Bushfire Nightmares and The Great Ocean Road

Devastation can come in many forms. We has people can be affected directly and indirectly. Nature has a way of claiming its superiority in the world through various means. Earthquakes, tornadoes, Hurricanes, and in the case of Victoria this past week, FIRE. The overall destruction will not be known for weeks. The death toll at 200 and the loss of homes not yet truly realized. The numbers do not matter, but the stories told by those who survived should be listened to. Victorians in the Goulburn Valley are simple people who hard for a living and strive in a middle to lower class society. The economic crunch that the world is feeling and now Bushfires, has ravaged an area of descent, beautiful people. I will spend next weekend working in the harmed area and trying to help people rebuild. The fires are still burning in areas, but are controlled. We pray for the wind to cease and the rain to fall. The temperatures here have calmed and it is quite pleasant outside these days. This experience has showed me that there are individuals out there who wish to harm others all over the world. The arsonist who started these fires and the copycat work that has gone on afterwards is incredibly disgusting. It hurts me to think there are people who are deceased with this aggression. With that said, this country is a strong nation and Australia will rebuild. I love it here and love the people. Please know I have been on the Great Ocean Road for a week and was hours from harm. With that said, let me tell you a little bit about a coast line, that is like not other I have seen before.
Southwest of Melbourne, the coastline stretches from a town called Tourque to a place simply named Port Campbell. Its on this portion of Australia that I called my home for the past week. Leaving out on Monday, I made my way down to Bells Beach. This beach was made famous by the amazing film Point Break, starring Keanue Reeves and Patrick Swayze. The movie is a cult classic and they mention Bells Beach due to its ability to produce some of the best surf in the world. My favorite aspect of Bells was that there is no development on it. All development on the Great Ocean Road is on the opposite side of the road from the beach. The beach side cliffs out and the land is not stable enough to build on. This particular area has no development anywhere. Absolutely beautiful. After walking the beach for awhile, I found a nice place on the beach to sleep and called it home for the evening. The next day I woke and traveled further west to Cape Otwell. Here, I watched in joy and disbelief has I viewed my first Koala in person. What a beautiful animal. I just stood and stared for what seemed like an hour. He or she, not sure, just watched back. Looking at each other and studying what we were looking at. Such gentle creatures. Finally I can check that off my TO DO list. Moving on..... I viewed a lighthouse near the Koala and regained a heading west. I had something on my mind that I had been dreaming of seeing since 2004 when I was here, THE 12 APOSTLES. I rock formation that the Australians have done a great job of Advertising. Seeing them in person was a spiritual moment, just like seeing ULURU. Basically, after millions of years of erosion, the coastline in areas has been stripped away and giant single rock formations have been left separate from the main coast. They are spectacular and collected in one main area. The viewing area is raised from the main coast just to the east and creates a wonderful place to watch a sunset. Once the sunset had fallen, I watched once again has nature did her best to impress me. Fairy Penguins decided that they wanted to sleep by the Apostles and started swimming to shore. They reached the beach individually and in groups. Once there they collected together and marched up the beach to the cliffs to have a rest. I was speechless and felt no need to talk about what had just happened. It was one of those moments in life. I marched on myself, headed West still. Port Campbell was a great place to spend my last two days. I found a cave on the beach that was perfect for sleeping. I stayed there and spent my time hiking and viewing to other rock formations in the nearby area. The London Bridge and the Arch. I have a small obsession with rock formation, especially arches. I find them so remarkable and beautiful. I headed back east after two days there and arrived in Melbourne two days ago with time to reflect. I head back to Eildon today to figure out where we go has a company from here. Maybe work, maybe help in the relief of the area. We shall see. I love you all and will write more. Peace be with you and enjoy every step.