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Lord Ard Gorge

Apart from natural beauty this site is steeped with the most famous for a shipwreck story which happened at this spot almost 120 years ago. Offshore stacks, blowholes and the indescribable beauty of formations like the razorback and island arch make this precinct one of most popular spots.

Lord Ard Gorge site

Lord Ard Gorge - The gorge is named after the 1693-tonne clipper ship Loch Ard wrecked. Two of 54 survived. The story shown in the following.

Lord Ard Gorge beach

golden sandstone cliffs on either side with only a small gap at the opening of the gorge to let the sea water in

Lord Ard shipwreck story

cave back along the beach that is interesting to see

impressive rock formation

another cave - Tom and Eva, the 2 survivors of the Lord Ard shipwreck, slept overnight in the cave...

interesting rock formation of the cliffs

cemetery where the few bodies that being retrieved and buried for the Loch Ard shipwreck

Elephant Rock

track scenes to other spots

lookout to view  the Elephant Rock

Elephant Rock from the centre to the right in this photo with Mutton Bird Island behind and to its left.

Elephant Rock is so named presumably because its anterior end resembles an elephant trunk

waves crashing hard against the cliffs

Lord Ard Gorge - viewing from the lookout

Island Archway

two unconnected rock pillars, Tom and Eva (formerly Island Archway)

The Island Archway before the arch collapsed in June 2009

photo from  wikipedia

The arch of the Island Archway collapsed in June 2009. The feature now appears as two unconnected rock pillars. Named Tom and Eva for the two teenage survivors of the Loch Ard

Razorback

Razorback -  An indescribable beauty of formations. The sharp edges and the bumps along its back are caused by wind-blown spray. The softer rock around these erodes away, leaving an uneven surface.

Wave energy channelled along the side of the stack carves the deep smooth grooves just above sea level.

Beyond the Razorback is Pudding Rock

Pudding Rock

Thunder Caves

Thunder Caves - the waves were channelled inwards from the narrow entrance to generate a loud boom.

waves crashing hard against the cliffs

Sherbrooke River's mouth

Sherbrooke River's mouth is a popular spot for anglers

the closest proximity to the turbulent waters of the Southern Ocean

river mouth

crashing waves breaking on the rocks

scenes nearby the Sherbrooke River's mouth

Muttonbird Island

Muttonbird Island - view from the two viewing platform

From September to May a colony of short tailed shearwaters (muttonbirds) inhabits the Muttonbird Island, their nightly return is  quite spectecular. But we didn't have time to make such an arrangement

Mutton Bird Island Lookout - 100m level on crushed rock to the upper deck of the viewing platform there are steps down to the lower viewing platform

headland and inlet

Wild seas - Loch Ard which crashed against the reef of nearby Mutton Bird Island

Yanni - A WALK IN THE RAIN