Twelve Apostles - Limestone At Its Best

The Twelve Apostles are probably one of the most interesting formations of limestone stacks in the world. These are stacks formed from erosion of cliffs. These are formations that can be found along a stretch of the Great Ocean Road.

Twelve Apostles Lookout

After a long drive on the Great Ocean Road we finally reached the Twelve Apostles. First we went to a lookout. From here we could see a number of Apostles. There have actually never been more than 9 Apostles actually. Apostles are formed due to the ocean wind eroding the limestone stacks. This created a cave in the cliffs which on further became and arch and finally the arch gave away leaving rock stacks. This means that existing Apostles are getting eroded and will be gone and new Apostles will be created. The erosion at the base now occurs at the rate of approximately 2 cm ever year. 

The Apostles were in the 1900s called Sow and the Piglets. But for Tourism the name was changed to Twelve Apostles. While they aren't really amazing to look at, they are indeed one of a kind formation. 

The vegetation around here is nothing but the Australian native plants and they look like nothing I have ever seen before. Just like the Australian animals, these are only found in Australia.

The Razorback

The Next Rock formation we saw was called the Razorback. Indeed it looked pretty sharp .  This has been done, believe it or not, By wind. Wind blown spray erodes the soft rock, leaving the shard hard rock behind and forms a razor like structure. The razorback once extended deep into the ocean but has been eroded since then and now what remains is a rather small version of it.

12 Apostles

The Apostles are spread apart along the coast line and we kept discovering different apostles as we moved along. Some of them were hidden behind an arch shaped coastline. Some were right out in the open. 

There are several ways one can enjoy the beauty of the Apostles, you have the lookout, the stairs that lead to the beach. Or if you want a closer look you can take a helicopter ride. Its about 90 $ and was certainly out of my budget. I am not sure if its worth it though.

Climbing down a fleet of stairs I reached the beach and it was amazing. The winds were pretty strong, after all they have eroded rocks. A walk in the beach brought you pretty close to a couple of the apostles. Since they were way into the ocean I couldn't go any closer. But it would be cool to be able to touch them. May be I should wait for a new apostle to be formed close to the shore. 

While Twelve Apostles was good. Loch & Gorge was something out of the world, and our next stop.