Touring "The Great Ocean Road" - The Name Game

I scheduled far too little time with my cousin -- but because I had prebooked AirBnB lodgings for the next several nights -- I journeyed onward with a personal commitment to return soon, keep up the cousin connection, and continue exploring my roots.

Upon leaving the Basalt area, I navigated through the beautiful Grampians National Park to the end-point of "The Great Ocean Road" in a town called Warrnambool.

Prior to preparing for this trip, I had not heard of The Great Ocean Road -- but it's up there among top ocean-side road trips in the world (Cape Town's Cape Point Peninsula Route, and  California's State Route 1 come to mind).  I booked three nights of three different AirBnB's at the beginning, middle, and end - in reverse order.  It is/was a spectacularly beautiful drive on beautiful days.

Now, a tourism highlight of the Road  is called "The Twelve Apostles:"  beautiful limestone stacks in the surf.  But here is an interesting tidbit (in keeping with my prior posting that people really want to read/hear about the unusual) -- there are really only eight currently standing in the area known as "The Twelve Apostles" AND, better yet -- their name was originally "The Sow and Pigs" but changed to encourage tourism.  I've blogged before about how a name can make a difference -- like the renowned "Tail of the Dragon" in Tennessee and how "Scenic Route 12" in Utah needs to be renamed something similarly catchy like "Tail of the Rattler."  In any event, The Great Ocean Road is spectacular and I enjoyed seeing the "8 Apostles" or "Sow and 7 Pigs" and many other beautiful spots along the drive, and my three selected AirBnB accommodations.