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| The Twelve Apostles |
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| Our Route that covered from Melbourne to Port Campbell and retuned via Colac, Winchelsea and Geelong |
Prelude：
Victoria Great Ocean Road is Australia south eastern winding coastal road that stretches 243 km from the town of Torquay to Allansford. The road is two lanes, one in each direction and and has speed limit that ranges from 30km/hr to 100 km/hr depending on the degree of road windingness.The road was build in 1919 to 1932 as an intended initiative to provide employment to WW1 returned servicemen.
The Great Ocean Road fulfilled a dream to link up the seaside settlements, open up the coast for development and provide the motoring public with 'one of the most beautiful ocean drives in the world'. It combines the wonderful landscape and seascapes with the bush of the national parks and conservation reserves and has since been listed as the state's top tourist experience.
Ok. So much for the introduction. Now to our adventure.
(1) Geelong city
The 5 of us had our quick breakfast in the morning and had also prepared ham and cheese sandwiches to be taken near dinner time as we were not sure if we could get dinner in the evening on our way back.We drove a rented 7 seater Nissan and set off immediately at 7.15 am. The 1st stop was supposed to be "Geelong and Great Ocean road visitor information center" at the side of the Princes Highway.
However, the GPS brought us nowhere in the middle of the highway and we had to quickly divert out to old Melbourne road off the hwy to re-orient ourselves. At this time, Robin took over the driving from me. I assumed the role of vehicle commander to guide us to the next destination, Geelong city.
Geelong is Victoria 2nd largest city after Melbourne. We reached Geelong city around 9.30 am.
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| Geelong Visitor Information Center at Moorabool St, VIC |
Our car was parked opposite Geelong Visitor information center. The staff at the visitor counter, Pauline, was very helpful in guiding us with a printed map the way to get go the Great Ocean Road and suggested certain stops along the way. She also indicated on the map where we could see koala bears and kangaroos.
Several quick pictures of the Geelong bay and coffee break at the cafe bar and off we went to the next stop, Bell Beach, in Torquay.
(2）Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch
We left Geelong at around 10 am for Bells Beach at Torquay, the venue for the world famous Rip Curl Pro where every April the world's top ranked surfers carve up the waves to compete for the most sought after trophy in surfing.To our despair, it started to rain heavily when we were nearing Bells Beach. There was no way we could get out of our car for a look out or to stroll the beach. We immediately decided to proceed to the next stop, the Memorial Arch.
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| In front of the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch |
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| Tablets at the road side |
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| Selfie at the beach at the Memorial Arch |
(3) Lorne town
At 12.30 pm we reached a quaint town called Lorne where we parked our car in a car park near a small river stream of the Erskine river.
(4) Erskine Falls
Erskine Falls are at the end of Erskine Falls Road 10km north west of Lorne. It is one of the the most popular falls in the Otways and easily accessible. Just 5 mins walk from Erskine fall car park bring us to the 1st lookout of the falls where we can see the waterfall cascading 30 metres into a beautiful tree fern gully.
Because the Erskine Falls Road to the falls car park is extremely steep at some points, we saw signs that prohibit certain large vehicles like caravan or coach from driving forward. Perhaps these vehicles have to park at lower level parking lots and the visitors have to trek to the lookout points?
We had to drive inland for about 20 mins from the town center. Robin did the driving as the road was most undulating like roller coaster.
Because the Erskine Falls Road to the falls car park is extremely steep at some points, we saw signs that prohibit certain large vehicles like caravan or coach from driving forward. Perhaps these vehicles have to park at lower level parking lots and the visitors have to trek to the lookout points?
We had to drive inland for about 20 mins from the town center. Robin did the driving as the road was most undulating like roller coaster.
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| Selfie at the lookout point |
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| Myriad and Interesting vegetation around esp gum trees |
Around the forest one can smell the wet eucalypyus from the different species of gum trees. The area is also surrounded by a variety of ferns. The beautiful flora and fauna give the visitors an uplifting and refreshing feeling. This is a place that one must not miss along the Great Ocean Road. Robin kept repeating that this place was better than the Red Woods in San Francisco he went last year.
We were glad that we heeded the advice of Pauline from Geelong visitor information center to spend some time in this falls.
(5) Kennett River
Kennett river was a scenic spot suggested by Pauline and a place to see some koala bears. Nearing Kennett river, there was a road lookout section where we stopped for some great photos of the coast.
Near the car park where we parked our car, we saw a group of tourists surrounding a tree feeding and taking pictures of the colorful parakeets. We went forward and someone pointed for us to look up the tree. At first we saw a lump of brown flurry ball on the fork of the tree branches. Whoa！it was the koala bear ! There was not just one, there were several of them in different tree branches. This is a first time some of us saw koala bear not in the zoo.
