(EMAILWIRE.COM, June 16, 2009 ) Australia - The Great Ocean Road, stretching from Melbourne to Adelaide, is one of Australia’s most famous scenic drives, attracting thousands of tourists each year – and now, its pounding surf has claimed another victim – the Island Archway near Loch Ard Gorge, just one of many huge rock formations along the coastline, has collapsed into the sea…
I spent a fabulous three days in Australia doing the drive along the Great Ocean Road a few years back (read my feature here) – the only thing I would have done differently is to hire a convertible.
As part of the attraction of the drive is the wild, scenic beauty that is open to the elements and ever changing, the partial loss of this landmark is just another one of natureÂ’s choices. One of the most famous landmarks - the 12 apostles - has just eight rock stacks still standing - the rest have been gobbled up by the sea.
The last significant collapse on the southern coastline was in July 2005, when one of the large stacks that made up the Twelve Apostles collapsed.
Now, the 10 metre-long arch of the Island Archway on VictoriaÂ’s west coast has collapsed, leaving the two supporting rock pillars rising 25 metres from the ocean and a pile of rubble lying just under the surface of the water.
Parks Victoria believes the fall occurred sometime within the last few days, although it is impossible to tell exactly when.
Natasha Johnson, Parks Victoria Acting Ranger in charge at Port Campbell said, “We got a report from one of our helicopter pilots here that it had actually collapsed, there was a lot of dirt in the water and the arch has collapsed and now we’ve got two islands.”
Ms Johnson said she had mixed feelings about natureÂ’s makeover of the coastline landmark and said that the southern coastline was always changing.
“Nature is constantly shaping and reshaping it. It is pretty sad, but at the same time I find it pretty exciting as well. It’s a really good example of nature at work,” she said.
Now that the arch is no longer, well, an arch, there is speculation as to whether the ‘Island Arch’ name will have to be changed.
Ms Johnson says that, whilst the rock formation will more than likely retain its existing name, there may well be some ‘additional interpretation added on to show what it used to look like.’
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