Great Ocean Road – 12 Apostles and Cape Otway

Port Campbell National Park and Twelve Apostles

The Twelve Apostles is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in southern Australia. The stacked rocks were formed by erosion. The harsh and extreme weather conditions from the Southern Ocean gradually erode the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then become arches that eventually collapse, leaving rock stacks up to 50 m high. The stacks are susceptible to further erosion from waves. In July 2005, a 50-metre-tall stack collapsed, leaving only seven standing at the Twelve Apostles viewpoint.

The stacks were originally known as the Pinnacles, and the Sow and Pigs (or Sow and Piglets, with Muttonbird Island being the Sow and the smaller rock stacks being the Piglets), as well as the Twelve Apostles. The formation’s name was made official as the Twelve Apostles, despite only ever having had eight stacks.In 2002, the Port Campbell Professional Fishermens Association attempted to block the creation of the Twelve Apostles Marine National Park at the Twelve Apostles site.

Great Otway National Park

The Great Otway National Park is located in the Barwon South West region of souhern stare of Victoria in Australia. It preserves a diverse range of landscapes and vegetation types and is situated within the Otway Ranges. The park was declared in 2004 when Otway National Park, Angahook-Lorne State Park, Carlisle State Park, Melba Gully State Park, areas of the Otway State Forest and a number of Crown Land reserves were combined into one park.