The Great Ocean Road - one of Australia's most visited tourist regions
The Port Campbell National Park on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia has features which are visited by people from all over the world.
Last week, I had the pleasure to meet and chat with photographers from Pennsylvania, USA and Canada at the world-famous Twelve Apostles.
They were amazed at our glorious coastline and were keen to find out some of the hidden gems in this area to photograph.
Unfortunately, one of the best places to photograph in this area is temporarily closed. Gibson’s Beach is not accessible to visitors due to the closure of Gibson’s Steps, which lead down to the beach. Large areas of ground at the clifftop are covered in hessian to stop erosion. We may never be able to access this beach again.
It was one of the very few locations along this weather-beaten coastline which allowed access to the beach. Fortunately, Loch Ard Gorge is still accessible.
The area is extremely fragile, and there’s now talk that the Twelve Apostles Boardwalk may cost visitors a fee to access in the near future.
I have a calendar for sale which contains features of this region which may interest you. Enjoy.
Cheers,
Darren Stones.
Port Campbell National Park, Great Ocean Road, Australia, Calendar
Cover
Back cover
Rick Knowles
Maybe I’m just being a bit skeptical Darren, but ever since they built the information centre there I thought it wouldn’t be to long before they started charging visitors. It seems you have to pay to anything theses days, even if its been there for thousands of years.
On the brighter side, your calender looks great! It truly is a spectacular coastline.
Darren Stones replied
Hi Ricky.
It’s a fantastic $7 million dollar toilet block they have there. Seems to be something missing down there to me. Not sure where it could be done, but I feel there needs to be some display for the visitors. It’s always amazed me that there’s no food or drink available – except in the nearby township of Port Campbell.
I’m not sure there’s toilet facilities at Loch Ard Gorge, and that spot gets numerous visitors a day.
It seems a bit backward in respect that the facilites, or lack thereof, are laughable in this day and age.
Sure, it’s a superb spot to visit, but it seems neglected to me. It is one of the places that tourists flock to when visiting Victoria. Places to have a pee are few and far between.
Thanks for your compliment – much appreciated.
Anne van Alkemade
I’ve been heading down there for as long as I can remember. My family spent every holiday hooking up the caravan and heading for our permanent booking at the Port Campbell Caravan Park. Although as a kid I got a tad sick of the destination, as an adult, and now a shutter/bubblebug, I can’t get enough of the whole area (although unfortunately I don’t travel well and usually need to dose up on travel sick stuff). Darren, your photos are wonderful and do as much justice as a photograph can. Have you been to The Grotto? Or 1000 islands? From memory, much further down but still worth the visit. I have some early (for me) shots of the Grotto and I’m itching to make it back there to do a study of it.
Darren Stones replied
Hi Anne.
The Grotto is one of the forgotten places in that area I reckon. It’s next on my list to photograph in the region. I now have a lens wide enough to do it properly. Yay. 10-22mm. :)
I attempted to photograph the Grotto years ago when shooting film, but I just didn’t have the right equipment in those days to produce half-decent shots.
It sure is one of those areas that can be visited time and time again. I hinted to the chief cook and bottle washer about an hour ago that I may have to go there again soon. The response was positive. :)
The Bay Of Islands I’ve rarely visited in the past due to not having the kit to do the job. Different story now though. :)
I used to always think that the area needed to be sunny to produce good shots. My recent trip proved me wrong. The front cover pic of my calendar was taken at the most unlikely time of 9.44am.
The rough weather can make for interesting shots, but hold on to your hat! Best thing to do down there is walk around and get off the beaten track. I see so many people jump out of the car, take a snap and go to the next stop. Patience and having time up your sleeve is the key to success down there.
Car sickness is a bummer. I suffered from that when I was a little chap.
Enjoy your next trip there, Anne, and thanks for your kind comments.
Anne van Alkemade
Hey Darren, re the rought weather, produces the most awesome spectacles indeed. I remember the whole family (all rather large people) crammed into the Austin 1800 near Mutton Bird Island during a heavy storm. There were fawn coloured UFOs flying off the sea towards us. My mother, who wears glasses wound down the window to get a better look at what they were and … splat … right in the face. Better than a custard pie and we POSL the whole way back to the van. It was froth from the heavy seas!!!
LynHughes
Re; Gibson’s Beach. ParksVic and DSE are slowly blocking or as they say regenerating the coastline. I have just spent today on the Internet as I could not find anyone on Friday at ParksVic or DSS who could give me any information on why ParksVic now need to place a cafe at the the the toilets and came across your site.
If you read all the reports and draft management plans; reports; and final reports on the areas ParksVic and DSE ‘control’ throughout Victoria especially the coastline areas they are slowly changing the areas from natural beauty to the ParksVic ‘city ideas, generated playground.’
They come up with an idea, then they have to sell it to the public. They insinuate the public wants it so we, as ‘protectors’ must make sure of conservation and protection, as you saw on the clifftop.
DSE; ParksVic and all the ‘arms-length’ business arms of government must spend hours on computers drafting; redrafting and sometimes redrafting a redraft to keep their jobs but the most important information I came across today is that protecting the natural beauty of our coastline and our parks is not what they are doing.
Many areas including Port Campbell National Park; the Otway National Park to now the Great Otway National Park; Moonlight Heads; Point Franklin; Crayfish Bay; Blanket Bay, have roads and place ‘blocked off’ so that only the tourist operators can gain access to beaches.
They work with the Dept of Infrastructure and developers to expand what are are now parks made into a ParksVic\DSE man-made theatre of interpretation stations and private tourist operators, with the 12 Apostles Kiosk the ‘next stage’ now the next step in private enterprise takeover of our coastline.
LynHughes
Re my letter: should read DSE not DSS