cape bridgewater.

Located about 20 minutes from Portland is a mini geologic wonderland complete with a petrified forest and blowholes, not to mention Victoria’s highest coastal cliff, from which you have the perfect vantage point to watch seals sun themselves on the rocks.  Cape Bridgewater has it all, and Candice and I made two trips to this beautiful spot to enjoy all these natural wonders (and of course the not so natural wonder of the giant wind farm).  And since I’m still working in Portland, there’s a good chance I’ll be making another trip or two.

As we made our way to Cape Bridgewater for our first visit, we decided to head to the end of the road to the blowholes.  It’s difficult to paint a picture of the area, but it was like walking into another world and I loved it.  The ground we walked upon was covered with hundreds of what looked like mini volcanic craters, and reminded me of something you would see at Yellowstone.

Then as we reached the viewpoint for the blowholes the awesome power of the ocean was on full display, as waves crashed upon the high cliffs, shooting up fountains of water.  It really made me want to jump in and swim.

 

A short walk from the blowholes is the so-called Petrified Forest.  Technically it’s not actually a petrified forest but a series of hollow tubes of limestone that have been eroded by rainfall over millions of years, but then you probably already knew that from the pictures.  Candice also identified some really unique rocks that are made of rope and not actually rocks at all, but looked pretty convincing.  I’m glad to see my geologic expertise is starting to have an impact!

After exploring the forest of rocks for a while, we made our way back towards the main part of town where the seal colony walk begins.  In the little tourist guide from our hotel, the walk was described as an “energetic 2-hour return trip” which translates to mean “2-hours for the physically fit who like to really push themselves.”  It’s an invigorating walk the follows along the coastline and affords beautiful views of the ocean and Bridgewater Bay.  

At the end of our journey we reached the viewing platform and were disappointed as we looked upon the seal colony and saw no seals.  But we spent a little while enjoying the view and hoping to catch a glimpse of a seal when we both noticed one of the rocks move.  Turns out the rock was a seal sun bathing, and we managed to get this close up picture of it!  Candice also spotted two seals swimming in the water nearby, marking a very successful end to our wonderful afternoon.

can you see the seal?

Although Cape Bridgewater doesn’t get much attention because it is overshadowed by the exceptional Great Ocean Road, located only about 2 hours from the cape, I’ve only been to a few other places in the world with so many natural wonders in such a small area.  In a couple hours you can view all of these amazing features, plus if you are really lucky you’ll spot blue whales or southern right whales traveling through the area on their annual migration. 

Hopefully with a little luck, I’ll get to add a blue whale to my list of Australian animals before my trip is finished.

BK

we passed a field of kangaroos on our way back!