Mention taking a road trip in Australia and most of the time, the Great Ocean Road, or GOR for short will come up. This is usually one of the quintessential things to tick off on the To-Do-List on a visit to Down Under. I visited Melbourne in July this year and did a road trip on the GOR all the way until Port Campbell. Here is a compilation of my experience driving this iconic road and the attractions along the way.
For most visitors, the gateway to the GOR is usually through the city of Melbourne. From here, its a roughly 1 hour drive southwest to Geelong on the M1 highway. And from Geelong its another 30 minutes drive to Torquay on the B100 highway. Torquay is considered to be the official start of the GOR as you would pass by the Eastern Memorial Arch located there.
If you are coming from Melbourne, Torquay is a good place to stop for a break, or lunch depending on your timing. We decided to have brunch here before continuing on our journey. There are many small towns along the GOR and you can decide which ones to stop over for a break. For us, we decided to drive all the way from Torquay to Apollo Bay for our lunch. Its winter in July for Australia and days are short, so we had to try to make full use of the daylight hours.
Airey’s Inlet is a small town along the way to Apollo Bay. Its main attraction is the Split Point Lighthouse. Lighthouse tours are available for visitors. Although for ourselves, we didn’t have the time to take the tour and were content to just walk the grounds around it. The lighthouse’s stables have been turned into a nice cafe and would make for a good lunch break.
With a name like the GOR, you would think that the road follows the southern coast of Australia for its entire length. However, only about half of the GOR actually follows the coast. The remainder of it from Apollo Bay starts to turn inland towards the mountains and forests, and you won’t see the ocean again until you reach the 12 Apostles.
From Apollo Bay, the GOR starts to turn inland, and we soon found the road meandering up into hills and forests for the next one and a half hours before descending onto the coast. Very soon after the GOR meets the coast again, we found ourselves at the 12 Apostles. This iconic rock formation along the coast is what everyone comes to see when they travel along the GOR, and if you were to search for the GOR online, you will usually see pictures of the 12 Apostles.
We stayed the night at Port Campbell which is just 10 minutes away from the 12 Apostles. From Port Campbell, there are several other rock formations to see besides the 12 Apostles. One of these is called London Bridge.
Port Campbell is near the end of the GOR and I think it makes for a good midpoint stopover. Travel for another 50km westwards and the GOR ends at the town of Allansford. From Port Campbell, the 12 Apostles and London Bridge are just 10 minutes drive away, as well as, other natural attractions like Loch Ard Gorge.
For our return trip to Melbourne, we decided to backtrack the GOR as we wanted to visit a couple of the places that we skipped on the first day due to time constraints. If you had enough of the GOR and its numerous twist and turns which can cause motion sickness in some people, there is the inland route which uses the A1 and M1 highways for a straighter and faster travel back to Melbourne.
Here are my thoughts after driving along the Great Ocean Road
It would take you more than 3 hours to drive non-stop from Melbourne to the 12 Apostles via the GOR covering a distance of roughly 230 km. Although taking more than 3 hours to cover 230 km seems like a long time, the road is mostly single lane on each side with not many places for proper overtaking. The speed limit ranges from 50kmh or less in towns and up to 100kmh in some stretches. A large portion of the road is winding along the coast and through the hills forcing you to slow down for safety. We took almost 4 hours to cover that distance, and I think that is a realistic timing for most people.
A lot of visitors think that the 12 Apostles is the only attraction to see along the GOR, and they rush only to see this one thing. However, there are a lot more other interesting towns, restaurants and natural attractions that are worth a visit, and it would be better to plan at least 2-3 days to cover the GOR instead of trying to do it in a day trip. Bad weather can ruin your plans if you only have limited time to see the 12 Apostles, as what we experienced with rain on the first day. A multi-day trip also allows for some flexibility to backtrack or visit attractions in case of bad weather.
