The Great Ocean Road – Gibsons Steps

Just before you arrive at the infamous Twelve Apostles there is Gibsons Steps (heading west). These steps allow you to negotiate down the sheer limestone cliffs to the beach below. Standing below these cliffs you can really get a perspective of the sheer size of the cliffs along this stretch of the Great Ocean Road and therefore the size of the Apostles that stand proudly round the corner.

The steps allowed us to get down and close to the famed treacherous sea that is the Bass Strait. Standing on the sands watching this crashing surf I felt for the sailors of past who navigated this coastline, many having almost completed their passage all the way from Europe, only to come to grief upon the rocks that lurked like sharks in the water.

It was definitely worth the walk down even though the steps were hard work on the way back up again!

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The Great Ocean Road – Teddy’s Lookout

Teddys Lookout gave us a fantastic view of a section of the Great Ocean Road and although it was only a tiny portion of the road, the scenery from this vantage point up high above the coast was beautiful.
Teddy’s Lookout is located minutes out side of Lorne, take a right on the roundabout by the information centre in Lorne and follow this road up into the hills behind Lorne it its furthermost part.

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Aireys Inlet – Split Point Lighthouse – The Great Ocean Road

Having spent the morning and early afternoon around Torquay and at Bells Beach we pushed allong the road a little way to Aireys Inlet.

Here there is a delightful little lighthouse which boasts some fantastic views along the coast. The weather wasn’t so delightful but I snapped a few shots and we had a walk out along the cliffs.

Split Point Lighthouse was errected in 1891 to protect the ships that were navigating the treacherous waters of Bass Strait. It was built by a Melbourne company, Anderson and Sons, and stands at 34 meters. As well as serving as a lighthouse it was also a huge tourist attraction and the lighthouse keepers have always served as guides to their workplace.

Such a beautiful lighthouse has gained a reputation and has stared in a couple of films, including Mad Max and (the coolest part for me!) stared in television shows including Round the Twist.

My favourite fact of the afternoon was about the last keeper of the lighthouse, Richard Baker, who scratched a hole in the black paint on the back of the lantern so he could go off to the pub when he was on shift and still see a shaft of light so he knew that the lantern was still lit!

Tours do still go up the lighthouse regularly throughout the day but to book a private tour you can call 1800 174 045

Torquay – Bells Beach – The Start Of The Great Ocean Road

After a couple of fortunate events which landed us a free powered pitch in one of the best caravan sites in Torquay (Mainly getting a buy one get one free deal in the reception of the caravan site and finding a $20 note on the floor) We woke refreshed and recharged, our laptops and camera batteries as-well as ourselves and full of excitement to start our first full day on the Great Ocean Road.

We kicked things off with a magical delve into surfing‘s past with the surf museum in Torquay itself. The museum was excellent and packed with memorabilia and history getting us geared up for a quick stomp around all the surf outlet shops which were treasure troves of discounted clothing and boards.

Lunch was devoured at the top of the cliffs above the world famous surf beach, Bells Beach, 4km outside of Torquay. There were a few locals down in the water which was too fierce for me to have a dip with the swells coming up high despite it being a calm day. Bells Beach will shortly be hosting the Rip Curl World Championships next month and it seemed queer that such a small beach would attract surfers from all around the globe.

There were a few people up on the cliffs struggling to get shots of the action so I climbed all the way down on to the rocks and coral where the surfers enter the water and went the extra mile to get as close to the surfers as possible. I may have got damp feet but I think the shots show its always worth getting as close as you possibly can. As for settings I played around and common sense dictated that keeping the ISO down as low as possible so I could crop the images later without too much noise. Shutter speed was always going to have to be kept high so I kept it around 2000 to 2500 to catch the fast moving water and surfers. As a result my aperture suffered and so I started shooting at 2.8 but wiped these pictures almost immediately because the surfers weren’t coming out sharp enough due to the depth of field being too low. After switching to an aperture of about 5.6-6.3 the surfers were coming out sharper and it was all down to the talent in the water.

In an ideal world I would have had a good 100-300 lens in my kit bag but as we are on the road travelling light those pieces of glass were all left behind. If I was staying for the competition though you can bet your bottom dollar on my driving all the way to Melbourne to hire a good lens for a couple of days and really nail some awesome shots!

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