![]() In 2005, one of the ‘Twelve Apostles’ dramatically collapsed right in front of camera-toting tourists Sometime during the night of 9 June 2009, ‘Island Arch’ (inset) crumbled into the surf, presenting bemused tourists the following morning with a view of two islands instead. Viewing the landscape as being only thousands of years old gives one a very different vantage point- a much safer position on which to stand. I now know that today’s spectacular cliff scenery isn’t millions or billions of years old, but dates only from the global Flood of Noah’s day, about 4,500 years ago. 2 If only I, and they, had realized the danger! I now have a very different view of the world from what I had then. With the value of hindsight, it’s eerie to watch videos of people walking across the London Bridge in the 1970s andĘ0s, just as I had done. They were rescued by helicopter just as night fell, and thankfully no-one was hurt. ![]() It all came to a dramatic end at about 3:30 pm on 15 January 1990, when the arch closer to the mainland collapsed unexpectedly, leaving two tourists stranded on the outer part-which was now of course an island. It was fun to walk out to the end (along with hundreds of other tourists at peak holiday times), knowing that you were traversing the foaming surf below via two strong arches of natural rock.īut no-one can do that any more. As a youngster, my all-time favorite trip on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road was the famous London Bridge, a double-arched natural ‘bridge’ jutting spectacularly into the sea, named for its resemblance to its famous namesake. Spectacular cliffs dominate long stretches of Australia’s coastline. I now recognize that forty years ago I had a very dangerous view of geology-a view predicated on the utterly fallacious idea that rocks are millions of years old. However, today I’m very grateful for my father’s warning. I reluctantly obeyed, despite being super-skeptical that this ‘eons-old’ solid rock would ever succumb to my puny weight. He said that the cliff could collapse “at any moment”. Though I recognized the non-negotiability of his tone, I remonstrated: “Why? I’m being careful.” London Bridge, circa 1989. (I was in my early teens at the time.) “ David! Come back from the edge now!” But then my father’s stern voice interrupted my reverie. It was breathtaking-foaming surf crashing into the rocks far below. Lying flat on my stomach so as not to be blown over the clifftop at ‘Whaler’s Way’ in South Australia, I inched my way closer to the edge to look down at the view. London Bridge has fallen down (1990) … It is now known as ‘London Arch’.
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