Visiting Victoria 3: Great Ocean Road Part 1
Melbourne to Apollo Bay along the Great Ocean Road
Ferns tower over you, and beyond them giant trees tower toward a canopy that disappears into the mists above. Moisture sparkles like diamonds among the leaves, drips around you and gurgles among the roots in little streamlets. Various birds call near and far. You wonder if you’ve wandered into Jurassic Park, or, when seeing a small metal sign with information about a carnivorous snail, perhaps somewhere even weirder?
But of course, you’re in the Otway Rainforest, along the gorgeous rugged coast of the Great Ocean Road. There are three excursions every visitor to Melbourne must do: the Philip Island Penguins, the Grampians, and the Great Ocean Road. As with the other areas, you can do it as a day trip organized by a tour operator out of Melbourne, or you can rent a car and drive yourself, and since I did it by car, that will be the perspective of my little tour here. And because I actually live in the Otways, I have a feeling I won’t be able to restrain myself from writing so much that it must be divided into parts. Anyway, off we go!
From Melbourne
From Melbourne it’s an hour southwest on the major major highway the M1 to Geelong. Be wary of the speed cameras on the underpasses, they’ll mail you a ticket — and I’m guessing if you’ve rented a car the car rental place will make sure it gets back to you. Geelong (population 265,000) has a nice waterfront, and there’s a National Wool Museum in Geelong which sounds like something worth mentioning, though I’ve never been there.
But for our purposes, we’ll continue south through Geelong to Torquay through a bit of land that’s rapidly transitioning from farmland to subdivision suburbs — I’ve heard this area is currently the area of greatest urban expansion in Australia. Torquay is the closest oceanfront town to Melbourne which may have something to do with the appeal. But while you’re driving through this section, halfway between Geelong and Torquay, why don’t you stop in at Edmonds Honey to try some local honey? If I’m not travelling at the time, I’ll likely be the staff member to help you ;)
Torquay is a surf town with nice beaches. If the weather is nice you might thoroughly enjoy hanging out at the beach. If it’s not hot and sunny, it’s worth strolling down to Point Danger, which is picturesque even when you have to hang on to your hat. You’ll note the trees here are permanently bent over from the wind. It’s a popular place for kite surfing. From here you’ll see a lot of surfers in almost any weather surfing in the cove to your right; and to the left is a broad beach popular with families, with a grassy promenade just inland of it perfect for strolling or jogging. And plenty of restaurants here if it happens to be mealtime by now.
Anyway, most pertinent for our purposes, Torquay is the official eastern end of the Great Ocean Road! It travels from here for 243km (150 miles) to… the Cheese World outside Warrnambool. So let us begin!
Headed west from Torquay the first 20 minutes is inland and mostly surrounded by a forest of she-oak, a tree that looks like a weeping willow with pine needles instead of willow leaves. Australia is indeed full of strange flora and fauna.
Just before you arrive at the town of Anglesea there’s the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie, which I’ve also never been to beyond delivering honey, but who doesn’t love a chocolaterie? Anglesea (pop 2,500) is an alright little beach town, if you’re gonna stop at every one of them, sure, stop and toodle about but we’ve got a long way to go.
Sure enough just ten minutes later, essentially the next point on the coast you come to Aireys Inlet. There’s an alright gastropub here and a nice lighthouse that’s a very quick and easy walk from the parking.
From here the road is really starting to look like itself, hugging the rugged steep slopes of the Otway mountains. It’s worth mentioning now, where one can see how it has been hacked out of the cliff-face itself sometimes, that the whole GOR project was built by returned servicemen after WWI in 1919 using hand tools and dynamite.
After twenty minutes of this one comes around a final turn and the town of Lorne appears ahead, nestled into a curve of the coast, houses up to the ridgeline, an RV park by the beach and of course the beach itself. We’ve arrived at one of the destinations on the Otway coast!
Erskine Falls
There are a lot of worthwhile sights around Lorne, but by far the most famous is Erskine Falls. The well-signposted road to Erskine Falls goes up through town into the forest behind it and follows atop a ridge until suddenly it steeply dives down the forested slope, arriving at a narrow parking area nestled deep amongst towering trees. The trail is sturdy and made of stone to accommodate the constant tourist traffic here. There’s a viewpoint only a few meters from the parking lot where you can look down at the falls and the tourists way down below at the base. As you then travel down the 230 stone steps to the bottom you will pass many out-of-breath upward-bound tourists paused panting for breath on their way back up the steep stairs.
At the base one finds oneself in a narrow canyon with overhanging ferns and trees, staring up at a 30-meter (100-foot) narrow but not insignificant waterfall. There’s a good view from the viewing platform but it’s never been quite clear to me if you’re officially allowed to go around the rails and up to the very base of the waterfall. It’s easy to do and the overwhelming majority of tourists go ahead and do so. There’s a nice hike all the way down beside the river right to Lorne but it takes a few hours and you’d need to do something about car juggling.
