland and winding its way through rolling, green hills to Nelson. Along the way, you will find spectacular views around every corner, beautiful rainforests, epic surf locations including the world-famous Bells Beach, waterfalls, wildlife, redwood forests, and epic hikes.
2. Princes Pier, Port Melbourne
Princes Pier is a 580 metre long, historic pier in Port Melbourne that was built between 1912 – 1915. It was the major arrival port for migrants to Australia during the post-war period. Its use declined over the years and in the early 1990s, it was closed due to its poor condition. Between 1990 and 2004 fourteen fires occurred caused by squatters or vandals. The State Government announced a $14m refurbishment in 2006, restoring the first 196 metres. The remaining decking was removed and the original pylons restored. It reopened in 2007 and is now a favourite haunt of photographers and anglers.
3. Dragon Head Rock
Situated at 16th Beach, one of the Rye back beaches, Dragon Head Rock is a rock formation just off the beach and accessible at low tide. From the front, it’s just a rock, but move to the side and it takes on its distinct shape. If you are a fan of long exposure, smooth water shots – it’s a fabulous location to hone your skills.
4. The Grampians
The heritage-listed Grampians, traditionally known as Gariwerd in aboriginal culture is a mountainous area close to Halls Gap and around 3 hours from Melbourne. It boasts world-famous hiking trails from gentle to challenging, waterfalls, wildlife and mountain panoramas.
5.Warburton
Warburton could be Melbourne’s best-kept secret. While it’s well known to Melbournites it rarely features on any list for tourism. Its set among the hills of the beautiful Yarra Valley and is an easy 90-minute drive from Melbourne. Down by cement creek you will find the Californian Redwood forest. Thousands of towering Redwoods set in rows with a carpet of leaf litter and dotted with mysterious forest art, and a fern gully along the creek at the back make it a magical place. Not far from the Redwood Forest is the Rainforest Gallery – a stunning, easy walk through the forest over bridges above the forest floor and down along streams with tumbling cascades.
Well, there you go, my favourite five, which is not to say there isn’t loads more epic locations. What are your favourite locations in Victoria? love to hear your thoughts.
I tried previously tried, to persuade Lucy to make The Great Ocean Road and Apollo Bay the focus of one of our weekends. The road is constantly referred to (by Lucy) as the “Great Scary Great Ocean Road” and a refusal to contemplate the thought of driving it. She finally succumbed to my begging and tantrums well-considered argument. And we booked a lovely two-bedroom unit in Apollo Bay with ocean views.
History
The Great Ocean Road is a “Heritage listed 243-kilometre (151 mi) stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. Built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, it is the world’s largest war memorial dedicated to World War I casualties. It is also an important tourist attraction in Victoria.
The scary part comes into play as it hugs the cliffs, bending and twisting with white knuckle S-bends as it winds it’s way through varying terrain alongside the coast. It is a single-lane road with nowhere to overtake other cars, save for a few cutouts where people can pull over and allow others to pass. There’s also the sheer ocean drop to consider. Hence, her rampant paranoia is an understandable concern. However, the Great Ocean Road also provides access to several landmarks, including the nationally significant Twelve Apostles, a series of limestone stack formations.” There is a short excellent video history of the road HERE that’s well worth watching.
Erskine Falls
Our trip down started in the sunshine on Friday morning. A tad cold, but beautiful sunny blue skies. We stopped off in Anglesea for an early lunch and continued. There was a brief stop at the Split Point Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet, back in the car on into Lorne and then up into the hills to see Erskine FalUnfortunately, ls. Unfortunately, I had left my glasses in the car – so I didn’t get the best shot as I could hardly see the settings and was NOT going back to the car to get them! According to Parks Victoria, this was classed as a ‘moderate’ walk.
Three hundred twenty steps down to the falls mean 320 back up. It was touch and go as to whether we would MAKE it back up. I took lots of wheezy breaks trying to suck air into my burning lungs. Legs wobbly and refusing to go up another step. If we had mobile reception, we might have been tempted to call in the rescue chopper! 😉
From Lorne, we continued to Apollo Bay, collected our house keys and walked around the harbour. After enjoying the sun at the port, we headed back to our unit, ramped up the heating and settled in to do some art. Working on our journals, ATCs for a swap etc.,
Cape Otway Lightstation
The following day the sun had left us – it was very overcast and windy, but no rain was predicted, so we headed to the Cape Otway Lightstation. Driving along the road, the trees suddenly all looked stripped bare. It was a very odd sight. Then, we came across the culprit a bit further down the road. There is quite a large koala population. I don’t know what they plan to do when the food runs out cause the cupboard is bare!
Cape Otway Lightstation is the oldest surviving lighthouse in mainland Australia and has been in continuous operation since 1848. Life must have been terribly lonely and bleak there a hundred years ago. Cape Otway Lighthouse is perched above massive cliffs where the Southern Ocean and Bass Street collide, and it’s no summer picnic. Great view, but wind-swept and bitterly cold. However, spotting the cafe, we took refuge there for a serving of fresh scones with jam and cream and steaming hot coffee. After the climb to Erskine falls, we didn’t do the lighthouse climb. Though, compared to split point and Erskine, it would have been a breeze (it’s not that tall due to the height of the cliffs it sits on)
Gibsons Steps
From Cape Otway, we then drove towards Port Campbell. Gibsons Steps was our next stop. They are just before the Twelve Apostles and were initially a series of steps cut into the cliffside by Hugh Gibson (so he could get down to the beach to fish). They have since been replaced by 84 concrete steps – down to Gibsons Beach. Once on the beach, the limestone cliffs tower above you. Leaving Gibsons Steps behind, we were off to the Twelve Apostles. There are seven of them, not twelve (there have never been twelve). It was getting very grey with threatening skies. The sun came out briefly for a few mins at a time – but we could see a storm coming – and Sunday was predicted to be quite wet.
Twelve Apostles
From the Twelve Apostles, we went into Port Campbell for lunch. Apart from the pub, a cafe and servo, Port Campbell seemed to be closed. I expected it to be bigger, and for 2 pm on Saturday, it was deathly quiet and empty. We ate at the only cafe open – meals took almost an hour to arrive, and I was ready to walk out except that Lucy was chewing the table legs in hunger.
Once we wolfed our meal down, we headed back to Apollo Bay, bought dinner provisions, and returned to the unit just as the rain started. We had a good thunderstorm that night and brief sunshine again Sunday morning before the heavens opened again, and it kept raining quite heavily all day. So it’s a day for staying in and arting.
As had been the case every time we went away – Monday was bright, sunny and very nice in the sun. We left Apollo Bay a little before nine. I ate breakfast in Lorne and walked along the beach and through the rock pools. All in all, a delightful weekend. Our accommodation was very comfy. The weather was kind to us (considering it was winter, after all). We did art, ate junk food, talked, laughed and had a wonderful time.
Footnote:
In the months following our visit to the Cape Otway Lightstation, a secret koala cull was commenced to deal with the overpopulation. For more info, you can see the article Here.