The Twelve Apostles, Port Campbell National Park, Victoria, Australia

(Click image to enlarge)

The Twelve Apostles is an amazing sight near Victoria's Great Ocean Road. The formations are the remnants of the mainland's limestone cliffs. The stormy Southern Ocean, howling winds, and ten to twenty million years eroded the softer limestone forming caves in the cliffs. The caves eventually became arches,  and when the arches collapsed rock stacks up to 45 meters (145 feet) high were left standing isolated from the shore. Originally this site was called the Sow and Piglets. The name was changed in the 1950s to the more majestic "The Twelve Apostles" to lure visitors, even though there were only nine "apostles" left at the time. Recently one of the formations collapsed, leaving eight remaining in the group. Remnants of the last one to fall are seen in the foreground of this image. After some exploration of the area it appears that only from an airplane can all of the formations can be seen at once.