(6) The 12 Apostles
It was already almost 4 pm when we left Kennett River. Earlier on we thought we could just take a cuppa at the cafe but it was crowded with tourists. So we planned to go to our next stop, Apollo bay town which was probably about half an hour away for coffee and tea.
Whoa! the car GPS showed that we have more than 100 km to reach the 12 Apostles and the road is winding and undulating. The car speed ranges from 30km/hr for very winding section to 100 km/hr for straight road. If we go at this varying speed, we could probably reached 12 apostles in 2 hrs time.
The guys decided to pass through Apollo Bay town and go straight to Port Campbell where the 12 apostles were.
Robin passed the driving to Law as he was tired and need a power nap for tonight drive back to Melbourne. I did not volunteer to drive as I had insomnia last night. If I unconsciously nodded off during driving, even for a few seconds, the car might just plunged off the cliff during the sharp turning. So I acted as vehicle commander for Law to ensure Law was not nodding and to warn him of changing speed limit, road situations and animal crossing signs. At one point, there was a troop of ducks crossing the road and I managed to warn Law for him to slow down and let the ducks crossed.
By the time we reached 12 Apostles car park it was already 6 pm. Fortunately in summer there was day light saving and the sunset time is around 8 pm. We had an hour or so to spend before night fall.
We took our ham and cheese sandwiches that we prepared in the morning as some of us were already hungry. It was already 6:30 pm and the guys suggested that we returned back to Melbourne before dark. The journey back to Melbourne was to take us 3. 5 hrs.
If there was still enough time , we could have proceed slightly further down from the Apostles to see the Lorch Arch, London Bridge and Razor blaze structures. Apparently we did not have time at our disposal.
(7) Gibson Steps
As we started our car out to return to Melbourne, Chin suggested that we had a quick look at Gibson Steps since it was in our returned journey direction. What a wise suggestion！If we had miss it we may never get to see Gibson Steps as we would most likely not have a chance to come back to the Great Ocean Road again.
We finished Gibson Steps in just 15 mins when Fred said he need to relieve himself. There was no toilets around the Gibson Steps area. He apologized and suggested to the group that we need to backtrack to the 12 Apostle visitor information center for him to use the toilet, otherwise the next stop will be Colac city on our way back to Melbourne which was more than 1 hr away from here. Fortunately, the 12 Apostle was not far away.
At this time it was already 7 pm and we have to make our way back to Melbourne.
(8) Journey back to Melbourne
As it was late and the journey back to Melbourne would be 3.5 hrs including time for dinner, the group suggested that we had our dinner in Winchelsea city instead of Colac city since we had just had our sandwiches at the 12 apostles and would not be hungry too soon.
What a bad suggestion! When we passed by Colac city we could still see some of the fast food stores (hungry jack, macdonald).
However, the city of Winchelsea was like a ghost town at night. You could have been murdered or mugged in the main street and nobody would know. Most of the roadside buildings were not lighted up except for some motels, closed shops and a pizza cafe. We went to the pizza cafe and was told that they were already closed for the day. We inquired where to get food like macdonald and were told to either go to Colac or Geelong. So strange. The whole town literally shut down at night?
Of course we choose Geelong as it was the direction we were going.
Before setting off to Geelong city, a few of us have to relieve ourselves in the dark corner of the pizza cafe building. We managed to get our dinner at Geelong macdonald, By the time we reach our serviced apartment it was already 11:00 pm. We were all tired out.
Conclusion:
The Great Ocean Road was a great and “must have” experience at least once when you are in Melbourne. If possible plan a 2 days trip with stay over at one of the town of Lorne or Apollo bay otherwise you have to be selective in the stopovers and mindful of the limited time you have.
Other Platypus Links
20feb2015 Melbourne Chapel St n Fitroy
21feb2015 Melbourne South Melb Market, DFO, St Kilda
22feb2015 Melbourne Dandenong Ranges n Tom's house
24feb2015 Melbourne Sunny Ridge, CBD n Casino
25feb2015 Sydney-The Rock n Sydney Bridge
26feb2015 Sydney Blue Mountain
27feb2015 Sydney Botanical Garden n Bondi Beach
28feb2015 Sydney Fish market, Opera House, Mamak
Kennett river was a scenic spot suggested by Pauline and a place to see some koala bears. Nearing Kennett river, there was a road lookout section where we stopped for some great photos of the coast.
