20 August 2023
Our Melbourne walking tour guide had told us not to miss this experience during our short stay in his city. Generally, trippers head south-west out of Melbourne to reach Torquay where the “official” road trip starts. We however, decided to take a longer route, driving through the Mornington Peninsula to the east of Melbourne, and then take the ferry across to Whitecliff to arrive at the starting point.
So, we rented our little Suzuki sedan at East Coast Rentals on Collins Street and headed south-east out of Melbourne, down busy highways and through plush suburbs. Before long, we had left the agglomeration behind us and were driving with a distinct beach vibe along the picturesque bay road down towards our ferry ride from Sorrento.
Lunch was taken in Mornington, a cute seaside town offering great Mexican food, followed by a leisurely after-lunch stroll along a long, quiet sandy beach from where we could observe Melbourne’s skyscrapers in the hazy distance across the bay.
We just made the 3pm ferry from Sorrento and an hour later we were driving off the ship towards Torquay (home of Rip Curl, Quiksilver and the National Surf Museum and Hall of Fame) where we spent the night. The next day we started off on our 250km road trip on the Great Ocean Road, or Surf Coast, as it is affectionately known.
Our first stop was at Aireys Inlet with its marvellous lighthouse and spectacular cliff views. Close by was Memoria Arch, built in honour of the 3,000 soldiers who worked on this stretch of road after WWI. Driving through Lorne, we headed to Apollo Bay, a gorgeous seaside village, with a viewpoint at Mariner’s Lookout, where we were gifted with the most incredible sweeping views of Apollo Bay and the coastline.
The road then left the coast and we headed inland through the incredibly lush and beautiful Great Otway National Park. Covering nearly 200 hectares, this park is one of the few Great Ocean Road highlights that is not a beach. Deep lush valleys, sky-high rainforests, stunning waterfalls and tons of walking tracks make it a great spot to get off the beach and still be in nature.
Unfortunately, our tight schedule meant that we remained in the car and we finally arrived at one of the highlights of the trip, the famous Twelve Apostles. Due to crashing waves over millennia, saltwater and erosion there are now only 8 limestone stacks remaining out of 12. But that does not take away from the impressive views at all. We took the Great Ocean Walk here, along with hundreds of day-trippers from Melbourne, which allowed us to get some stunning coastal views from a boardwalk before taking to the beach to see these immense stacks from the ground.
After the Twelve Apostles, we continued along the Great Ocean Road towards Port Campbell, where we would spend the night. Loch Ard Gorge was the final attraction of the day, a stone archway which once formed a natural bridge over the gorge, but which has since collapsed, unfortunately. The gorge is named after the clipper Loch Ard that was shipwrecked on 1 June 1878 near the end of a three-month journey from England to Melbourne. Of 54 passengers and crew, only two survived.
The next day, we rounded off our road trip with a visit to the three remaining natural limestone and sandstone rock formations: the Arch, a giant archway in the ocean, London Bridge which is rather similar but is more square making it look like a bridge, and finally, the Grotto, one of the most impressive sections of the coastline, and essentially a sinkhole. What is a partial cave, archway and blowhole, the Grotto is definitely something to marvel at.
It was then time to turn the car around and head back to Melbourne. We had seen the most interesting sections of the Great Ocean Road and had been blessed with fantastic sunny weather to admire the many spectacular views along the way.
Kudos to the local authorities for the way in which both the road and its sites are maintained and for making them accessible to all, free of charge.
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