February 14, 2023
“Oh! there was was a swagman camped in the Billabong
Under the shade of the Collibah tree
And he sang as he looked at his old billy boiling
Who’ll come -a-waltzing Matilda with me.”
- Banjo Paterson - 19th Century ‘Waltzing Matilda’
At long last we have touched down in the final country of this episode. We are on the mainland of Australia in the state of Victoria at the far south of the continent. We landed in Melbourne, one of the two largest cities in the country, and stayed in a suburb near the airport.
After spending so many days looking at idyllic landscapes, it certainly was jarring. Like any large metropolis of over 5 million there are areas that are less than charming. Not to worry though, it was only for a night. We had an expedition planned for tomorrow out of the city - “The Great Ocean Road” awaited.
This is a very large country and despite spending hours in the car you will only move a short distance on the map. Once you get out of the city into the bush, you quickly get a feel for what the majority of this continent is about. It’s flat, very flat. I am talking about Oklahoma flat. The kind of flat where if you stood on a chair you can see across the entire state.
As we traveled south, the road, while efficient and fast was monotonous in the featureless landscape. Just endless miles of scrub bushes and pastures for cattle grazing.
I should explain something. Here the “Bush” and the “Outback” are generally interchangeable. Any undeveloped land outside the city can be referred to by one of these terms. Generally, if the area is green, has trees, etc it is called “The Bush”. If it is arid, brown with the classic red brown clay of the inner desert, it is called the outback.
Our destination was the Ocean Road, hailed as one of the most scenic drives in the world by all our research. It is around 240 km long and wraps around the southern tip of the country from Melbourne to Adelaide. It takes about three hours to get to a starting point.
When we finally did arrive, it did not disappoint.
Here are some stories and stops along the drive -
“It’s just a bunny…..”
Looks cute right?
When we arrived at Port Campbell, our jumping off point for the drive, these little guys were everywhere.
Don’t be fooled. You are looking at one of the top examples in history of catastrophic mistakes humans made with the environment.
In 1859 a man named Thomas Austin was looking for something to do. He lived here in Victoria where we are now and he thought it would add some spark to his life by bringing some rabbits from England. He would let them go on his property for sport. After all, there was so much flat land, what could be the problem?
So he released just 24 rabbits on his land. What happened next is the equivalent of a ecological atomic bomb. Rabbits, you see, breed, well….like rabbits. They are incredibly prolific. And now 24 were loose on a continent with no natural predators.
Australia is not particularly verdant. But it was covered with Mallee scrub like this picture. It was manna for the rabbits. By 1880 , 2 million acres in Victoria have been picked clean. Rabbits also burrow to nest. The result was massive erosion on a continental scale.
The population of bunnies ballooned exponentially. They are moving across the landscape at 75 miles a year. Australians tried many things to stop the bunny horde. They came up with another genius move. They introduced another feral animal, foxes. But the foxes started eating native species and reducing their numbers dangerously.
They even introduced a virus into the environment that was lethal to rabbits but not to humans. It worked, kinda….It did kill 99% of the rabbits. For years you would find rabbit carcasses everywhere. But 1% were immune. And these mutant rabbits continued doing what rabbits do best; making more rabbits. And the numbers started climbing again. There are estimated today to still be over 200 million in the environment across all of Australia.
All of this from just 24 rabbits released near here and a guy who was looking for some sport.
The drive starts - Port Campbell
We start in Post Campbell. Here the coast falls off limestone a cliffs into the windy, volatile Southern Ocean. I thought I would share each stop with you with a brief video and a few shots so you can get a sense of the sites we saw.
This drive wasn’t always here. It was a deliberate attempt by the government to increase tourism here so they created a national park with trails and road infrastructure. It worked.
The Gibson Steps
Our first stop was this striking beach. The azure waves crashing into the shore set the tone for the day.
The Twelve Apostles
The jewel of the drive is “The Twelve Apostles”. They are a series of limestone monoliths jutting up out of the water. The waves crashing around them create a spectacular scene.
These were not always called such a noble name. They used to be called “The Sow and the piglets”.
