GREAT OCEAN ROAD

The Great Ocean Road is an Australian National Heritage listed 243-kilometre stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. The road was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world's largest war memorial; dedicated to casualties of World War I.

It is an important tourist attraction in the region, which winds through varying terrain alongside the coast, and provides access to several prominent landmarks; including the nationally significant Twelve Apostles rock formations. The Twelve Apostles is a collection of miocene limestone rock stacks jutting from the water in Port Campbell National Park, between Princetown and Peterborough on the Great Ocean Road.

The apostles were formed by erosion: The harsh weather conditions from the Southern Ocean gradually eroded the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then became arches, which in turn collapsed; leaving rock stacks up to 45 metres high. The site was known as the Sow and Piglets until 1922 (Muttonbird Island, near Loch Ard Gorge, was the Sow, and the smaller rock stacks the Piglets); after which it was renamed to The Apostles for tourism purposes. The formation eventually became known as the Twelve Apostles, despite only ever having nine stacks.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

12 APOSTLES

The Great Ocean Road is an Australian National Heritage listed 243-kilometre stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. The road was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world's largest war memorial; dedicated to casualties of World War I.

It is an important tourist attraction in the region, which winds through varying terrain alongside the coast, and provides access to several prominent landmarks; including the nationally significant Twelve Apostles rock formations. The Twelve Apostles is a collection of miocene limestone rock stacks jutting from the water in Port Campbell National Park, between Princetown and Peterborough on the Great Ocean Road.

The Apostles were formed by erosion: The harsh weather conditions from the Southern Ocean gradually eroded the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then became arches, which in turn collapsed; leaving rock stacks up to 45 metres high. The site was known as the Sow and Piglets until 1922 (Muttonbird Island, near Loch Ard Gorge, was the Sow, and the smaller rock stacks the Piglets); after which it was renamed to The Apostles for tourism purposes. The formation eventually became known as the Twelve Apostles, despite only ever having nine stacks.

This post is part of the Roentare’s Water Meme

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme

and also part of the Nature Notes meme

STONY

A friend waits patiently for the good weather so she can go rock-hounding. It's amazing what wonderful semiprecious stones she has found amongst perfectly uninspiring looking rocks...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme

and also part of the Seasons meme.

STORM COMING...

And it's called puberty...

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

WILSON'S PROM

Wilsons Promontory is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria, about 200 km southeast of Melbourne CBD. Coastal features include expansive intertidal mudflats, sandy beaches and sheltered coves interrupted by prominent headlands and plunging granite cliffs in the south, backed by coastal dunes and swamps. The promontory is surrounded by a scatter of small granite islands which, collectively, form the Wilsons Promontory Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for breeding seabirds.

Wilsons Promontory is home to many marsupials, native birds and other creatures. One of the most common marsupials found on the promontory is the common wombat, which can be found in much of the park (especially around campsites where it has been known to invade tents searching for food). The peninsula is also home to kangaroos, snakes, wallabies, koalas, long-nosed potoroos, white-footed dunnarts, broad-toothed rats, feather-tailed gliders and emus. Some of the most common birds found on the promontory include crimson rosellas, yellow-tailed black cockatoos and superb fairywrens. There are also many pests, including hog deer, foxes, feral cats, rabbits, common starlings, and common blackbirds.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

and also part of the Roentare’s Water Meme.

MOONSET

Looking towards the West at the Darebin Parklands, seeing the moon setting, while the sun is rising behind me.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DAREBIN PARKLANDS

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme

DAREBIN CREEK

The new fish ladder in the Darebin Creek at the Darebin Parklands.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

SUNSET

View from Hanging Rock (also known as Mount Diogenes, Dryden's Rock, and to some of its traditional owners as Ngannelong). Hanging Rock is a distinctive geological formation in central Victoria. A former volcano, it lies 718 m above sea level (105 m above plain level) on the plain between the two small townships of Newham and Hesket, approximately 70 km north-west of Melbourne and a few kilometres north of Mount Macedon.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

PRECIOUS BLUE

Semiprecious stones dazzle with their colour, but beware! All that shines is not gold. Upper left is a howlite-turquenite, which is a howlite (normaly creamy white), dyed blue to become a blue turquenite. In the middle, a labradorite, which looks much better than it really is, and finally, in the lower right lapis lazuli: The source of the precious artists' pigment, ultramarine... But a soft stone, nevertheless, which makes for jewellery easily scratched.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

OF WOOD & STONE

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

INSTAGRAM ROCKS

I've recently started painting rocks as a challenge and found that I enjoyed doing it. I publish my efforts on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jammysevenk/) and here is a sampling of my work. You may find more of my art if you click on the link above.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

SPRING WHISPERS

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme.

