May Squares #22 30,000 Kilometres Around the World

Postcards from The Great Ocean Road ~ Joining Becky for May Squares, featuring scenes along Victoria’s  iconic Great Ocean Road.

#SquaresRenew ~ moving forward, reconstructing, renewing or burgeoning

The heritage listed Great Ocean Road follows the coast of south-eastern Victoria from Torquay to Allansford for 241 kilometres, past beautiful sandy beaches and bays, through lush rainforests and over rugged limestone cliffs. Built by soldiers returned from World War One between 1919 and 1932, and dedicated to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, the road is the world’s largest war memorial. Construction of the road provided employment for more than 3,000 returned servicemen, giving them purpose and providing much needed rehabilitation after the horrors of war. The Great Ocean Road linked towns along the coast previously only accessed by sea or tracks through the bush and created a route now acknowledged as one of the most scenic tourist drives in the world. 

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Mutton Bird Island, Port Campbell National Park

Along with its connection to the sinking of the Loch Ard in 1878, Mutton Bird Island has its own claim to fame. In September every year around 12,000 mutton birds come to breed on the island, after travelling 15,000 kilometres from the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Strait. 

Also known as short-tailed shearwaters, mutton birds have several breeding sites, including Mutton Bird Island, on the coast of southern Australia. Each pair lays one egg which hatches in January. By April, the adult birds are ready to return to the northern hemisphere, while their chicks wait until they are fully grown before beginning their own migration. 

The return journey takes about four weeks, following a route from Australia to Japan then onto Siberia and northern Alaska. The birds rest over the northern summer before beginning their incredible journey south once more.