The Great Ocean Road, one of the most iconic drives in Australia and so close to Melbourne that it was unimaginable that we would not see this beautiful piece of the country. Last Friday we therefore set off to St. Kilda, a suburb in Melbourne, to pick up our rental car for an amazing weekend outside of the city!
Lois and I were the only ones with a the courage and a drivers license to drive in Australia, however, as Lois was still suffering the aftermath of a migraine attack, I was the designated driver for most of our trip. The first time I would drive in an automatic car, in another country, and on the other side of the road! We had therefore prepared ourselves well, and in the end, everything went quite smoothly. Driving on the left side is quite easy to get used to, the only thing that was really annoying was that the blinkers and wipers were also reversed, so every time I wanted to make a turn, I accidentally turned on the wipers.... Luckily, though, that was the biggest problem we encountered on the road.
Starting in Torquay, the Great Ocean Road is 243 kilometers long. It is built by soldiers who returned home from World War 1 and dedicated to their fallen companions, making it the biggest war memorial. Most of the road is two lane (one lane in each direction) with speed boundaries ranging from 50 to 100 kilometers an hour. However, due to the amounts of windy bends in the road, advised speed limits can drop to 25 kilometers an hour.
Leaving the city behind us, we drove to Torquay for a first stop at the beach. The wind made it a bit of a cold first experience with the Great Ocean Road, but the views were stunning nonetheless. This first part of the Great Ocean Road, until the small town of Lorne, is supposed to be the most difficult, due to the windy nature of the road. Without any problems, however, we arrived in Lorne where we stopped for some ice cream and a nice warm spot in the sun. Lorne also marks the start of the Otway National Park, where we did a short hike of about 45 minutes to the Sheoak Waterfall, a stunning hidden piece of nature!
Our next stop was Kennett River, a tiny town some 45 minutes from Lorne and known for its good koala-spotting spots. Our first encounter, however, was not with koalas, but with the many birds in the area. A nice Asian lady gave us some bird food and in less than a minute me and Victoria both had a parrot on our arm and on our head. It was really much fun, especially when we found out that in the tree above us there were two koalas casually chilling. Somewhat further up the road we spotted another koala, so another one of our to-do items in Australia can definitely be striped off!
We then continued the beautiful drive to Apollo Bay, a cute coastal town just at the start of the stunning Cape Otway coast. This was our final destination of the day, and after checking into our hostel we found a delicious Thai restaurant to finish off the day in a good spirit! Survived day one with amazing sights!
The next morning we checked out of the nice hostel after taking a shower and had a delicious breakfast at a bakery in town. We then started our drive through Cape Otway to the Shipwreck Coast, the most touristic (and beautiful) part of the Great Ocean Drive. This part of the coast, approximately 130 kilometers long, and is home to at least 638 shipwrecks of which only 240 have been discovered. However, you do not see the Shipwrecks when driving along the many viewing points. What makes this coast so stunning, and dangerous for ships at the same time, is the many limestone formations in the water. We visited some of the most famous ones.
Our first stop was at the Gibson Steps, which lead you down to the beach to have a first view on our second stop, the Twelve Apostles. We sat down at the beach for a while and enjoyed the nice waves before driving for five minutes to take a good second look at the Twelve Apostles. Erosion has formed nine limestone stacks and in 2005 one of these nine stacks collapsed leaving only eight 'Apostles' left. It is a mystery why the stacks are named the Twelve Apostles, knowing there have ever only been nine stacks at once.
Leaving the stunning sight over the Twelve Apostles behind us, we stopped at Loch Ard Gorge, another limestone product of erosion named after one of the sunken ships, the Lord Ard. Protected from the wind, we had a lovely lunch there with some bread and dips. Enjoying the sun and the stunning view, we stayed there for an hour or so before finishing the Shipwreck Coast with our last three stops.
One of those was the London Bridge, of which the connection to the main land collapsed in 1990, leaving two people stuck on the now newly formed island. After a quick stop there we headed to the Grotto, which is a sinkhole in the form of a painting frame with a stunning view over the ocean. Last stop was the Bay of Islands, with several limestone formations and, due to its less touristy nature, a very calm atmosphere. Ending our Shipwreck drive with that stop, we drove to our motel in Warrnambool, the Western end of the Great Ocean Road. Our host advised us to drive up to Thunder Point Coastal Reserve to see the sun set, and we were very happy to have followed this advice, the view was stunning! We had a lovely dinner in town and watched a movie before heading to bed!
On our last day we woke up quite early to check out of the motel, buy some breakfast, fuell up the car and head to Tower Hill Wildlive Reserve. This reserve is situated around the lake in the middle of a crater of a dead volcano. Due to the rich soil it is home to a wide variety of trees and plants, and therefore also to a wide variety of animals. We did two 30-minute walks in the reserve and spotted three more koalas, several emus (which Victoria loooooved), two wallabies and a SNAKE! Luckily we stayed calm and the snake made its way across the pathway to disappear in the high grass. The nature was beautiful and as the park is not very touristy it was lovely to walk around and take in the sounds of the birds and the wind.
We then drove to Port Campbell, where we had some hot chocolate and tea while waiting for the rain to pass so we could have our lunch outside by the beach. Luckily it did so in time before we would drive back to the Otway National Park for an amazing Treetop Walk 47 metres above the ground. Being so high up really showed how high these trees, who grow up to a metre per year, actually are. We had loads of fun taking crazy pictures and trying to spot a platypus (which we unfortunately didn't see), before we headed home to Melbourne on the Princess Highway. We cleaned the car, handed in the keys and ended our amazing roadtrip with a metre of pizza at Critini's along the Yarra River! The Great Ocean Road is safe again!
The next morning we checked out of the nice hostel after taking a shower and had a delicious breakfast at a bakery in town. We then started our drive through Cape Otway to the Shipwreck Coast, the most touristic (and beautiful) part of the Great Ocean Drive. This part of the coast, approximately 130 kilometers long, and is home to at least 638 shipwrecks of which only 240 have been discovered. However, you do not see the Shipwrecks when driving along the many viewing points. What makes this coast so stunning, and dangerous for ships at the same time, is the many limestone formations in the water. We visited some of the most famous ones.
Our first stop was at the Gibson Steps, which lead you down to the beach to have a first view on our second stop, the Twelve Apostles. We sat down at the beach for a while and enjoyed the nice waves before driving for five minutes to take a good second look at the Twelve Apostles. Erosion has formed nine limestone stacks and in 2005 one of these nine stacks collapsed leaving only eight 'Apostles' left. It is a mystery why the stacks are named the Twelve Apostles, knowing there have ever only been nine stacks at once.
Leaving the stunning sight over the Twelve Apostles behind us, we stopped at Loch Ard Gorge, another limestone product of erosion named after one of the sunken ships, the Lord Ard. Protected from the wind, we had a lovely lunch there with some bread and dips. Enjoying the sun and the stunning view, we stayed there for an hour or so before finishing the Shipwreck Coast with our last three stops.
One of those was the London Bridge, of which the connection to the main land collapsed in 1990, leaving two people stuck on the now newly formed island. After a quick stop there we headed to the Grotto, which is a sinkhole in the form of a painting frame with a stunning view over the ocean. Last stop was the Bay of Islands, with several limestone formations and, due to its less touristy nature, a very calm atmosphere. Ending our Shipwreck drive with that stop, we drove to our motel in Warrnambool, the Western end of the Great Ocean Road. Our host advised us to drive up to Thunder Point Coastal Reserve to see the sun set, and we were very happy to have followed this advice, the view was stunning! We had a lovely dinner in town and watched a movie before heading to bed!
