The Eight Apostles

Australian landmark collapses into the sea

One of Australia's best known natural landmarks, the Twelve Apostles rock formation off the coast of Victoria, has been changed for ever after one of the giant limestone pillars collapsed into the sea.
The 145ft-tall rock stack, the subject of millions of postcards and tourists' snapshots, crumbled into the icy waters of the Southern Ocean in front of a crowd of stunned sightseers, leaving a forlorn pile of rubble lapped by the surf.

Now, why it was ever called the Twelve Apostles is a mystery to me. There were in fact only nine of them. But whatever. It was an effective gimmick to get tourists (including myself a few years back) there to see them.

My favorite part of the article:

The stack is not the first such landmark to disappear along this stretch of coast.

In January 1990 a rock arch called London Bridge fell into the sea, leaving two startled tourists standing on the towering outcrop which remained. They had to be rescued by helicopter.

"Startled" tourists? I think that'd be an understatement....

Get the story (& see the before & after pics!) here.