Twelve Apostles (Victoria)

The Twelve Apostles are a group of limestone sea stacks standing off Port Campbell National Park along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia, formed from limestone laid down in the mid to late Miocene between about 15 and 5 million years ago. Harsh weather from the Southern Ocean gradually wore caves into the soft limestone cliffs, which widened into arches and eventually collapsed to leave stacks up to 50 meters tall; despite the name, there may never have been twelve of them, and only seven of the original nine remain after stacks collapsed in 2005 and 2009. Six of the surviving stacks are visible from the main viewing platform, with the seventh set apart.