Great Ocean Road Trip

A long overdue blog, but earlier in the year in April I did a road trip along part of the Great Ocean Road - an Australian National Heritage listed 240-kilometre stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia. It was fully of scenery, beaches, and stops along the way to appreciate the journey, as this blog will outline.

Whilst we didn't travel the entire length of the road, we managed to cover a considerable amount, with over 500km of driving done in total in about 12 hours! The Great Ocean Road was built originally by soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world's largest war memorial after being dedicated to the lives lost during WW1.

Our day started off at around 8am, in order to give us enough time to leave Melbourne and get on the road. If you're planning to do this road trip in a single day, I definitely recommend to set of early to give yourself as much time as possible along the road - it will help it feel less rushed. Our final destination was the 12 Apostles, but before that we had planned in stops at small towns and beaches along the way. One of those was at Lorne, a popular surfing spot that has many cafes and shops. It was there we paid a visit to the 'Great Ocean Road Story' - an exhibition about the construction and history of the road, historical video footage and some artefacts from when it was first opened. It was really insightful to learn about the heritage and context of the road you'll be travelling on for the entire day! On the beachfront at Lorne was the Health and Hire (HAH) Beach Café, which provided amazing views out into the sea. The perfect spot to enjoy a coffee!

Apollo Bay was the next stop, after driving through some stunning winding roads along the coast, where we had lunch. The weather was pretty variable during the day, so I recommend packing waterproofs, a sunhat etc just in case. If you're hiring a car and doing the Great Ocean Road (which is what we did), it's pretty convenient to leave all your extra gear in the car - so be prepared for all weather!

Our final stop before the 12 Apostles (more on that later) was Great Otway National Park. It has everything, from beaches, to mountains, to rugged coastland. We didn't have too much time to explore the park, but did manage to squeeze in a short walk along one of the trails. There was plenty of exotic plants (I'm no expert but they looked like huge ferns), and apparently Koalas too! (although we unfortunately didn't manage to see any on our walk).

Finally, after over 8 hours of driving, we reached the final destination on our road trip - the 12 Apostles. They are a series of limestone stacks off the coast, with the sheer cliff faces surrounding them making for some cool photo opportunities. The dramatic coastline did make you feel like you were at the edge of the world - which was kind of trip as this was the last bit of land you would see before reaching Antarctica if you went south! Spoiler alert - they're no longer 12 stacks remaining, as over time they have collapsed due to erosion. On the day we counted 8 or so. These stacks formed over millions of years, as the southern ocean eroded away at the soft limestone, first forming caves. With further erosion, these caves became arches, and finally stacks.

After our final stop, we took the shortest route back to Melbourne, deciding to go through the Australian countryside as opposed to driving back along the Great Ocean Road.

500km in 12 hours, with some great memories to go with it - Great Ocean Road complete!

Before wrapping up this blog, just wanted to point out a few useful tips to anyone planning on doing this road trip:

• If you want extra flexibility over where you stop (and how long for), do the road trip independently with a hire car as opposed to with a tour group. That way, if you enjoy a particular spot, you can spend some extra time there.
• Be prepared for all weather conditions - regardless of what the weather forecast says!
• Set off early to give you the most daylight time to explore (we left soon after sunrise, and drove home at sundown)
• If you're hiring a car, try to get your friends or others to join you. That way, per person the hire cost works out cheaper.
• We had to stop twice to refuel along the route. Don't worry, there are plenty of petrol stations along the way, but be wary of how much gas you have left in the tank when covering such milage!
• Bring a packed lunch and plenty of snacks to keep you going - some of the stop locations are pretty remote with no facilities.

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