The Great Ocean Road

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017

We had a wonderful day today exploring sights outside of Melbourne. We hired a driver to take us along the Great Ocean Road primarily to see The Twelve Apostles rock formations in the ocean. At the beginning of the drive it was pouring and we could barely see! However, it begain to clear up as we neared the ocean. It was a long drive but we saw lovely coastal views as well as beautiful countryside dotted with cattle and sheep. We drove through scenic coastal towns such as Angelsea and Wickersea and stopped in Lorne for coffee. We also stopped at a park where we viewed our first koala in a tree and were surrounded with parrots who perched on our heads and hands looking for food. They were amazing! The Twelve Apostles are limestone rock formations in the water formed by erosion at Appollo Bay and were truly fascinating. Due to further erosion there are only about 8 left and they continue to erode. I will attempt to post pictures but my blog app isn’t cooperating since I updated my iOS on my iPad. 😟
When we arrived back at our hotel we had a cocktail reception put on by Tauck Tours where we met our fellow travelers and our  tour director. It was followed by a sumptuous buffet dinner put on by  Tauck.  Tomorrow begins our official tour but we received our directions that evening.
I will also post pictures on Facebook, but not everyone is on Facebook ( sorry Merle and Teresa).

Now that I am home I can post pictures from my computer!


                                             At the bird park. A gold crested cockatoo.
                                          They are popular in Australia.
                                                  Part of the Twelve Apostles

                                                The birds glom on to Marie

                                            Along the Great Ocean Road

                                              Our first Koala sighting!

                                            The Twelve Apostles
                                           
                                             One of many rock formations revealed as the
                                           ocean receded.

                                           Our guide Julie had bird seed so she was
                                           inundated with parrots!

At the Twelve Apostles

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