Well here we are ready to head off on the final stage of our Great Ocean Road adventure. It has been a long journey, but I hope you all feel that it has been worthwhile. There certainly have been lots of wonderful sights along the way.
Now we are about to head off through some very different country side compared to the spectacular and rugged coastal panoramas we are used to. We are heading off into the Hinterland, through rich pastoral land and volcano country. This is a part of the coastal area that not many people take the time to visit. They are more intent on the wild coastal views and forget to take the time to find out just what pleasures and treasures the countryside can hold.
As we turn our backs on the fresh salt air of Warrnambool, it is time to head back east towards Geelong. The first town we pass through in Terang. This is rich dairy country, green rolling plains dotted with fat dairy cattle and studded with lakes, that support a wide variety of birdlife. It was here in Terang in about 1900, that dairy farmer Alexander Gillies set about making improvements to an early milking machine. His improvements were very innovative and are still in use today in modern machines. Terang and the surrounding areas are renowned for their beautiful cheeses and other dairy products as well as their fine wines.
We continue on our eastward journey to our next destination, the historic township of Camperdown. Camperdown is the center of the pastoral district. The local Dairy company here is the largest co-operative factory of its kind in Victoria. Camperdown was first surveyed in 1851 and the township was established in 1853. It was named by Governor Latrobe after the battle of Camperdown, in the Napolionic wars of 1797. There are many beautiful buildings in Camperdown, including the Clock Tower which was built by the Manifold family as a memorial to Thomas Manifold who was killed in a hunting accident. Not far from the town is Mt. Leura, an extinct volcano. On the rim of the volcano there is a look out from which we can enjoy the wonderful scenery and a great photo opportunity. There are 38 crater lakes in the area, which support fantastic fishing as well as a variety of watersports.
One of Australia's youngest extinct volcanoes is not far from Camperdown, the last time it erupted was 6000 years ago. Australia is not prone to the volcanic activity of a lot of other countries. As far as I am aware all our volcanoes are extinct. Here in Australia we hardly ever suffer from earth tremors, never mind fully fledged earthquakes. Earthquake records in Australia only go back 200 years. In the last 75 years there have only been 17 earthquakes recorded that measured 6 or more on the Richter Scale. This is an average of about one every five years in comparison to the world average of 140 a year. The worst earthquake disaster in Australian history was in 1989. At 10:27 a.m. on the morning of December 28, 1989 the city of Newcastle, Australia's sixth most populated city, was hit by an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter Scale. It was our first fatal earthquake claiming 12 lives. The city of Newcastle was devastated, with many building being destroyed. The amount of damage was unusual for such a low magnitude earthquake. Newcastle, however, is sited on an underlying thin layer of alluvium, which appears to have magnified the ground motion. Until then all Australians believed we were safe from this type of disaster.
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