Great Ocean Road (1)

Three weeks ago, I visited Great Ocean Road with fellow Fotoholics.

The Great Ocean Road is a 273km stretch of road along the South Eastern coast of Australia, one and a half hour away from Melbourne. It is one of Australia's great scenic coastline drives. At the starting point of the road, ten of us took a group photo just in front of the huge road sign. It's interesting to note that while photo enthusiasts go to great lengths in the composition and colour in their photographic subjects; when it comes to customary shots, they just don't care that much. :)


Our first stop was at Apollo Bay, about one quarter into the GOR. We stopped by a restaurant which was packed to its capacity. I think I had fish and chips.


Just a short walk from the restaurant is the beach of Apollo Bay. GOR is special in that you can pretty much find a beach to stop by any where along the route, be it in a small town or in the middle of no where. Here, the club President Stanley could be seen taking some shots. (Anyone guess what that plastic thingy on his backpack is? :D)


Meanwhile, Roger, a friend from Shanghai is posing.


And I was thinking of how to get rid of my adipose tissues on my face.


Having reloaded our stomach, we embarked on the journey again. Stanley is one of the drivers of the trip. I was amazed by the novel GPS display on his car. It was very handy throughout the travel.


Our next destination was the Cape Otway Lightstation. Despite having gone to GOR for three times before, it's actually my first visit to the lighthouse. I didn't go there previously because it's a bit out of the way and require a detour from the main road.


First lit in 1848, Cape Otway Lightstation is the oldest surviving lighthouse in mainland Australia.


After climbing up a flight of steep stairs,


you can see the Fresnel lens which was used to focus the powerful beam, allowing it to be visible over a large distance.


The lightstation was decommissioned in 1994. So instead of the grand tower, we have a petite, solar-powered light.


Also located at the lightstation historic site is the telegraph station. Apparently there was an underwater cable connecting this lightstation to Launceston, Tasmania 420km away.

[To be continued...]
[Sorry for having too much greenness in the photos. I guess I was "feeling green" when I edited those photos]
[Continued here]