Twelve Apostles (Port Campbell National Park: AUSTRALIA)

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On our last trip back to Australia, we took the opportunity to have a day trip driving from my brother's place to the famed Twelve Apostles on the Southern Coast of Victoria. Unfortunately, on the day that we had chosen it was great weather when we left which quickly deteriorated until it was incredibly windy and raining hard when we arrived at Port Campbell National Park!

Still, it would be a pity have driven several hours whilst coming over to visit from Europe just to miss the entire thing! So, we ran out of the car to the Visitor's Centre where a huge bulk of tourists had taken shelter hoping to see if the storm was going to pass. When it became apparent that the rain and wind weren't going away any time soon... we made the decision to head out onto the boardwalk as soon as there was the slightest lull in the terrible weather.... much to the bewilderment of the huddled tourists!

In the end, that meant that there was slightly less rain... and lots and lots of wind! Which the kids thought was great fun! Luckily, we did have our rain jackets so we weren't completely drenched at the end... but it was pretty damn cold!

The boardwalk is several hundred metres away from the Visitor's Centre along a protected and fenced path to stop people walking out onto the fragile dunes... or just off a cliff edge. There are quite a number of warning signs... mostly stating the bloody obvious, in that you are in a cliff area roughly 50-100 metres from the ocean top, and if you are stupid enough to walk right to the edge, you are likely to die.... or get bitten by a snake! Seeing as it was so incredibly windy on this day, I was joking about flying snakes... which was a joke that went down pretty poorly with my kids!

The Twelve Apostles are a world-renowned limestone pillars in the Port Campbell National Park, on the southern ocean of Victoria (Australia). The erosion from the wind and water have carved away chunks of the land and cliff faces to reveal these standing pillars (and arches) which are known as the Apostles. The name, Twelve Apostles, is not really so accurate as there were never really Twelve pillars... but more of a collection of limestone pillars and arches that formed the collection of structures.

Needless to say, the erosive effects of the wind and water don't stop due to the fact that it is a tourist attraction... and the recent past (2010) has seen some spectacular collapses of some of the formations. Over the coming centuries, it is expected that very little of the existing structures will survive, and the cliff faces will erode and collapse to form the "new" Apostles.

So, without further ado... I present photos from the boardwalk and the lookout from our excursion. Keep in mind that it was so windy that I was struggling to hold onto my phone as it was quite in danger of being blown away by the wind! In fact, it was quite easy to lean nearly 45 degrees into the face of the wind! At first, it was a bit terrifying... especially as we were on a wooden construction that was near (or in some cases over...) the cliff edge! However, after some time.. it was quite exhilarating! Plus, we had the added bonus of being pretty much the only people who were stupid enough to venture out into the crap weather!

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