great ocean road

today i got on a tour to the great ocean road - a stretch of highway that was built after world war one to give the ex-soldiers something to do. australia had something like a 60% casulty rate in the war - higher than any other country, so they wanted to give the men something productive to do. the concept of the road was from some dude traveling highway one in california - also a spectacular drive i hope to see more of.

i sat in the front seat for the best views (and to combat motion sickness). we stopped several times for scenic views and such. it is a beautiful coastline. we stopped down a lane to view some dead eucalypts (caused by overeating and possibly overpopulation of koalas) and then went koala spotting. i saw a koala get down from a tree, run across the ground, and climb another tree... wow.

the highlight of the great ocean road is the 12 apostles, stacks of rock slightly harder than others that used to be connected to the land, then they were caves, then arches, and now finally stacks. but even the stacks aren't resistant as a giant one fell down two years ago.

another highlight is london bridge - an archway that actually collapsed while two people were on a stack... so they were trapped on the stack. the gossipy part of it was that they were married to other folks and were off on an affair-gettaway. oops.

i had my first food at a noodlebar this evening... quite good. considering my other options were all fastfood i really didnt have a choice.

so i wont bore you with all my pics just yet. off to sydney tomorrow. and almost out of australia.