The Great Ocean Road [antikvár]

REAT CEAN J\ OAD The Great Ocean Road offers some of Australia's most spectacular coastal scenery. Internationally famous surf beaches, tranquil bays, forested hills reaching down to the sea, flat heathlands ending abruptly in sheer cliffs and picturesque rock stacks standing majestically in wild seas are just some of the magnificent vistas on the road you'll want to drive again and again. Seaborne visitors to QueensclifF are greeted by an impressive skyline of stately Norfolk pine trees, two lighthouses, an historic fort and the grand 1880s buildings of one of Victoria's best preserved historic towns. From humble beginnings as a sea pilot's station and fishing village, Queenscliff became a fashionable seaside resort during the land boom of the 1880s when the wealthy Melburnians and Western District squatters congregated in opulent hotels and guest houses. However its popularity waned in the early part of the 1900s and the town came to a standstill until the 1970s when the accommodation houses were restored to their former elegance. Many of the original fishermen's cottages remain intact and are a charming contrast to the hotels and guest houses. Queenscliff is a town for leisurely browsing amongst its art and craft galleries, stylish specialist shops and historic buildings. Fort Queenscliff built in 1884 to guard against a possible Russian invasion, is now the home of the Australian Army Staff College. The Black Lighthouse, within the grounds of the Fort, is unique in Australia. Built in 1863 of bluestone quarried in Scotland, it was assembled, numbered and dismantled and shipped to Australia. On the ocean side of Queenscliff ships from around the world pass Point Lonsdale as they enter and leave Port Phillip Bay through The Rip, one of the world's most treacherous stretches of water. Just below Point Lonsdale's ^ lighthouse is Buckleys Cave where 'the wild white man' ( William Buckley lived after \ «ISM he escaped from a convict settlement at Sorrento in 1803. ii