Victorian Limestone?

Weekend Report of the 23rd of January 1999

I infact did very little to do with climbing this weekend. A friend of mine from Brisbane came down to visit with his girlfriend so we decided to check out the fabled Great Ocean Road. Karl, Bec and I left early on the Sunday and spent a considerable time in unmoving traffic on the drive down to Geelong. It reminded me of the horrible traffic jam we encountered on the drive to the Gold Coast during Christmas. It should have taken us about half an hour but instead, two hours later we pulled into a small beach just east of Bells Beach. I was very unimpressed by the lack of any decent waves and the miserable greyness of the skies around. I spotted a small bouldery outcrop nearby and ran to check it out. Only one band of rock held together enough for me to crank a few moves. The rest was complete and utter choss, a substance most people would call sand. The larger fore shore cliffs nearby were also a major disappointment. We did find some fascinating rock pools which have formed near the beach. They are almost perfect bath shaped and sized pools which would be fantastic to swim in if it wasn't crappy Victorian weather!

Neil at Bells Beach

We continued driving and reached the start of the amazing coastal drive. The road itself is an engineering marvel. It was built early this century as a memorial to soldiers killed in the first world war. The road drives along a sheer cliff edge which is above and below you. To build the road they must have blasted a flat section out of the side of the steep hill. The road winds back and forth and is close to a hundred kilometres long. It truly is an amazing area, as shown by the million tourists that also seemed to be driving along this stretch of road. We stopped numerous times to snap off photos and to check out the awesome views of the coastline. I noticed several black rocky outcrops on the inland side of the road which seemed to be quite solid volcanic rock. Much like some of the columnar sections of the Glasshouse Mountains. I stopped and checked out an old quarry sight which had the possibility for a couple of good slabby sport climbs. We eventually ended up in Lourne and feasted on fish and chips whilst dodging the thousands of tourists. The drive continued through the Otaways coastal rainforest and some light rain started. Fearing a very crappy view of the Twelve Apostles we were suddenly surprised when the clouds lifted just as we turned into the carpark. The sky was perfect blue, the rock formations were amazing and the tourists were plentiful. The big sea stacks that comprise the Twelve Apostles are very chossy indeed. I don't know if anyone has climbed them, but it would require extensive bolt laddering on very poor limestone. Every twenty metres or so you might be able to place a pin in a horizontal. We took the standard photo of ourselves in front of the big rocks and bailed back to the car.

Karl and Neil at the 12 Apostles

After a little discussion we decided a swim was in order. Just before the Apostles is a set of steps cut into the cliff which leads to a good beach. After some quick clothes changes in the carpark we headed down to the beach. The beach was really steep and meant that there was crazy shore breaks crashing down. We jumped into the freezing water, straight from the Antarctic. Bec couldn't handle the pounding but Karl and I played for a awhile, getting dumped many time and finally giving up when all our pockets were full of sand. I checked out the cliffs above the beach, steep limestone but fairly chossy. A few corners stood out as possible routes but none would be classics. You would also have the problem of dodging the rampant nudists that inhabited the cliff base as well! After a good sleep on the beach we headed back to the Neil mobile.

Next stop was a gorge about ten kilometres further west. It was another popular tourist area but far more spread out. It consists of numerous large caverns and gorges cut deep into the shore limestone cliffs. The area reminded me greatly of Phra Nang in Thailand. There are proper caves with stalactites and other assorted limestone flow formations. I bouldered a little on some good solid limestone pockets and scoped some potential sport routes. The problem is they are all on very popular tourist walks so could only really be top-roped. Some of the natural arches were gigantic. Natural bridges that spanned forty metres of ocean and about thirty metres high. The potential for crazy roped adventures are amazing. You could setup a rope between the sides of the gorge and do a big flying fox swing down into the sea. It would be very cool&endash; but only possible early in the morning before the tourists arrive!

After being touristed out we headed home, this time going inland. We followed an amazing stone fence, like the ones you see in pictures of Ireland, which stretched for at least forty kilometres. It must be someone's life long job to make this fence. It would take me all day just to make a two metre long section!

On the Tuesday myself, Karl, Bec and my flatmate Sean and his brother headed off to the Big Day Out. It was an awesome event, we spent most of the time dancing in the Boiler Room but ventured out occasionally to tick some of the bigger events. The sad thing was I had to work at 8am the next morning. I was very crusty indeed.

Steve, Sean, Neil & Bec at the Big Day Out