One of the top must-dos in Victoria is to drive along the Great Ocean Road. The official drive starts about an hour away from Melbourne. Jon has gotten pretty good at driving on the wrong side of the road and in case he forgot there were plenty of reminders along the way…
As with all trips, it’s hard to figure out exactly what things will be of interest ahead of time. Most travel sites advise spending a bit of time strolling around all the towns along the road. That might be a lovely way to spend a warm summer, spring, or fall day, but we’re in winter down here folks and strolling anywhere outside for long seemed like a bad idea. Now that I’m working, I figured I’d ask around for some advice on what to be sure to do and see. I learned that the town we planned on staying in was terrible and really interesting and that The Twelve Apostles were overrated and amazing. To each his own, I suppose! So we started our journey without too much of a clue about what we’d do. We booked a motel in Port Campbell so at least we had a destination at the end of the day.
With all that helpful input, I knew I at least wanted to see Bells Beach, a famous surfing beach. It did not disappoint.
There were a zillion surfers out in the huge waves. I could have stayed and watched all day, but that was just the start of the road so we had to move along.
Our next stop was the Anglesea Golf Club where kangaroo sightings are practically guaranteed. Once again, we were not disappointed. Roos, roos, everywhere!
Unfortunately, the wind was also everywhere and almost blew us over just trying to get a few quick pics. We’d hoped the golf course would have a cafe for some brekkie and roo watching, but alas it was more of a lunch spot so we moved along.
We made it to Lorne. One of the highly recommended towns to spend some time in. We didn’t see much of it, but we did explore just enough to find much needed food and coffee. The Bottle of Milk looked inviting and served up just what we needed – I had a breakfast burger with everything but the kitchen sink on it (avocado and a hashbrown and… ) and Jon had scrambled eggs with pickles, yes pickles. Strange, but it all worked.
Well fortified, we ventured along, trying to not get our hopes up too high for our next stop. The guides all mentioned a spot along the road by Kennett River where koalas were easier to find than a cupcake in Clarendon. Once again, going three for three, we sighted koalas right away. The first two we saw were swarmed by other tourists and they were both sleeping so they looked like lumps in a tree. We decided to drive a bit further and got super lucky, seeing this guy straight away.
He was awake and probably would have come down and given us hugs if we’d stuck around longer.
We moved along, trying to figure out what to do next. The Cape Otway lighthouse looked interesting so we drove along that way and had our first let down. It was cloudy and rainy and the lighthouse cost money to enter. It might have been worth every penny on a clear afternoon, but we decided it wasn’t worth it when we probably wouldn’t be able to see anything. So we kept on driving, pulling over for a couple more koala sightings once we figured out you could stop almost anywhere, look around for a bit and find the little cuties.
Next up, we had a quick lunch that was rather lackluster and moved along to the big attraction… The Twelve Apostles. Anytime there is a mention of the Great Ocean Road there is also a mention of The Twelve Apostles. We pulled into the giant parking lot full of other tourists and prepared ourselves to be disappointed since it seemed our luck had turned. BUT, even with swarms of other people around, and cloudier weather than we’d started the day with, The Twelve Apostles lived up to the hype.
In fact, the limestone cliffs all along this area were absolutely fantastic. We stopped at every lookout and attraction the rest of the way into Port Campbell and beyond (the next day) and all of them were amazingly cool.
As George Costanza would say… “the sea was angry that day, my friends”. Fortunately, we were up on the cliffs and not down in a boat where numerous shipwrecks occurred in the past giving this part of the Great Ocean road the very original nickname “Shipwreck Coast“. The angry sea also meant we couldn’t go down to the beach level by The Twelve Apostles via the Gibson Steps which was a bummer.
With our expectations for the GOR exceeded, we ventured into Port Campbell to find our lodging for the night. We stayed at the Port Campbell Motel and Apartments. A small place in a (very) small town that suited us to a tee. We had a fridge for our beer, a bed to sleep in and a short walk into town for dinner.
The next day hit a few more limestone cliff sights, grabbed brekkie at a terrific cafe, The Alcove, in Port Campbell and hit the road back to Melbourne, ready for our next adventure, joining Costco.