Near the car park where we parked our car, we saw a group of tourists surrounding a tree feeding and taking pictures of the colorful parakeets. We went forward and someone pointed for us to look up the tree. At first we saw a lump of brown flurry ball on the fork of the tree branches. Whoa！it was the koala bear ! There was not just one, there were several of them in different tree branches. This is a first time some of us saw koala bear not in the zoo.
(6) The 12 Apostles
It was already almost 4 pm when we left Kennett River. Earlier on we thought we could just take a cuppa at the cafe but it was crowded with tourists. So we planned to go to our next stop, Apollo bay town which was probably about half an hour away for coffee and tea.
Whoa! the car GPS showed that we have more than 100 km to reach the 12 Apostles and the road is winding and undulating. The car speed ranges from 30km/hr for very winding section to 100 km/hr for straight road. If we go at this varying speed, we could probably reached 12 apostles in 2 hrs time.
The guys decided to pass through Apollo Bay town and go straight to Port Campbell where the 12 apostles were.
Robin passed the driving to Law as he was tired and need a power nap for tonight drive back to Melbourne. I did not volunteer to drive as I had insomnia last night. If I unconsciously nodded off during driving, even for a few seconds, the car might just plunged off the cliff during the sharp turning. So I acted as vehicle commander for Law to ensure Law was not nodding and to warn him of changing speed limit, road situations and animal crossing signs. At one point, there was a troop of ducks crossing the road and I managed to warn Law for him to slow down and let the ducks crossed.
By the time we reached 12 Apostles car park it was already 6 pm. Fortunately in summer there was day light saving and the sunset time is around 8 pm. We had an hour or so to spend before night fall.
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| The Twelve Apostles |
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| Posing in front of the Twelve Apostles |
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| The other side of the 12 apostles with two rock formation. |
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| Further end of Lookout point of the 12 Apostles |
If there was still enough time , we could have proceed slightly further down from the Apostles to see the Lorch Arch, London Bridge and Razor blaze structures. Apparently we did not have time at our disposal.
(7) Gibson Steps
As we started our car out to return to Melbourne, Chin suggested that we had a quick look at Gibson Steps since it was in our returned journey direction. What a wise suggestion！If we had miss it we may never get to see Gibson Steps as we would most likely not have a chance to come back to the Great Ocean Road again.
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| Descending down the Gibson Steps |
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| View of the Gibson Steps from the beach below |
We finished Gibson Steps in just 15 mins when Fred said he need to relieve himself. There was no toilets around the Gibson Steps area. He apologized and suggested to the group that we need to backtrack to the 12 Apostle visitor information center for him to use the toilet, otherwise the next stop will be Colac city on our way back to Melbourne which was more than 1 hr away from here. Fortunately, the 12 Apostle was not far away.
At this time it was already 7 pm and we have to make our way back to Melbourne.
(8) Journey back to Melbourne
As it was late and the journey back to Melbourne would be 3.5 hrs including time for dinner, the group suggested that we had our dinner in Winchelsea city instead of Colac city since we had just had our sandwiches at the 12 apostles and would not be hungry too soon.
What a bad suggestion! When we passed by Colac city we could still see some of the fast food stores (hungry jack, macdonald).
However, the city of Winchelsea was like a ghost town at night. You could have been murdered or mugged in the main street and nobody would know. Most of the roadside buildings were not lighted up except for some motels, closed shops and a pizza cafe. We went to the pizza cafe and was told that they were already closed for the day. We inquired where to get food like macdonald and were told to either go to Colac or Geelong. So strange. The whole town literally shut down at night?
Of course we choose Geelong as it was the direction we were going.
Before setting off to Geelong city, a few of us have to relieve ourselves in the dark corner of the pizza cafe building. We managed to get our dinner at Geelong macdonald, By the time we reach our serviced apartment it was already 11:00 pm. We were all tired out.
Conclusion:
The Great Ocean Road was a great and “must have” experience at least once when you are in Melbourne. If possible plan a 2 days trip with stay over at one of the town of Lorne or Apollo bay otherwise you have to be selective in the stopovers and mindful of the limited time you have.
Other Platypus Links
20feb2015 Melbourne Chapel St n Fitroy
21feb2015 Melbourne South Melb Market, DFO, St Kilda
22feb2015 Melbourne Dandenong Ranges n Tom's house
24feb2015 Melbourne Sunny Ridge, CBD n Casino
25feb2015 Sydney-The Rock n Sydney Bridge
26feb2015 Sydney Blue Mountain
27feb2015 Sydney Botanical Garden n Bondi Beach
28feb2015 Sydney Fish market, Opera House, Mamak
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