Monday 1 July 2013

Great Ocean Road

Sorry for the delay in posting but we have been away to Victoria for a week and not been able to access a computer for blogging.

This is a first of a series of blog posts on our trip to Victoria. We had a fantastic time all week but I have to say that the Great Ocean Road, which this post is about, was a high point. Amazingly beautiful and full of natural wonders it took my breath away.

Some history
The Great Ocean Road was built between 1919 and 1932 with the aim of building a world class scenic road and I don't think that anybody can say it is less than what they set out to do. But it was also a project to handle the mass unemployment of returning soldiers from World War I. It was built as a memorial of the Australians who lost theirs life during the war and it is considered the worlds longest war memorial.

Stretch
It stretches from Torquay in the East to Warrnambool in the West. An impressive 243 km of amazing scenery and nature.

View Larger Map

1, 2, 3+ Day Trip
You can do it one day from Melbourne and start early, but be prepared for a long drive in the car. For various reasons we decided to do it in 2 days instead so we had more time to explore. There is plenty to see and do along the GOR and this post just shows a few spots that we had time to see. It wouldn't be a problem to spend twice as much time on the drive and still not get bored.

12 Apostles
We headed out of Melbourne and took the inland road via Colac, cutting across from the free-way down to the coast to Port Campbell and then straight to the 12 Apostles to catch them for sunset which was amazing.






They are supposed to be even more amazing at sunrise but it was pretty damn good at sunset too. And since it was off season there were not that many other tourists there.

Loch Ard Gorge
We spent the night back in Port Campbell with dinner in a proper Aussie pub. Next morning with headed out to Loch Ard Gorge which is a famous ship wreck site. That stretch of coast used to be known as Ship-Wreck-Coast and there are as many as 200 know ship wreck sites.

The wreck itself had long been washed away but the Gorge itself was beautiful.






Great Otway National Park
About halfway on GOR is Great Otway National park. We took the road off the GOR to Cape Otway and we saw Koalas. Wild Koalas! Lots of them! We saw at least two dozen koalas but only managed to catch a few of them on camera. Unfortunately I don't have zoom on my camera.  Click on the pictures for a better view.


Apollo Bay Lunch Time
After Cape Otway we made or way to Apollo Bay for lunch. We got some take away chips and sat by the bay and ate them.


Apollo Bay to Torquay
The stretch is not as dramatic as the Ship-Wreck coast but no less fantastic. The road licks the coast which is dotted with tiny beaches every kilometer or so. We had to stop several times to enjoy the view and take pictures as the sun was setting for our second wonderful sunset in as many days.




Great Great Great Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road lives up to it's name. Lots of Ocean, Road and Greatness. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of our trip and can't wait to go back.

Thank you for reading and feel free to comment,
Jonas and Nicole


2 comments:

  1. I've booked two nights at a lovely little getaway in Timboon near Port Campbell in a couple of weeks so I will finally get to see the apostles in person :-)

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  2. Hi Jen.

    That sounds wonderful, you will have a blast.

    / Jonas

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