Bay Of Limestone Islands Carved From The Cliffs Over Millions Of Years
The Bay Of Islands is where you’ll get once last chance to stand at on the cliff top above the ocean on your Great Ocean Road trip before the road slightly goes inland to cut across to Allansford, where it officially ends.
Grouped together in a bay that has been slowly eroding for millions of years are these huge chunks of Sandstone and Limestone.
How To Get The Best View Of The Bay Of Islands
The Bay Of Islands are just to the west of Peterborough, a few kilometres out of the Port Campbell National Park on the Shipwreck Coast.
There are two main spots to get a view of the Bay Of Islands, one of them being popular, the other being much better!
By following the signs or your GPS, you’ll arrive at the main Bay Of Islands car park. The area around the car park is very typical of the coastline, show casing local native plants and the golden dust from the sandstone. To get out to the viewing platform, it’s about 200 metre walk and you’ll get a view from south to north.
If you’re to then drive about one kilometre further along the Great Ocean Road to the Boat Ramp called ‘Boat Bay’, there’s a short 50 metre walk out to a viewing platform where you’ll get a much better angle of the Bay of Islands and be able to see way more of the sandstone islands in the bay.
Depending on what time you visit the Bay Of Islands will determine your photography capacity. As the sun sets in the west, if you head to Boat Bay in the mid afternoon on a sunny day, it’ll be damn hard to get a nice photo due to the position of the sun.
How The Bay Of Islands Was Formed
Over 20 million years ago, this entire part of the coastline formed at the bottom of a super deep ocean. The sandstone was created by the fish, plants and sand from river leading into the ocean all depositing at the bottom and compacting over time. Any part of the Sandstone that has 50% or more fossils is Limestone and typically erodes at a much slower rate.
At a rate of 1.5-2cms per year, the ocean has eroded this part of the coastline and formed this bay with massive Limestone formations towering above the water.
Originally, the ocean would have eroded the weakest part of stone and formed huge tunnels, the tunnels then collapse and create this incredible and rugged coastline.
Accommodation & Camping Near The Bay Of Islands
The closest town to the Bay Of Islands is Peterborough, which is a few minutes by car. Here, you’ll find plenty of holiday homes to rent.
If you’re to head back towards Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road, Port Campbell is only about 15 minutes away and has a huge amount of accommodation options. You’ll be able to pitch your tent and camp at Port Campbell otherwise there are loads of other options from a backpackers hostel to luxury accommodation.