The only other Lorne location I’ll name specifically is “Teddy’s Lookout” at the end of the ridge above town as it offers an awesome view looking along the rugged coast. There are actually a whole bunch of other smaller waterfalls and nice forest hikes in the immediate area of Lorne, if you wanted to just stay here a few days, explore the rainforest and enjoy the beach, you certainly wouldn’t be suffering! In fact, if one wanted to go straight to Lorne from Melbourne / the interior, there’s a good road through the forest headed north through the Otways from Lorne. It is itself a beautiful drive surrounded by towering trees.
Onward to Apollo Bay!
From Lorne on toward Apollo Bay is about an hour’s drive as the road wends along the cliff face. There are many majestic views as the road rounds points, and fortunately, often there are pull-outs to stop and take a picture. Several of the coves have nice little hidden beaches. Stop at the little cafe in Kennet River because it’s a cute little place with good food … and also they stock my honey (Great Ocean Road Honey Company).
By and by you’ll enter the sweeping beaches of Apollo Bay will spread before you. Here for the first time since you’ve entered the Otways, there’s a relatively flat place on the coast where a town could be constructed that’s not clinging to a steep slope. There’s a lovely long beach here where on a nice day you can relax feeling like you’re comfortably very far from the hustle and bustle of the city. There are a number of restaurants catering to the heavy tourist traffic here, including one collection of fooderies all in one building that is essentially like a mall food court. Most of the food along Main Street is overpriced and unimpressive but I might recommend the fishermen’s co-op by the marina at the southern end of town. Enjoy fresh seafood at their outdoor tables with a beautiful view (see below). If you’re in town for dinner I recommend the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse (which advertises itself as the southernmost pub in mainland Australia).
And now let me let you in on a secret. A forbidden waterfall. If you were to happen to drive to the back end of town, out on Barham River Road, you’ll find there’s a beautiful area of peaceful grazing fields in the valley behind the town. This road follows the river up into a narrow valley dotted with people’s vacation homes, and then after ten minutes, you reach the end of the road. There’s a small parking area, picnic tables, and a fence across the former entrance to the Marriners Falls hiking trail. A sign will advise you the falls are permanently closed. Damn. But wait, why the hell is there still a well-maintained and apparently frequently used carpark right here?
Further inspection will reveal that if you were to happen to cross the river here across some exposed small rocks (definite risk of slipping off an unstable rock and getting wet) or just walk through the ankle-deep water, there’s a well-trod trail on the far side! Now you can’t be blamed for following this trail for curiosity’s sake. It follows along the creek upriver, crossing once more in a similarly chancy manner, and then you’re on the former trail route and though it crosses the river a few more times there are big stable stepping stones possibly placed there by the parks department back when they maintained it. The trail here actually seems suspiciously well-maintained, someone clearly routinely cuts back the blackberry brambles. It’s my suspicion that the landowner beside the trailhead who appears to offer yurt accommodation on his property (I haven’t looked if it’s on airbnb but vaguely assume so) maintains the trail for his guests.
The not-entirely-maintained nature of the trail I find is part of its charm. The official trails the parks department maintains are all good and well, broad and cleared of all obstacles, but it’s kind of fun when you have to climb under or over fallen logs and feel slightly like you’re actually bushwacking.
When you finally arrive at the waterfall, it’s impressive — it’s like there’s a solid rock wall at the end of the narrow canyon and a broad waterfall flowing over it into a quiet pool. The rocky cliffs are covered in moss and ferns. “This is like some Indiana Jones scene where there would definitely be a secret door to a tomb or temple behind that waterfall” my friend commented when we totally weren’t there beholding it in person. If one wades out into the pool one could probably get at least chest-deep in the clear cold water. Very refreshing on a hot day. It feels so serene and hidden away. It’s beautiful in its own right but the fact that it’s officially forbidden really is part of its charm. And while other people clearly visit it, the odds of encountering other people there seem to be very low, while most other falls in the Otways you won’t likely get to yourself.
While just driving from Melbourne to Apollo Bay should only take less than three hours by google maps, if you’re stopping and visiting all the sites you’ve had a full day by this point. Certainly, when I took my parents this way just coming from Birregurra north of the Otways to Erskine Falls, Lorne, and Apollo Bay, we found we’d reached the end of the day, had dinner at the aforementioned GOR Brewhouse and found a motel in town. Fortunately, they had a vacancy for such last minute bookers as we.
And so, with the end of “day 1” I’ll stop here, to continue the tour of the GOR in one or more future stories!
