Touring the Great Ocean Road
We had arranged to take a day tour out to the Great Ocean road today. We had originally booked with another tour company but due to some unforeseen complications we ended up booking with Escape Discovery Adventures. I’m glad we did as it was a great experience! We had a great guide named Daryl and the van we were in was extremely comfortable!
It was a small group tour (which is something I’m a fan of) and we were picked up from outside our AirBNB in the early morning! (We were staying in the center of Melbourne, so your mileage may vary with the pickups). After two other pick ups we were on our way out of Melbourne.
Urquhart Bluff Beach
About an hours drive out of Melbourne we stopped at Urquhart Bluff Beach (A little past Anglesea) for a small stretch break and breakfast! We got to explore the beach while Daryl setup breakfast. What a great way to start the day, the beach was beautiful (like almost every beach in Australia) and if this was any indication of the day ahead of us we were in for a good time!
Breakfast was more than I had expected. We had an assortment of Tea and Coffee along with some Australian snacks to nibble on. This included Vegemite on crackers, Tim Tams and Anzac biscuits! I gave all of it a try and was pretty satisfied (save for the Vegemite)
Great Ocean Road
As we continued our drive along the Great Ocean road we were treated to some extremely nice scenary and look outs. We would stop in different places to allow for photos to be taken.
Along the way we noticed that there were several of these very “artistic” cars/vans that looked like they could be rented. They looked awesome and were pretty funny. I tried to take a pic of as many as I could find.
Lorne
Our next stop would Lorne which is a small ocean side town. We stopped for about 20 minutes to check out the beach and the surrounding area. While the area was beautiful, I did find that the landscape was similar to our Bondi to Coogee Coastal walk we did in Sydney.
Apollo Bay Waves
We would stop for lunch at a small restaurant called Waves in Apollo Bay. Lunch was included on our tour and I ended up getting a chicken crepe. It was delicious!
We had some time to explore a bit of Apollo bay and so Photos and I checked out the beach. Though to be honest, by this point we were starting to find the beaches were starting to meld into one. Don’t get me wrong, they were all amazing! Its just hard to be continually amazed by every one!
12 Apostles
Of all the landmarks along the Great Ocean Road, the 12 Apostles is probably one of the most well known. It is also the one that I was most excited about. It just seemed like it was the most unique thing to see. These pillars of rock that jut out amongst the crashing waves looked so cool so I was eagerly anticipating this. I wasn’t disappointed! Being able to see these natural wonders was such a cool experience. They are like nothing I’ve seen before and I can certainly appreciate just how intricate they are! It was a large tourist attraction so the only downside was having to fight through a mass of tourists to get to good vantage points to take photos. But aside from that, the apostles themselves are fantastic!
Island Arch and Razorback
A five minute drive away from the Apostles is the stop for the Island Arch and Razorback formations. After a short walk, we were at the lookout for the Island Arch. At first we were confused because we didn’t see an Arch, but Daryl explained that sadly, it had collapsed in 2009, which really reinforces just how dynamic nature is!
Our next stop was Razorback which is another rock formation known for its jagged top. The landscape around it was pretty impressive and continued fueling my amazement for this area.
Loch Ard Gorge
Our final stop was down a few sets of stairs to what seemed like a secluded beach in an area called Loch ard Gorge. It was named after a ship that sank nearby and has a interesting story of how two survivors washed up in on this beach and how one climbed out to get help. Next to the Apostles this was my next favorite stop. The beach felt like one of those secret beaches only few people know about (though I know this isn’t true!) or some secret hideout for a Bond villain. I really liked the beach and surrounding walls.
Waves Port Campbell
Our final stop was for dinner at another Waves restaurant. This time in Port Campbell. I’m not sure if they’re a chain (obviously is a relationship with the tour company) but this one didn’t serve crepes. Instead we all had some amazingly tasty food. I ordered the fish entree and was not disappointed.
Our tour had come to an end and we settled in for a three hour drive back to melbourne. Some good napping occured.
Logan
By the time we got back to our AirBNB, Photos and I were actually feeling pretty refreshed. Instead of calling it a night we had joked about catching a movie over the past few days. We thought, “now is as good a time as any” and so we looked up a local movie theatre and went for the late showing of Logan!
After a full day of “touristing” it was actually a welcome change of pace to relax and catch a movie like we would at home!