Great Ocean Road: Torquay to the Twelve Apostles

Victoria surf coast and Shipwreck Coast · Australia

Easy4 daysOceania~£600 est.

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Overview

Built by returned soldiers as a memorial to their fallen, the Great Ocean Road winds 243 km along Victoria's surf coast from Torquay to the shipwreck cliffs beyond Port Campbell. It is Australia's most famous drive, and the trick is refusing to do it as the day-trip it has become. Start at Bells Beach, pause under the Memorial Arch, and idle through Lorne to Kennett River, where wild koalas doze in the roadside manna gums. Cut through the cool-temperate rainforest of the Great Otways — tree ferns, waterfalls and the Cape Otway lightstation — before the coast turns violent: the Twelve Apostles' limestone stacks, the story-soaked chasm of Loch Ard Gorge, and the collapsed span of London Bridge. The moment is the Apostles at dawn, sea mist threading the stacks, hours before the first coach and helicopter arrive. The variables: drive it westbound so you hold the ocean-side lane; Melbourne day-trippers make the viewpoints a conga line from mid-morning, so sleep two nights along the way; and total fire ban days in high summer can close the Otways. Four days from Melbourne runs about £600 per person in motels and seafood.