kimbofo : photos : Great Ocean Road, Victoria- powered by SmugMug

The Great Ocean Road is very aptly known as one of the greatest scenic drives in the world. It follows Victoria's south-west coast from Geelong in the east to Portland in the west.

It was built as a monument to soldiers who died during the First World War.

You can out more about it's history by visiting
http://www.greatoceanroad.org/history/index.asp

These pictures were taken during our month-long visit to Australia in March 2003. We'd travelled along the Great Ocean Road on a previous trip (when we journied from Melbourne to Adelaide) so this time we made it a little more interesting by starting at Sorrento, which meant we had to catch a car ferry across Port Phillip Bay to the Bellarine Peninsula, and then ended our journey by only going so far as Port Fairy (we then headed inland to the Grampians)

The pictures were taken on a 35mm SLR camera and scanned in.

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kimbofo > The town of Sorrento, which is about 45 minutes south-east of Melbourne, was the site of the first official European settlement in Victoria. Today it's a thriving tourist spot and a great place to go on a day trip from Melbourne; there's loads of great cafes and eateries, and the beach isn't bad either.

kimbofo > This is possibly the world's best vanilla slice.

Sorrento, on the Mornington Peninsula, holds an annual vanilla slice-eating competition. I did my piece for the seaside resort's vanilla slice economy by eating two of these for breakfast/lunch.

kimbofo > We caught the ferry across Port Phillip Bay from Sorrento to Queenscliff. The trip took about an hour.

kimbofo > Thi is the view from the deck of the ferry, looking back towards the Sorrento pier.

(I know, it's pretty exciting, isn't it?)

kimbofo > The Great Ocean Road is dedicated to those who gave their lives in the First World War. It was built by ex-servicemen during 1918-1932.

kimbofo > Split Point lighthouse, Aireys Inlet, was built in 1891 and is nicknamed "The White Lady". I think she's an incredibly graceful and beautiful one at that.

kimbofo > This is one of many hundreds of houses perched in precarious positions along the coastal route. They must have the most amazing views of the ocean. Yet such houses are particularly susceptible to bush fires, as we all learned during Ash Wednesday in 1983 when more than 700 houses in the Otways were destroyed.

(You can find out some very sobering facts on the Ash Wednesday fires by visiting http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/sig_fires/about_ash_wednesday.html)

kimbofo > House on a pole: probably the most photographed house on the Great Ocean Road.

kimbofo > Barwon Heads, a pretty seaside resort popular with campers

The town of Sorrento, which is about 45 minutes south-east of Melbourne, was the site of the first official European settlement in Victoria. Today it's a thriving tourist spot and a great place to go on a day trip from Melbourne; there's loads of great cafes and eateries, and the beach isn't bad either.