At the end of Deakin University’s orientation trip for study abroad students, you are taken to the Twelve Apostles, a collection of large rocks on Australia’s coast. Our group left the coastal town of Lorne in the morning and arrived at the Twelve Apostles in the afternoon. Even though only eight of these rocks remain, the site remains a popular tourist attraction.

When our group arrived at the Twelve Apostles I instantly regretted leaving my camera in my suitcase on the bus, which was inaccessible at the time. I will forever consider the Twelve Apostles to be one of the natural wonders of the world. There is a boardwalk that runs along the edge of a cliff face overlooking the ocean, and the eight remaining rocks are in the ocean and can be seen at a distance. The size of the Apostles and the distance from the top of the cliff to the ocean below are what makes this part of Australia’s coast so breathtaking.

The Twelve Apostles are farther away from my university than Lorne is, but it was worth the long bus trip just to see themI got a second chance to visit the Twelve Apostles, and this time it was with my friends from University. Three of my Australian friends live in a town called Warrnambool, which is a coastal town three hours west of the city of Melbourne. We decided to make the Twelve Apostles one of our stops on our road trip to Warrnambool, which turned out to be an excellent choice.

I didn’t expect my group of Australian friends to be interested in tourist attractions, but it turns out they were just as excited as the international students. On this occasion there were plenty of cameras, and our group took photos that I will never forget. I’m glad I went back, and would happily return to this amazing place.

Justin Peterson-New can be reached at [email protected].