Great Ocean Road – Why You Must Drive It
This is my fourth post from my and Alison’s 2026 trip to Australia. The first post was a recap of the entire trip with Adventures Abroad guide and fellow Nova Scotian, Brandi McCarthy. The second and third both featured the city of Melbourne and included portions we visited both on our own and with Adventures Abroad. In this post we’ll hit the road and what a road it is – the Great Ocean Road, considered to be one of the most scenic drives in Australia if not the world. So please hop aboard and we’ll leave the city of Melbourne behind.
This is a map of the route we’ll be following today.
History of the Great Ocean Road
Let’s start off with some history about how and why the Great Ocean Road came to be built. Prior to WWI the south coast of the state of Victoria was largely inaccessible to motor traffic. The few towns along this coast were usually reached by boat. It was known that there were some spectacular rock formations and huge cliffs on many parts of this coast along with some great beaches.
The Great Ocean Road was conceived as a private not-for-profit road that would employ returning servicemen and become a war memorial to those who did not return. Work commenced in 1919 and all told over 3,000 veterans worked on the project that lasted until 1932 when the last section was opened. It now stretches for 240 kms. (150 miles) from one end to the other and is considered to be the world’s largest war memorial.
In its early stages the Great Ocean Road was considered a dangerous and difficult road to drive, but over the years it has been gradually improved to a fully paved two lane highway with numerous places to stop to admire the view. It has also become the #1 tourist attraction in Victoria and has proved to be a boon to the towns that lie along the route. The reality is you can’t come to this part of Australia and not be tempted to drive it either on your own or with a qualified bus driver as we have today. So fasten your seat belts and let’s get going.
It doesn’t take long to leave the Melbourne Central Business District and get on the freeway that gets us almost to the start of the Great Ocean Road.
This is a closer look at the monument to the vets would built this road.
Everyone aboard is excited about seeing the famous 12 Apostles rock formations that are generally considered to be the star attraction of this scenic ride, but our first stop has nothing to do with scenery and everything to with Australia’s most revered animal, the koala.
Our sharp-eyed driver spots several koalas in a tree not far off the road and pulls over as we pour out in search of our first koala sighting.
And we are met with success! Our first koalas in the wild. This was the one I saw.
And this is the one Alison saw first.
So barely a few hours into our first excursion in Australia we get to check off one of our bucket list subjects. Koalas sleep up to 22 hours a day so catching these guys awake was an added bonus.
Not long after we got our first look at some of the views that make the Great Ocean Road so scenic.
Our second stop on the Great Ocean Road was also for wildlife viewing, this time great grey kangaroos which are actually quite abundant in southeastern Australia. These two were not shy and we had plenty of opportunities to get decent photos.
So two iconic Australian species knocked off within the first hour of entering the Great Ocean Road. I was expecting spectacular scenery, but not this added bonus.
We had some more great scenery around almost every bend in the road.
Just before noon we reached the resort town of Apollo Bay and Brandi gave us an hour to explore the town on our own and have lunch. When I saw this sign I knew we had to eat here.
It was Sunday and the pub had the traditional Sunday roast special with big enough portions that we split one order between us.
After lunch we had some time to do a little birding, this time following a flock of little corellas from tree to tree. They are noisy members of the cockatoo family and very common in southeastern Australia, but for a Canadian they are still pretty exotic.
After reboarding the bus, it was about an hour’s drive to the parking lot for the 12 Apostles which was pretty busy. From here you walk under the Great Ocean Road to a path that leads to several viewing points to see the limestone stacks that, despite being only seven in number, have been branded the 12 Apostles for tourism purposes.
Australia is famous or rather infamous for the number of venomous snake species, something like 150 or so, but don’t worry, only about a dozen will kill you. When I see this sign I wonder if any of the deadly dozen are lurking in this vicinity. I have friends who are so petrified of snakes that this sign would definitely keep them on the bus, but they aren’t on this trip and we all head to see the 12 Apostles.
These are not the first 12 Apostles formation we have seen – here’s a link to my post on the South African peaks of the same name.
Well these 12 Apostles, even missing five of their members, are pretty impressive too. The path leads to this viewing platform that juts out in a way that let’s you get a good view in either direction.
And this is what you’ll see.
There are five of them on this side.
And two on the north side.
In case you are wondering if it’s windy up here, here’s your answer.
There’s not much more I can say about the 12 Apostles, the pictures really do tell the story.
Just up the Great Open Road from the 12 Apostles we have another stop to view two more sea stacks and a gorge where the ship Loch Ard foundered in 1878 with the loss of all on board except for a teenage boy and girl who somehow climbed the formidable cliffs to safety. The signage here is not that clear as to which of the several gorges that you can walk to from the parking lot is where the actual shipwreck took place. This is my best guess.
There is also a sea arch in this area as well.
Alison and I are the world’s worst selfie takers, but I kind of liked this one to wrap up our visit to the Great Ocean Road.
In the next post we’ll leave the state of Victoria and fly to Canberra for a visit to the Australian capital, something that is not on most tour company’s itineraries. I hope to see you there.