Biff: Frank no one is coming to the shore! We invested all this money what are we going to do?
Frank: Let me think……I’ve got it! We change the name to …wait for it…
”The Twelve Apostles!”
Biff: Genius…….But Frank….
Frank: What!
Biff: There are only 8
Frank: ……..Shut up Biff
Frank’s idea worked. Tourists flocked to the road. And for good reason. It is a stunning sight.
The Wreck of the Loch Ard
This the the Loch Ard Gorge
On February 12, 1851 Edward Hargraves discovered gold in New South Wales. Later, gold flakes were discovered here in Victoria. This news would soon break world wide and the Australian gold rush began. Thousands would flock to the country in hopes of finding wealth.
As part of that mass immigration hundreds of ships would make the long journey from England to the far away coast of Victoria. As you can see in the pictures I have shown and the short videos, the sea here can be powerful and treacherous. This is the Loch Ard Gorge.
On the evening of May 31, 1878, after a 3 month journey from England, the Loch Ard, a merchant and passenger ship of over 200 tons, neared this coast. That evening a dense fog had set in and the lighthouse showing their destination could not be seen. After a tense night at around 4 in the morning, the Captain heard the sound of waves breaking. They were too close to the shore.
An immediate “Heave to!” was ordered but it was too late. Ships of that era did not turn quickly and the pounding waves were too powerful. The ship ran aground. The relentless waves then proceeded to make short work of the wooden vessel and it broke apart.
Of the 36 crew and 18 passengers, only two survived. Tom Pearce was an 18 year old Ship’s Apprentice. He clung to an over turned life boat and miraculously entered this gorge which had a beach. After landing he heard the screams of a woman and looked out to see her clinging to a ship’s spar. Eva Carmichael, an Irish girl was one of the passengers. Tom went back into the raging surf and brought her on shore here.
She was placed in the cave for shelter as Tom went for help. Men soon arrived to assist and the two became separated. They would never see each other again.
Tom stayed in the navy, eventually became a Captain and would end up surviving two more ship wrecks. Eva returned to Ireland, married and had two children.
Eventually the gold rush fever would fade. But, not before some 600,000 people would immigrate to Australia. Few became wealthy, but the influx of people would do more to help the country become a new nation than any other single thing in it’s short history.
The RazorBack
The relentless waves and rain helped over the years to shape this unique formation. The sharp edges and bumps are caused by wind blown spray. Wind energy created the grooves along the sides
Thunder Cave
The waves here slam into this narrow channel of the rock and, depending on the size, makes a large “Thumping!” sound as it collides with the stone.
London Bridge
Another example of a formation that likely will not lost long. The waves have already knocked down 1/3 of it. Still it remains another spectacular view along this road.
The Grotto
Here is another formation created by the great forces here. It is one of the most beautiful.
Oh, and one more thing
On a Saturday afternoon in 1981, when I was an undergraduate in college, I left my dorm room to go the the medical school library to study. The building was one of the more beautiful on campus with a huge multistory window that looked out on the Sandia mountain range that abutted Albuquerque , New Mexico.
There was an undergraduate anatomy and physiology test coming up and I needed to prepare. I could easily study in my room, but the library was much nicer and since many others went there it offered distractions away from the tedious material.
A&P was one of those large classes. You really did not get the chance to meet many people because the class size was over 300. There was this girl in the class that I noticed frequently but never spoke with before. She was cute and had a great smile. And now, by sheer luck, there she was in a chair near me in the library.
I didn’t want to study anyway but I needed an excuse to talk to her. I opened the chapter we were supposed to learn to the most complicated looking diagram I could find.
I summoned the courage, walked over to her with the open text and asked, “Hi, do you think this will be on the test?”
That meeting was 42 years ago today.
And this was the girl.
Oh, and to make the story even more sickly sweet - the diagram was a detailed anatomical study of the human heart.
Postscript -
We finally saw our first Wallaby and Kangaroo by the side of the road that were not dead.
The wallaby was peacefully munching on some grass.
The kangaroo was bigger and appeared to be vaping.
Comentarios