View of the Southern Ocean from the Great Ocean Walk, day 1
“The line of breakers on the beach is a fantastic dissipation of long-accumulated power. It is the fall of kings.”
— Jonathan Raban, from “Waves” in Driving Home
I don’t remember ever learning about the Southern Ocean when I was in primary school. I remember the other oceans — the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean. According to NOAA’s Ocean Service, “The Southern Ocean is the ‘newest’ named ocean. It is recognized by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names as the body of water extending from the coast of Antarctica to the line of latitude at 60 degrees South. The boundaries of this ocean were proposed to the International Hydrographic Organization in 2000.”
Oceans were just a mental image to me until I was in college and I flew over the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. That was the first time I actually saw an ocean in person. I still get a thrill every time I experience time on an ocean beach. Oceans and the infinite waves lapping or pounding the shore evoke a sense of power, majesty, vastness and eternity. I like how Jonathan Raban describes this: ” . . . the crest of each wave poised for its downfall, is a universal symbol because it unites the extremities of human experience in a single continuous line.” And, “In the winter of life, the sea lulls and comforts. It has the look and sound of eternity without putting one through the troublesome formality of having to die first.”
It’s no wonder that I loved best the ocean stretches of Australia’s Great Ocean Walk. Here are a few more photos:
Shelly Beach
Seascape near Apollo Bay
Johanna Beach
Wreck Beach
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