Of all the beautiful road trips Australia has to offer, a self drive across the Great Ocean Road in Victoria has to be the most famous. These are the two sites I would start the Great Ocean Road self-drive itinerary. Follow this winding, coast-hugging stretch of road through lush rainforests, up to scenic outlooks and down to pristine beaches. Be sure to take in the Melbourne Museum, Exhibition Buildings, Carlton Gardens, State Parliament, the Bourke Street Mall and Luna Park on your trip. Lorne was our favourite of the towns and we could have easily spent a few days here.
One of the major reasons people tackle this Melbourne to Adelaide road trip is to enjoy the Melbourne to Mount Gambier drive in the first place. Stretching from Toquay to Princetown and up towards Colac, the Great Otway National Park has everything a visitor could possibly want. We decided on Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Great Barrier Reef, Sydney. We complete this Great Ocean Walk tour as a series of day walks, returning to comfortable accommodation each night.
Most towns on the Great Ocean Road are no more than an hour apart. Holiday-goers from all over the world jet-set to Victoria to travel along the Great Ocean Road. Take in 30 kilometres of beautiful coastal scenery or choose to explore shorter sections of the Surf Coast Walk. Torquay is a great little coastal town just one and a half hours drive from Melbourne.
There are a lot of ways that you can travel the Great Ocean Road… you can do multi-day trips in a camper van, go it alone in a rental car, or join a tour. This is an ideal and famous stop at Great Ocean Road for taking refreshments, lunch, shopping and in short, freshen up. There are more than ten waterfalls within 10 kilometers of Lorne with beautiful walkways.
The next stop along the road between Port Apollo and Warrnambool is The Grotto. The Kennett River Koala walk winds along Grey River Road through heavily populated gum trees in the Otway Rainforest. From the nearby 12 Apostles car park it is possible to walk back to Gibsons Steps (about 20 minutes walk) if you have been unable to park, but it will impact on timings for a one day trip.