PARKLANDS 2

Same place as that seen in the photo of yesterday's blog post, but the weather was a whole lot different today, making it look quite threatening.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

WILLIAMSTOWN

Williamstown is located at the mouth of the Yarra River where it enters Hobsons Bay and Port Phillip Bay, south-west of the Melbourne city centre. Originally Melbourne's first sea port, Williamstown has developed from what was a neglected industrialised centre into a popular and fashionable maritime village.

Williamstown is surrounded on three sides by water. The eastern shoreline consists of foreshore reserves dotted with piers, gardens and remnants of Williamstown's maritime history. Scenic views of Melbourne's city skyline can be enjoyed from Gem Pier where cruises on the Yarra River and the bay depart regularly.

The rocky south-eastern coastline consists of open parkland which includes the Point Gellibrand Coastal Heritage Park. The wildness of the rocky foreshore is quite charming and the lucky ones who live on the esplanade can enjoy its breathtaking views every day. Fishing, gathering shellfish and long walks along the foreshore can be enjoyed by everyone.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme.

PHILLIP ISLAND

Phillip Island is an Australian island about 140 km south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. Named after Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, Phillip Island forms a natural breakwater for the shallow waters of the Western Port. It is 26 km long and 9 km wide, with an area of about 100 km2. It has 97 km of coastline and is part of the Bass Coast Shire.

A 640 m concrete bridge (originally a wooden bridge) connects the mainland town San Remo with the island town Newhaven. In the 2011 census the island's permanent population was 9,406, compared to 7,071 in 2001. During the summer, the population swells to 40,000. 60% of the island is farmland devoted to grazing of sheep and cattle.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

CREEK

The Darebin Creek flowing through the nature reserve of the Darebin Parklands.

This post is part of the "My Sunday Best" meme.

R for ROCKS

The bedrock of the Melbourne district is of Middle Palaeozoic age belonging to the Silurian and Devonian periods (354-441 million years ago). However, these rocks are overlain in wide areas by much younger rocks, mostly of Tertiary and Quaternary age (2-65 mya). The oldest rocks of the bedrock are Early Silurian in age (441 mya).

During the Pliocene (2-5 mya) and through into the Pleistocene (2 mya), there was substantial volcanicity, in two episodes. The first produced extensive sheets of basalt lava on the west side of Melbourne to form the Keilor and Werribee Plains. The second phase involved volcanoes to the north of Melbourne. These extruded flows that filled the valleys of the Moonee Ponds, Merri and Darebin creeks. Lava flows erupted from Hayes Hill near Mernda, flowed down the ancestral Merri Creek and Darebin Creek valleys into the Yarra Valley at Fairfield and down that valley onto the Yarra delta as far as the present site of Spencer Street bridge.

Quaternary sediments are principally represented by raised beaches and sand ridges around the coast. They are particularly well developed at Altona, where shell beds occur, and form valley fill in the Yarra River and its tributaries, and sediments of the Yarra Delta. The alluvial flats of the Yarra River upstream of the Yarra Gorge at Warrandyte are thought to have been formed as a result of grade changes following rejuvenation of the Yarra Fault, whereas the alluvial flats upstream from Fairfield and in some of the Yarra tributaries, such as Gardiners Creek, were formed as a result of the damming of the Yarra by a stream of basaltic lava flowing down the Darebin Creek valley.

In the Darebin Parklands quite a lot of exposed rock can be found, both in situ, as well as transported so that various enhancements to the aesthetic of the Parklands was achieved - for example the artificial hill (Mt Puffalo Viewing Hill constructed in 1998), and seen below.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

OLIVE TREES

Wild olive trees growing amongst the rocky grounds of the Darebin Parklands.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.