The Great Great Ocean Road Tour

After you have ridden the trams of Melbourne, a wonderful, cosmopolitan city and once the richest in the world, there are 3 trips you must do. You have to drive along the Great Ocean Road (550 km), south west of Melbourne, to see the Twelve Apostles at sunset, go over to Phillip Island and drool at the nightly Penguin Parade and thirdly taste Victoria’s finest wines and exquisite gourmet foods in Yarra Valley.

The Great Ocean Road is one of the most incredible stretches of land in the world and not to be missed. The tour is a long day but worth every minute (and cent) and one that gets better and better as the day goes on and ends in a great climax. There are a number of stops along the way, which give great photo opportunities and a welcome chance to stretch the legs.

At Aireys Inlet keep an eye out on the right for the theatrical, iconic, 3D Pole House, 40m above sea level, with 360 degree unobstructed views of the Southern Ocean, originally designed by architect Frank Dixon as a holiday home for his family in the 70s.

The Great Ocean Road was built between 1918 and 1932 by 3,000 veterans returning from the First World War (1914-1918). They were in desperate need of a job. The Memorial Arch is a tribute to them. The arch was put up in 1939 and has been replaced several times. The present arch is the fourth. One was destroyed in the Ash Wednesday bushfires of February 1983.

The next stop, about an hour and a half in, is Angelsea, which has a nice coffee shop and river alongside the main road. Then 124 km to Lorne for lunch.

Lorne was given the name in 1871 after the Marquess of Lorne from Argyleshire in Scotland (full name John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll) on his marriage to Princess Louise, one of Queen Victoria’s daughters. This was the first time a legitimate daughter of the sovereign had married a subject of the Crown since 1515. He was the fourth, and at 33 years the youngest, Governor General of Canada.

In 1891 Rudyard Kipling visited the area and was inspired to write the poem Flowers, which includes the lines,

Buy my hot-wood clematis,
Buy a frond of fern,
Gathered where the Erskine leaps
Down the road to Lorne.

The Erskine River starts at Lorne.

There’s a wide range of restaurants for lunch on the main drag called Mountjoy Parade. Look out for the beautifully proportioned St. Cuthbert’s Anglican-Uniting Church on the hill. It was built in 1892 and is a National Trust of Australia property. Unfortunately it was closed when we were there. Will just have to go back.

Now the fun really begins with Kennett River, a small hamlet, on a beautiful river, full of wildfowl, where you will almost certainly spot koalas in the gum trees.

There are 1,800 of them in the area, so the chance of seeing one is very high, sometimes with their babies. It’s one of the best places in Australia to see them in the wild.

Now a drive through the Otway Ranges. It’s a rainforest of over thirty million years and a National Park. Put your nose out the window and you can smell the Eucalyptus trees.

We stop at the picturesque Loch Ard Gorge, an inlet of translucent, blue water, between two yellow-glowing cliffs and tufts of green. The two rocks are called Tom and Eva after the two survivors of a shipwreck in 1878. A large clipper named Loch Ard left England on the 90 day journey to Melbourne when, one day from arriving, it struck an outer reef and was shipwrecked on nearby Muttonbird Island. Only two of the fifty-four passengers survived, one was 15 year old Tom Pearce and the other a 17 year old Irish girl called Eva Carmichael. Both were washed ashore. Tom walked for miles and got help and saved her life. She returned to England but Tom stayed on in Australia.

There are 3 walks here. The Razorback has two viewing areas of the indescribably beautiful offshore stacks.

Five minutes away are the magnificent Gibson Steps, which lead to the fabulous beach. Originally, it is thought they were cut by the Kirrae Whurrong, a local tribe.

In 1869 Hugh Gibson built nearby Glenample Homestead and regularly used the steps to get supplies from the beach. It was also used by fishermen. The steps are named after him. He gave shelter to Tom and Eva after the shipwreck. 

Two minutes away are the highlight of the trip, the rugged, limestone stacks, the Twelve Apostles. In fact there are eight! There were only ever nine, the ninth having collapsed dramatically in July 2005.

Erosion created the apostles. Extreme weather conditions, wind and sea, gradually eroded the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which became arches, which in turn collapsed, leaving 50 metre high rock stacks.

Which is the best tour company to go with? I think it’s Go West Tours. Why? Simply because they stop at the places I mentioned and don’t rush there and back. They have comfortable (small – 24 people max) coaches and friendly driver guides, like Stefan, pictured here, keen to go that extra mile. If they charge a bit more , it’s well worth it.

The Great Great Ocean Road Tour