Just a day trip from Melbourne is the famous Great Ocean Road! Known mostly for the 12 apostles at the end of the road, it is a very scenic road that hugs the coastline and numerous beaches. It is a fantastic place to spot most of Australian wildlife as well. I had signed up for a Great Ocean Road and Wildlife Tour for Backpackers ages 18-35 with my friend Sarah from the Contiki tour. The best part of the tour was that it went the reverse direction of all the other tour buses. There were 187 other big tour buses on the Great Ocean Road all going in the same direction so traffic could get quite bad. Instead, we drove 90 minutes on a road parallel to the Great Ocean Road and started with the 12 Apostles rather than finishing with it.
The 12 Apostles is a formation of what was initially 12 free standing rocks in the ocean. These rocks are made from limestone which is very brittle and prone to erosion. Over time three of the Apostles have eroded away and fallen down leaving only 9 remaining. The first lookout we stopped at had 127 steps down to the beach where you could walk up to 2 of the Apostles. The beach was surprisingly uncrowded and I was very grateful we were doing the route backwards as I don't want to know what the beach would look like with 187 tour buses full of people. The weather was perfect today with clear skies and cool weather. There is a beach at the 12 Apostles but it is not recommended for swimming as it is freezing cold. Melbourne is the most southerly part of the continent and shares an ocean with Antarctica. That should give you an idea of just how cold the water was. In contrast, Sydney on the East Coast shares the warmer Pacific Ocean.
The second viewpoint was from above and gave us a view of the 7 other Apostles that were hidden around the bend. The Apostles were stunning! They looked straight out of a postcard and the photos turned out amazing! The water below was amazing too! It was so clear and blue. It crashed on the beach creating white foamy waves. The 12 Apostles is home to many penguins. Penguins only live in the Southern Hemisphere with the exception of the Galapagos. In the early morning, the penguins were on the beach waddling and by the time we arrived, they were either out fishing or nestled below the cliff. Park rangers had cleared paths for the penguins and even built dollhouses for the penguins to nest in. All that was left for us to see were the small penguin tracks on the beach.
There were many helicopters offering scenic flights of the 12 Apostles and if I hadn’t done 3 scenic flights already I probably would have been on one. The view was amazing and I did not want to leave the scene. I had spent so much time waiting to see the 12 Apostles and here it was right in front of me. As grandma says “all the excitement is in the anticipation and the wait”. I would have loved to be able to witness the 12 Apostles at sunset but I guess I will save that for a different time.
Our next stop along the Great Ocean road was tea time and Tim Tams break. The guide Raph spread out a variety of teas and flavors of Tim Tams on a picnic table in the middle of a forest. We had now entered the rainforest of the Great Ocean road. In contrast to the tropical rainforests up North, this rainforest was a temperate rainforest composed mainly of eucalyptus trees. Raph had a secret spot he showed us to spot Koalas that were feasting on the Eucalyptus leaves. We were able to spot 3 Koalas that they were so high up in the trees it was hard to see more than just their bums. The Koalas are picky eaters so they prefer the younger Eucalyptus leaves on the tops of trees. They are only about 7-8 pounds so are able to get around on the trees quite easily. Their thumbs interlock so that when they sleep, they won’t fall off of the tree. Koalas sleep for about 20 hours a day and spend their few hours awake eating. Honestly, I think I could be a Koala based on how much I sleep sometimes.
We made 10 stops total along the Great Ocean Road. We drove by Cape Ottoway which was the most Southerly point of Australia all the way to Apollo Bay where we stopped for lunch. The beaches all along the Great Ocean Road looked so beautiful and pristine I just wished it wasn’t so cold. The sand was golden and soft. If my ankle weren’t still sprained I would definitely have gone for a run. One of the stops we made was in the town of Lorne. Lorne is exactly 2 hours from Melbourne and boasts some of the nicest real estate. A lot of rich people have their weekend and holiday homes in Lorne making it a very expensive town. There were some very fancy houses made completely of glass seated high upon the hillsides. One of the most iconic homes was one called House on a Stick. The House on a Stick is a 1 bed 1 bath home that was built on a stick so that it would be fireproof after it burned down in the 1980s. It rents on Airbnb for $950 a night. It is known as one of the most photographed houses in Australia. In Lorne we stopped at a pier to see if we could spot any other wildlife. Sure enough down below swimming in the green waters were 3 massive stingrays. Stingrays compared to manta rays have their mouth on the underneath while manta rays have their mouth on the front. Sting rays also have a stinger on their tail that won’t kill humans but has the potential to make them really ill. I had never seen stingrays so big!
We stopped at the Great Ocean Road sign which is 20 miles outside of the actual start of the Great Ocean Road for some classic tourist photos. One of the last stops we made was at Torquay Surf Beach. Here all of the surfers were waiting in the water to catch some waves. It is one of the best surfing beaches in Australia and every year in March they hold a surf tournament that is very well known throughout Australia. Just across the way from the beach was an open field where we managed to spot tons of kangaroos feasting on the grass. Since kangaroos eat grass, their food isn’t going anywhere so they typically only come out to eat between 6pm - 6am when it is cool. Kangaroos are also considered pests in Australia just like the wild camels. Dingos used to eat kangaroos but since the dingos have been killed off by the government, kangaroos populations have skyrocketed. Even though the kangaroo is the Australian national animal, the government goes on deliberate killing sprees of the poor animal. Poor kangaroos!
The tour of the Great Ocean Road was fantastic! The highlight was definitely the 12 Apostles but the scenic stops along the way were nice as well! It was by far the longest and most exhausting day I have had so far!
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