The Great Ocean Road in Australia starts in Torquay, 100 km south west of Melbourne and continues 243 km along the coast until it reaches Allansford near Warrnambool. It’s one of the world’s great drives and one we were looking forward to exploring with the bonus of two interesting places to stop off on the way.
We loaded up our hire car, checked out of our hotel and were on our way soon after 9.00 a.m. making our first planned stop at the Victoria State Rose Garden just a 30 minute drive along the M1 from the centre of Melbourne. The Rose Garden is located in the grounds of Werribee Park, and an absolute hidden gem. Entrance to the gardens is free of change and during our November visit the roses were in full bloom and at their best.
Spread over six acres the Rose Garden is separated from the main Werribee Mansion gardens by a heritage border featuring historical rose bushes from around the world.
The garden features a themed display incorporating a rose design dedicated to Australian roses with the garden pathways acting as a rose stem, leading from the Tudor Rose petals to a leaf and a rosebud. With over 5,000 roses on display the garden was a magnificent colourful sight to see and with its shady gazebos, a beautiful spot for a leisurely picnic.
Our next stop was at the seaside resort of Geelong, a 35 minute drive from Werribee. Geelong turned out to be the perfect stop for our morning coffees with its beautiful views on the shores of Corio Bay. It’s the second largest city in Victoria and the gateway to the long scenic coastal route of the Great Ocean Road. As we’d arrived on a Saturday morning, the seafront was already busy with activity but gladly we managed to find somewhere to park.
Not far from the car, we noticed the art-deco Pavilion cafe so headed there for our caffeine fix, sitting out on its sunny terrace overlooking the Eastern beach.
The seafront boasts an attractive promenade which was lovely to stroll along with the sea at one side and gardens to the other. Geelong is noted for its colourful bollards which can be found along the waterfront bay walk, stretching from Limeburners Point to Rippleside Park.
The two mile Bollard Trail contains more than 100 of these playful figures depicting the history and culture of the Geelong region. We adored viewing many of them which ranged from lady swimmers sporting beachwear from the 1880s to the 1950s, to the city surveyor and a rustic fisherman.
Our stroll continued as far as Cunningham Pier which stretches out 250m into the bay. Geelong is also home to the Australian National Wool Museum which tells the story of wool, fibre and textiles.
The city is synonymous with wool with sheep farming beginning there as far back as 1835 and woollen mills soon after.
Back on our way again, our next stop was to Torquay, a 30 minute drive from Geelong. The town is Victoria’s surfing capital and is where the world’s best surfers come to compete. We strolled along the beach to Rocky Point Lookout from where we had good views of numerous surfers tackling the large waves.
Even though neither of us are surfers we soaked up the atmosphere from the cliff top and then popped into the Australia National Surfing Museum. Entrance $12 AUD (£6.30). Its galleries tell the story of the country’s surfing heritage with a display of 100 surfboards through the ages, clothing and a hall of fame of the nation’s top surfers past and present.
Leaving the museum our drive took us along the scenic Great Ocean Road with dramatic views around every twist and turn and plenty of places to stop off to explore. We did just that at Airey’s Inlet, home to the Split Point Lighthouse which has been guiding ships along this treacherous coastline since 1891.
The Lighthouse Precinct Walk winds its way from the lighthouse past heritage listed buildings and on to the Allen Noble Sanctuary, a native wetland and home to a myriad of bird life.
The Lighthouse Tearooms is a cosy cafe operating from one of the traditional style weatherboard buildings. Here we enjoyed afternoon refreshments whilst being spied upon by some of the local bird life who were seeking opportunities to pounce on unsupervised cakes and pastries.
Just beyond Airey’s Inlet stands the iconic Memorial Arch. With ample off road free parking we were able to stop close by to take photos.
The Memorial Arch was erected to commemorate the returned servicemen from the First World War who constructed the Great Ocean Road between 1918 and 1932.
To one side of the arch stands a Diggers Sculpture honouring the 75th anniversary of its construction. The monument reflects not only on the 3,000 servicemen who built the road but also to their colleagues killed in action during the war.
Our next stop along the coastal drive was at the resort of Lorne on the edge of the Erskine River. Cafes and small shops line Mountjoy Parade which extends from the shops, across grassy banks to the sandy beach.
A 9 km drive from Lorne leads to the Erskine Falls, an impressive waterfall plunging 30m into a lush tree fern gully of the river below. The upper lookout was an easy five minute walk from the free car park with the path to the lower lookout point rather more strenuous.
I counted 240 steps down to the viewing terrace, then paused to take in the dramatic view before climbing back up all the steps to the car park. It’s good to know that views are equally good from either viewing platform so you don’t need to huff and puff your way up and down the steep hillside to enjoy viewing the falls.
Kennett River is a small hamlet located just off Grey River Road and well known as being a haven for many native birds including kookaburras, cockatoos and king parrots. The area is also noted as a habitat for koalas so we had to stop and take a look.
Hikers can follow the 15 km koala walk but we’d read that the best chance of spotting these marsupials is actually along the first section close to the Grey River Picnic Area. Straining our necks high up into the branches of the tall gum trees we sadly didn’t spot any koalas and some hikers we met coming from the other direction reported they hadn’t seen any of the elusive adorable koalas either. Ever hopeful that we’d spot at least one on another day we popped back in the car arriving at our overnight accommodation in Apollo Bay at around 6.30 p.m.
We’d arranged to stay at the Sandpipers Motel located in a quiet enclave with sea views from some rooms. Being styled a motel doesn’t really do Sandpipers justice as it’s a cosy place to stay with well appointed rooms and some, like ours with balconies.
We’d researched places to eat in Apollo Bay ahead of our arrival and the Apollo Bay Fishermen’s Co-op had caught our attention, the only problem being that it stopped serving at 7.00 p.m. so we had to get there quickly. Luckily it was only a short drive down the road and we were soon checking out the menu. The local fishing fleet ensures a fresh supply of seafood and the cafe is especially noted for its Southern Rock Lobster, scallops and snapper.
As we were feeling ravenous we plumped for plates of snapper and chips served with a side of coleslaw. The snapper tasted extremely fresh with its white flesh, firm texture and distinctive, sweet, nutty taste. We enjoyed our fish supper sitting out on the terrace overlooking the Apollo Bay harbour, the perfect way to end our day along the Great Ocean Road.
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