One last day on the Great Ocean Walk brought us to the Twelve Apostles, a set of limestone stacks just off the coast.
With no specific plan on how we were getting back to Melbourne once we finished the trail, CareFree and I began our day early, leaving Devils Kitchen shortly after 7. We continued through a somewhat short forest, continuing our way west.
We passed on the opportunity to take a side trail down to Wreck Beach; we were passing the end of the beach anyway, so going down wouldn’t take us forward.
The trail this morning was somewhat monotonous, bouncing up and down on sometimes-sandy trail. We occasionally got views to the ocean, but it was starting to have a samey feel to many other ocean views we’d had earlier on the Great Ocean Walk. Somewhat early in the day, we passed Laura; the rest of the hikers that stayed at Devils Kitchen were behind us the whole day.
Like yesterday, a trail crew had been through recently to do trail maintenance. The trail tread was covered in branches clipped from the brush adjacent to the trail. With the maintenance we saw yesterday, and the general good quality of the trail, we got the idea that maybe the trail was kept as clear as it was to assist with watching out for snakes, and keeping them further from the trail centerline.
There was, unfortunately, also somewhat more toilet paper along the track than yesterday.
The first good view we got today was as we approached the Gellibrand River, as it flowed into the ocean at Princeton Beach.
As we approached the river, the trail gradually became more and more sandy, and it was generally a nuisance to hike along. Joining a dirt road along the river, we passed through some low-lying areas, and had to walk around a couple of places where water had collected into stagnant, foul-smelling ponds on the trail.
We passed a kangaroo guarding its joey, looking none too pleased as we walked past.
The road took us between the river, which seemed to be somewhat flooded. Wetlands flanked both sides of the river, with signs warning not to enter them because it was dangerous. Frogs hidden in the reeds croaked as we walked past.
Crossing a bridge over the Gellibrand River, we were stopped by an approaching Parks Victoria truck, with a ranger who wanted to briefly discuss the trail conditions. If we understood her correctly, recent rains had bloated the river, and this part of the trail is seasonally closed due to flooding. We were a little surprised, since we hadn’t seen any documentation or signage that part of the trail was seasonally closed, but I could certainly see how the river flooding would be significant problem. Just past the end of the bridge, we stopped for a break at a small picnic area, and opted to sit well away from the river, because a small boardwalk next to the river was completely flooded, and we’d have gotten our feet wet sitting at the adjacent picnic table. The ducks on the river didn’t seem to mind, though.
Leaving the picnic area, we climbed back up to the cliffs, somewhat zig-zagging our way along the coast. CareFree commented that the trees here had noticeably grown since she was here in 2018. The trees were tall enough that for most of the rest of the day, we didn’t have much in the way of views.
Starting from the picnic area, the amount of toilet paper, some of it clearly used for poo, increased. The maintenance crews probably did not appreciate this at all.
Eventually, we caught a glimpse of the Twelve Apostles in the distance, somewhat shrouded in fog and sea mist.
As we continued, the distant fog gradually lifted, though the skies remained overcast. At each viewpoint we passed, there were tourists, increasing in number as we approached Twelve Apostles. We were a bit torn between wanting to take in the views as our hike drew to a close, but also not wanting to be hanging around crowded viewing platforms and wanting to be finished so we could try and get back to Melbourne.
The last major view before the end of the trail was the Gibson Steps, where a steep staircase drops 30 meters down the side of the cliff to Gibson Beach, which gives an ocean-level view of the Twelve Apostles. If we hadn’t been in a hurry to finish, I’d have liked to have gone down to the beach.
On the last stretch to the Twelve Apostles, we passed a crew of Parks Victoria workers clearing the brush around the trail. They confirmed our suspicion that clearing the trail helped keep snakes further away from people, but that’s not why the trail was kept as clear as it was. (One of them told a story of getting bit by a snake while clearing brush elsewhere, but his thick work boots prevented any injury.)
The trail ended largely as unceremoniously as it started — with no terminus sign, or even any indication that we were on the Great Ocean Walk at all. We followed a (from our perspective) side trail from a visitor center to the Twelve Apostles viewpoint, quite crowded with tourists.
Originally known as “The Pinnacles”, and later the “Sow and Piglets”, the Twelve Apostles are a set of limestone stacks just off the coast. Seven are standing, and several more have collapsed underwater (most recently in 2005 and 2009), The stacks are formed by the harsh weather along the Southern Ocean carving out caves along the soft limestone cliffs on the coast. These caves eventually become arches, which eventually collapse, leaving the stacks.
We spent about twenty minutes walking around to the various viewpoints, before deciding we were done, and returned to the visitor center to figure out how to get away.
Normally, we’d have been able to take a bus back to Melbourne, but today is a Thursday, and the bus only runs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Since most everyone appeared to be foreign tourists, our prospects of hitchhiking seemed low. (Though, we wouldn’t need to hitch all the way to Melbourne; if we could get to one of the towns along the highway north of Twelve Apostles, we could then take a train to Melbourne.)
One of the people in the visitor center suggested that we ask one of the tour busses to give us a ride back to town. Apparently, they usually have some empty seats and are happy to take on additional passengers. But, they likely wouldn’t be leaving towards Melbourne until late afternoon or early evening, which means we’d have to wait around for several hours.
As luck would have it, though, we ran into Liv, Hoyam, and Laura after they made it to the visitor center, and they agreed to try to give us a ride. They’d staged one of their cars at the large parking lot in Twelve Apostles, and left their other car in Apollo Bay. The complicating factor was getting five people (them, CareFree and I, and Laura) and gear into their car. It was a tight fit, and we had to put CareFree’s pack on our laps, but we managed to make it work!
We first drove along the Great Ocean Road back to Apollo Bay. This was a nice touch, seeing portions of the trail in reverse, and somewhat reminiscent of our last day on the Canary Islands. After a lunch break, Hoyam picked up their other car, and Liv drove us back to Melbourne, dropping us off at the Southern Cross train station, where we would have arrived at if we’d taken the train back, and conveniently only a couple of blocks away from our hotel. (Thanks so much for the ride, Liv and Hoyam!)
With that, our Great Ocean Walk journey was complete!