Great Ocean Road
February 2025
Basics
The most important thing is to rent a car! We used DiscoverCars website and rented a car from the Melbourne airport Tullamarine.
I would recommend to save three days for the Great Ocean Road trip, not to rush too much and enough to make stops in every crucial spot.
*be careful, many speed cameras on the Great Ocean Highway
Day 1
Torquay to Apollo Bay
94km
Things to do:
Torquay: first stop after picking up the car for coffee and some breakfast ( Torquay Larder)
Bells Beach: beautiful beach, you can spot some surfers
Point Addis Beach: lookout
Aireys Inlet: lighthouse and Eagle Rock Lookout
Memorial Arc: iconic photo spot
Lorne: tiny town, can stop for lunch/snacks
Kenneth River Reserve: great place to spot kangaroos and koalas, especially during the sunset
Apollo Bay: our motel location, PS be mindful that restaurants close early here, so plan your dinner :)
Day 2
Apollo Bay to Warrnambool
160km
Things to do:
Apollo bay: we start with delicious breakfast at Icaro Wholefood Cafe
GreatOatwayNationalPark: we take the Maits Rest Rainforest Walk, roughly 30mins loop
Cape Otway: iconic lightstation, great views, paid entrance
Castle cove: lookout
TheRedwoodsOtways: incredible forest with giant redwoods
Moonlight heads: cliffs
Twelve apostles: the highlight, here we saw an echidna! It also possible to spot echidnas in the locations below
Loch and Gorge
London bridge
The grotto
Warrnambool: stop for the night
Day 3
Warrnambool to Port Fairy and back to Melbourne
approx 260 km
Things to do:
Warrnambool: breakfast at Rough Diamond or Cafe at Provincial, careful for the paid parking
Logan’sBeach: apparently you can spot whales here (not in the summer tho)
TowerHillWildlifeReserve: that place surprised us a lot, many nature walks and wildlife at an inactive volcano site. We saw many koalas, birds and even an emu!
PortFairy for a quick snack stop and we hit the road back to Melbourne
We decided to not stop anywhere else on the way and drive back to Melbourne directly. Be really careful on the highway, there are many kangaroos that may jump on the road, especially after sunset. It’s approx 3,5 hours of the drive from Port Fairy to Melbourne (287km).
Foodie
Recommended places
Foodie places
Some places we visited on the way:
Cafes in little towns are pretty cute, like Icaro in Apollo Bay or Rough Diamond in Warrnambool
Hecho in Mexico has its restaurant in Warrnambool
Fish & chips