Love, loss and shipwreck at Australia’s Loch Ard Gorge

Beautiful Loch Ard Gorge has a dark and terrible past.

On a summer’s day, it’s one of the most gorgeous small coves anywhere in Australia. But the legacy of tragedy still haunts this sublime beach.

The coastline of Australia’s Great Ocean Road is immense and dramatic. Sheer cliffs stand imposingly above a wild, rough ocean.

Near Port Campbell, the vast cliffs plunge dramatically down into a gorge with a picturesque beach. The gorge is a tear drop in the landscape, where caves and golden sand are lapped by azure waves.

The sea here is the wild Southern Ocean. Massive ice-blue breakers with foaming crests dash against the rocks at the edge of a continent.

The destructive power of the waves has created this dynamic coastline, forming fantastic features like London Arch and the Twelve Apostles. It is a beauty born in destruction.

Nowhere is the destructive nature behind the beauty as vivid as at Loch Ard Gorge. The gorge was named after a tragedy that took place there one night in the nineteenth century.