From Phillip island we drove past Melbourne straight to the Great Ocean Road.
We stopped in Torquay for lunch and a look through all the surf shops. We had stopped here in 2005, so Bel was keen to come back for more shopping.
From Torquay the road winds along the southern ocean shoreline, with breathtaking coastal views around every corner.
Our first camp was in Lorne, it was a long weekend in Victoria so the campground was packed and the sites were very tight. We had a nice spot next to the creek.
After setup we explored town. It’s a really pretty town, it reminded us a lot of Crescent Head, just bigger.
At the end of the Main Street we found the Lorne Hotel and stopped for dinner.
While we were there we saw Justin Hemmes, after a quick google we discovered that he had bought it a couple of years ago for around $38m. It was a great spot, with perfect views across town.
Monday we did more exploring of town and a long walk along the beach and around the headland to the Jetty. It was quite cold, particularly in the wind but there were plenty of Victorians still keen for a swim.
Tuesday we packed up camp and moved to Blanket Bay, in the Cape Otway National Park. More beautiful coastline along the way.
But from Apollo Bay the drive changed to winding forest.
It was only an 80km drive but took close to 2 hours, the roads are very slow, but the drive was worth it. Wow, what a beautiful spot.
With some equally beautiful neighbours, in a tree 20m from us.
After dinner we had our first camp fire of the trip and enjoyed a drink and chat with a few of the other campers (that had wood to share).
The following morning we explored the cape and visited the famous Cape Otway lighthouse. It’s well worth a visit with an amazing history as a lighthouse, telegraph station, and wwII radar station. The lighthouse was first established in 1848. Being so remote it had to be self sufficient, and at its peak there was also a school due to the large number of children.
It was a beautiful day so the afternoon was spent enjoying the Blanket Bay beach. I even braved the water – it was very “refreshing”!
We finished our stay with another camp fire with our new friends Les and Robyn.
From Cape Otway the drive continued to wind tightly through forest for about 100km until just before Port Campbell we were back on the oceans edge and at the site of the 12 apostles.
From here it was stop start through the many lookouts, very beautiful but they do all start to look the same after a while.
Just south of Warrnambool we turned inland again and our Great Ocean Road drive was complete. Such a beautiful drive, that never fails to deliver. The lack of flies at this time of year also made it much more enjoyable than last time; in January 2005 you couldn’t open your mouth they were so bad. Next stop – Port Fairy.