We backtracked today to see the 12 apostles. The first stop (that we saw yesterday) wasn’t that impressive. It was neat -but we could only see one of the apostles. So today we went a bit further -there was a parking lot we parked in, then took a path under the road, to a lookout where we could see all of them lined up. Was well worth going back for!
Up a bit further was a pull off for the London Bridge.
And London Bridge’s little cousin:
The rest of the trip was not very coastal. Just trees, fields, cows and sheep.
Today was by far, the most amazing part of the drive along the Great Ocean Road. We saw all sorts of amazing things, and are going to spend part of tomorrow backtracking and picking up some of the things we missed (it was just that awesome!)
We left Anglesea and headed towards Warrnambool.
While much of the route was coastal, there are bits that go inland and through some National Parks. The drive is amazing. The roads are windy, and people love to go fast -and seem to get upset when you go slow. I took it slow and pulled over when possible. I was given some advice to take the roads slower than the recommended speeds. The road is really not meant to go fast on. Take it slow, enjoy the sites, and make it to the other side alive.
A few people had given us pointers, and with our own ideas -we had a list of places we hoped to see along the way. A few of the highlights were: Split Point Lighthouse (Lorne), Teddy’s Lookout (Lorne), Erskine Falls (Lorne), Koala Kafe/Walk (Kennet River), 12 Apostles, and the various look outpoints from the 12 Apostles to Warrnambool.
This was our route with the stops we made. I would recommend spending more time stopping in between the green circles as there are some amazing views. Then as you can see, the rest is somewhat inland.
All three places in Lorne are fairly close to each other:
Lighthouse:
They offer tours, and we arrived right as one tour began. It was $14 per adult, and we decided not to do it. The views alone were enough for us.
Teddy’s Lookout:
This was probably one of my favorite stops -easy to get to, and the views were outstanding.
Erskine Falls:
The Falls has two different sets of walks you can do -the first is fairly easy, down probably 50-70 stairs (that are nicely built) and you are at the top lookout. If you feel inclined, you can continue to the bottom (which was 200+ stairs). We only did the first set of stairs since we had Judah and again, were pressed for time.
Koala Kafe / Walk (Kennet River / Gravel Road):
Kennet River was a hidden gem that some locals told us about. There aren’t any signs, or indicators and the place can get wild with people -but its an awesome stop. We brought along some bird seed and were able to hand feed the parrots. We also saw numerous wild Koalas (I say wild because we stopped at the Koala Conservatory a few days ago in case we didn’t get to see any wild ones.) It was an amazing stop!!!
Look for the “Koala Kafe” and “The Gravel Road” -right at the beginning of the road there are dozens of parrots you can feed, then follow the road up for Koalas! You won’t be disappointed (or at least we weren’t!).
Just as a side note: We were really unsure of where to stop and how long to stay at each of the stops, and couldn’t find much information before we left…
The stops along the way from the 12 Apostles to Warrnambool (there are a few of them) are probably some of the most amazing views there are. We are going to backtrack tomorrow and see more of them because we didn’t stop as much not knowing how many stops there would be. There are quite a few stops in a short period of time -and then nothing for probably 20/30 miles when you will reach Warrnambool. If you have the time -stop and enjoy them!
The Apostles themselves (or the one that we saw) was cool -but not blow you away amazing. This could change tomorrow, but if we did it over again I would really have planned on spending more time seeing ALL the stops along the way and not making a mad dash / bee line for the 12 apostles lookout.
We attempted to find the Cape Otway Lighthouse (which we were told was also awesome, and the site of an old shipwreck). A few miles up the road, however and we saw a bunch more Koala bears (some that were really close!). We didn’t end up making it to the Lighthouse since we were pressed for time and decided to turn around. But if you have the time, it does sound incredible!
Now for some more pictures (because pictures make it all better!!!)
Today was a slower day for driving, yet still took us just as long to get to our destination. We stopped along the way to get some infusers and candles -one of the houses we stayed at along the way had these AMAZING scented candles -and we chased the brand down the coast trying to find it. It took a few tries, but we finally had some success!
We also stopped at McDonalds -to let Judah use the play area, or, at least that was our excuse!! We all had a bit of fun 🙂
Had an awesomely long day today! The highlight of the day was seeing the Koalas! And the beaches! Always the beaches! After not seeing the coast for quite a few days, we were all pretty excited to see the beach again.
We stopped at the Phillip Island Koala Conservation because we wanted to see koalas and we weren’t sure if we would get to see them in the wild or not. We weren’t disappointed.
Once we got on the road, we hit some crazy traffic.
We came up over a hill, and the seemingly quiet road turned into a 5 lane road –that’s 5 lanes each way! I’m used to driving on roads that have one lane going each way, two max. So five lanes was something else. But that wasn’t even the best part…we hit rush hour traffic downtown Melbourne. That. Was something else.
Our GPS quit working right in the middle of it all, because the tall buildings threw the signal off!
It was a wild ride, but we survived, and arrived at our destination mostly unscathed.
The past couple of days have found us driving through wooded areas, farm land, and tiny towns.
While it has been pretty, I for one, am getting a little bit tired of trees and am ready to see some coast!
I’m sure most people would make the drive in an hour or two, or resort to the bigger highway to make the journey go quicker. We have opted to stay to the quieter road (Princes Highway) so we will take what we get I suppose. Aside from a few close calls with crazy drivers (someone speeding through a parking lot causing us to almost hit them, and someone getting mad because I stopped before entering a roundabout) a thunder and lightning storm -the day was pretty uneventful!
I am ready for some sun, some heat, some coast and some swimming!
Tangled Thoughts 