The Great Ocean Road in 2 Days

Last weekend was finally nice, so we decided to head down The Great Ocean Road. We didn’t have a solid plan; we didn’t have a hotel room reserved; we didn’t really know what to expect. All I knew was what I’d seen on Pinterest and read in a brochure that I’d picked up at the Visitors Center on our first day in Melbourne. J-Ro picked us up mid-morning with her Australia Travel Books in hand. She started driving, I started reading, Ben started napping.

First stop: Torquay. This was our first exposure to the amazing shades of turquoise of the South Pacific. All we could say was, “Oh wow!” over and over again. This expression continued for 2 days.

I’m certain that I’ll never cease to be amazed by the rainbow lorikeets just hanging around in the trees. In my world, these birds exist in books and zoos, not the wild.

There was a little festival going on and fireworks planned in Torquay for that evening, but we had a lot of The Great Ocean Road left to see and the day was young. Also, how could we not move on immediately to Bell’s Beach, especially when we realized just how close we were. As a side note, I will be watching Point Break as soon as my things are cleared from customs and I purchase a TV.

On the road again! Next up Split Point Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet. For my Minnesota friends, I think I called this Split Rock about 93 times.

Not really sure what’s happening here, but I found the picture quite amusing.

Time to move on again, we’ve a lot of ground to cover! The Australia Travel Book mentioned a turn gully with a waterfall that was only about 10km off The Great Ocean Road. We weren’t sure what a fern gully was, so figured we’d better have a look, especially since I’m kind of obsessed with waterfalls. In the words of an unknown 14-year-old girl, “What’s the big deal, it’s just falling water!” One of our major missions of this trip down The Great Ocean Road was to find Koala Bears and Kangaroos. According to the aforementioned travel book, we should have seen Kangaroos in Anglesea, but we didn’t, so we were a little wary when we started down the road to Otway Lighthouse in search of Koala Bears. Fortunately, we were not misled. They were EVERYWHERE!

After stopping many times to look at the adorable koala bears, we just missed the lighthouse. No matter, I’m sure we’ll do this again sometime soon. At this point, we realized that if we hit the road we could make it to The Twelve Apostles for sunset.

The closest town to The Twelve Apostles is Port Campbell, so we went in search of food and somewhere to sleep. Our accommodation choices were a seedy looking motel or Waves Luxury Suits. Waves was quite luxurious; in fact, we had a jacuzz in the middle of our room. J-Ro was very lucky, as her single “bed” pushed right up against the jacuzz. Luxury!

Sunday morning over breakfast we decided that our first stop would be London Bridge, after a little shopping in Port Campbell. On our way our of Port Campbell, there was a man in the middle of the road with a trash can who sort of pointed to the left. We took it as, “hey, sorry I’m in your way” or “please drive that way and give me a little room.” Turns out he was a police officer trying to indicate that we should stop. He accused J-Ro of drinking at 11:00 AM and gave her a breathalyzer test. WHAT?!? We were laughing at him because we didn’t think he was serious! I only wish that I’d been faster with the camera…

As we drove away from London Bridge, I consulted our trusty travel guide and realized that we must stop at Loch Arch Gorge. Worth it? I think so!

On our hike about Loch Arch Gorge, we saw this secluded beach and decided that we must figure out how to get down there.

Turns out, it’s super easy! They’ve built a staircase.

Suddenly, I realized according to the pictures, there are no people on this trip….

Back in the car, I read about Wreck Beach at Moonlight Head. Ben was interested in the anchor left over from a ship wreck, so we decided to stop. The road was single lane gravel with crazy drivers that refused to share, but the view from Moonlight head was totally worth J-Ro’s white knuckle driving.

We stood at the top of the trail down to the beach and decided that we were “In it to win it!” and began the decent to Wreck Beach. As we hiked out to the anchor, we began shell picking. They were completely undisturbed and in nearly perfect condition. Many of the shells still had their residents, so we gently put them back in the water.

It took about 45 minutes, but finally we found the anchor and a masthead from an ancient ship wreck. Considering they’ve been in the on the beach having waves wash over them for over 100 years, it’s pretty amazing that they’re still there!