Australia's Great Ocean Road Must-Sees 🇦🇺

📍 The Great Ocean Road officially starts in Torquay, Victoria; a beachside town famous for its' laid back locals and surfing culture. From there, you'll travel 243km (150 miles) to the town of the quiet town of Allansford, passing some spectacular scenery along the way.

⏰ It takes about 5 hours to drive from Melbourne's CBD to Warrnambool non-stop. However, it took my friend and I around 9.5 hours from start to finish with plenty of stops along the way. 

🗓️ Give yourself 2 full days to comfortably enjoy all the sights along the road. While you could *technically* do this trip in one day, you'd find yourself rushing between stops and have to leave super early (7am or 8am) and get back to Melbourne quite late. 

Quick Tips

- I highly recommend booking a night's stay in Warrnambool. It's the largest town near the end of the Great Ocean Road (only a 10 minute drive) and has the highest accomodation availability.  

- Fuel prices skyrocket once you head west of Geelong, so be sure to fuel up here if you're coming from Melbourne. To find the best petrol/gas prices, use the Petrol Spy link below (not an ad for them).  

- Hiring a car and being able to pace yourself is always a better option than joining a busload of tourists and being shuttled around in one day. There's loads of cheap car hire websites that offer same-day hires. 

Best Sights to See 

I've listed these in order of how my friend and I visited them, broken into Day 1 and Day 2. You could easily pick & mix as many stops as you like and I've included an hour-by-hour breakdown of our itinerary in the last section. 

Day 1

Torquay

@katiarapota

Torquay marks the start of the Great Ocean Road and is a great place to grab a coffee and watch surfers catch a wave. I can recommend Miss Potter for a great cuppa joe.

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Split Point Lighthouse Tours

@katiarapota

The external shots of the famous lighthouse in the iconic Aussie series 'Round The Twist' were taken here! It's well worth a visit and there are some nice walking tracks in this area. PSA: Ignore the 'tours' part of this spot, for some reason the lighthouse itself doesn't have an exact location on Google Maps, but this is it.

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Lorne

@katiarapota

One of the first towns along the Great Ocean Road, Lorne is well-worth visiting on your drive; even if it's just to stretch your legs. We had a delicious lunch of fish and chips here from The Salty Dog Fish & Chippery (make sure you ask for chicken salt on your chips; it's an Aussie classic!)

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Apollo Bay

@katiarapota

Famous for its seafood and sprawling beaches, Apollo bay is a great halfway point for a lunch stop on your road trip. Marengo Beach is just outside the town and makes a great picture stop/place to dip your feet in the sea.

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Twelve Apostles

@katiarapota

No Great Ocean Road trip would be complete without seeing the Twelve Apostles. These limestone stacks are featured on pretty much every Australian postcard, and for a good reason. The 7 remaining pillars are surrounded by beautiful rugged cliffs and the roar of the waves will fully immerse you in their beauty.

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London Bridge

@katiarapota

If you don't play Fergie's 'London Bridge' while walking up to this spectacular sight, you're not viewing it correctly. Go back and try again. But seriously, it's an incredible rock formation and definitely worth a short stop.

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Day 2

Gibson Steps

@katiarapota

This is a great spot to get up close and personal with the sea spray. It's 100% worth descending the 86 steps (don't worry, there's a handrail) to reach the sandy shoreline and sink your feet into the sand.

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Melba Gully

@katiarapota

This emerald green gully will truly take your breath away. It's densely packed with hundreds of different trees and really highlights the best of Australia's rainforests. We even spotted two wild swamp wallabies (they're like a miniature kangaroo) here!

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Hopetoun Falls

@katiarapota

This is hands-down the most spectacular waterfall along the Great Ocean Road; and I'd argue the best one I've seen in my life! You follow a super easy track to reach it (about a 10 minute walk) and can even stand under the waterfall if you take the alternate track.

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The Redwoods Otways

@katiarapota

The Californian Redwood trees here were planted almost 100 years ago and are a staggering 60m tall! There was something so peaceful and serene in this forest, and I can confirm that these trees are 10/10 huggable.

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Reference Trip Timeline

I took a 2 day trip with a friend on the 17th - 18th of December 2023 and these were our rough timings (thank god for iPhone photo timestamps) 

Day 1

10:30am - Left Melbourne CBD

12pm - Arrived in Torquay and spent an hour here

1:30pm - Arrived at the Airey's Inlet Lighthouse and spent about 25 minutes here

2:20pm - Arrived in Lorne and spent an hour having lunch and checking out the view from the St George River Lookout

4:10pm - Arrived in Apollo Bay and spent half an hour frolicking on the beach/chatting to some locals

6pm - Arrived at The Twelve Apostles and spent half an hour taking snaps and enjoying the surrounding scenery

7pm - Arrived at London Bridge and spent 15 minutes here

8pm - Arrived in Warrnambool

Day 2

12:50pm - Arrived at Gibson Steps after a lazy morning and spent about 20 minutes here

1:40pm - Grabbed some delicious pies for lunch at Yatzies Cafe and spent half an hour here.  

2:30pm - Arrived at Melba Gully and took about 40 minutes to walk the circuit 

4pm - Arrived at Hopetoun Falls and spent half an hour on the circuit

4:30pm - Checked out The Redwoods for 20 minutes

6pm - Arrived at Colac Botanic Gardens for a picnic and quick nap 

9pm - Arrived back in the Melbourne CBD

I hope you have an incredible time traversing Australia's favourite coastline! If you have any questions about this itinerary, feel free to message me on IG @ka.tea.ah 💌