Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road is the main attraction of Victoria in Australia. Almost the whole road runs near the coast, only in a few places it deepens into the continent. In 2011, the road replenished the Australian National Heritage Register.

The road begins in the town of Torquay, and ends in Allansford, with a road length of only 243 km. However, they value the Great Ocean Road, primarily for landscapes. After all, traveling along the road you can see such attractions as 12 apostles, the Coast of Shipwrecks, the London Arch, and the Otway National Park. On Cape Bridgewater, you can see hundreds of fur seals in the natural environment. In the Tower Hill Nature Reserve, you can see the koal, emu, kangaroo and other animals living only in Australia.

They decided to build the road back in 1864, but in fact, construction began only in 1919, when 3,000 soldiers returned from the First World War. They had to work 5.5 days a week 8 hours a day. All work was carried out manually: with shovels, picks, explosives, soldiers made their way through rocky territory. The work was very difficult, and was complicated by rescue operations. In 1924, the casino vessel flew into the rocks near the road". Workers, without hesitation, rushed to salvation. 120 barrels of alcohol and 500 beer houses were pulled out of the ship. For 2 weeks, the construction stalled - the soldiers departed after the rescue operation. On November 26, 1932, construction was completed. To compensate for the costs, they decided to charge money for travel along the way. 2 shillings were collected from cars and 10 carts, which are pulled by more than 2 horses. The Great Ocean Road soon paid off and already in 1936 the passage was made free, and the road was donated to Australia.

Although the Australian government is taking steps to improve the security of the Great Ocean Road, incidents still occur. The road in places collapsed under the influence of landslides, washed off by storms, closed due to fires, in 2011 a swivel rock fell on the road.

In 2004, a 104-kilometer route was arranged along the road, which was called the "Great Ocean Walking Road".

Fans of outdoor activities can stop Bells Beach, where you can surf, swim off the coast in kayaks or go to Apollo Bay for fishing. Traveling along the road you can see dozens of whales, find out the life of Aboriginal people, eat berries from Kolak farms, eat traditional Australian dishes and drink local wine to the sounds of national musical instruments.

These couple of hundred kilometers will remain in the memory of the traveler for a long time.