If you are anything like me; I mean travel crazy (I bet you are lest you won't be reading this :D) you must be fascinated with the 12 Apostles. However have you ever wondered why are they called so? Or better are there even twelve of them? Well let me burst the bubble, there are just eight now. The ninth one collapsed in 2005. Even I did not know this before I researched just before laving for this place.
12 Apostles were the twelve most important disciples of Lord Jesus. Now why these huge limestone cliffs are named so is upto God himself (or the Australian Tourism officials). Speaking of huge, I never knew how huge they are. I mean I must have seen a thousand pictures till now, but never in my life I could have imagined there enormity if not for my eyes in real. I mean look at my pictures too. They don't seem much big. Actually these are taken from quite a distance. Maybe that's why they never appear mammoth. The moment I landed in Oz, I found everything big...huge buildings, vast parks, tall ceilings, tall people and now again these colossal rocks proved a testimony to my theory.
The 12 Apostles are the most famous and hence the most photographed location on the Great Ocean Road. The spot is 275 kms from Melbourne, ie a 4 hour drive if you don't stop on the way. However we stopped at a lot of places and hence we left Apollo Bay at around 3 30PM (where we had lunch) It was a two hour drive from there and we decided not to get distracted in between. After all the 12 Apostles was THE most important stop of our road trip. If it got dark before we reached, we could not forgive ourselves forever. Moreover we had two more stops after that. The later we left, the later we would complete our road trip back to Melbourne (read post midnight).
Just a couple of kilometers before 12 Apostles are the Gibson's Steps. According to me, this is the best place to watch the first two Apostle up close and personal and marvel in their prodigiousness. A lot of people skip this stop as its not too comfortable; neither its safe. There are 86 steep stairs leading to the beach from where you can gawk the first two apostles in awe. Moreover they are slippery and water is oozing from them. There are warning signs everywhere: Not to go close to the cliffs or touch them; they can collapse anytime! How scary is that? We are using those stairs knowing that we may even die!
What we deduced during this roadtrip of ours is that the Southern Ocean has excessive erosive action. It has literally eaten away all the cliffs bordering it and is now carving and crumbling them further. There is also a hike trail that leads from the Gibson's steps straight to the 12 Apostles. However we did not have time.
I was literally shocked at their enormity when I reached the beach. They were colossal! The wind was freezing and it was forbidden to go near the sea. Very well understandable...it was too dangerous!
After 5 minutes drive and then 10 minutes of walking, we reached the place for which I was looking forward the most in the entire trip. We reached the view point of the 12 Apostles!
The lookout was bustling with crowd and I hated that. Moreover, the rest of the 6 Apostles were on the Western side which meant the sun was above them. Therefore unsatisfactory pictures. Many travellers do the reverse Great Ocean Road trip so that they can capture the 12 Apsotles during the best time.
The Apostles were huge and they were spread along a very wide area. The remnants of the collapsed ninth apostle could also be seen on the beach. The best way to get their view is to take a helicopter ride. But neither we had time nor money for that.
There was something so magical about the waves that they left a wide frothy line every time a wave receded. I just gazed at them till my husband poked me to hurry up.
We were on our last leg of the Great Ocean Road Trip. But the most important part had already been covered. I started feeling nostalgic.
