Hands Down, It Really Is A Great Ocean Road

Bells Beach
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So the Great Ocean Road is technically not part of the East Coast since it is on the wrong side of Melbourne but no East Coast trip would be complete for me without seeing what is probably Australia's greatest scenic coastline - a 400 odd km stretch of beautiful coastline between the Victorian towns of Torquay and Warrnambool.

If we had more time, I think the best way of seeing the Great Ocean Road would have been to rent a car and drive along leisurely at our own pace all the way from Melbourne to Adelaide and actually stay along the Great Ocean Road. We would have then been able to go and explore the less touristy areas and soak up the stunning coastal scenery.

Bells Beach
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Don't get me wrong, a day trip was better than not seeing it at all.....and I would not have missed this for anything...but considering the Great Ocean Road covers over 400km, you can imagine how little of the coastline we actually did manage to see on a 12 hour tour. Most of it was spent travelling on the bus (and unfortunately, due to the pick up times, we had to sit on the wrong side of the bus to take pictures of the coastline) with very little time to actually soak in the sights at each place.........it was a continuous cycle of stop, get off, get on, go, stop, get off, get on, go........we hardly spent more than 30 minutes at each place and the ones we did, it was because it took 15 minutes to walk there and back in the first place.....so it was a very tiring day and next time I go back to Australia, I will do it all properly, rent a car and travel all the way from Melbourne to Adelaide.

View of the coastline from the Spithouse Lighthouse
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But the coastline scenery is beautiful....a one day trip certainly doesn't hinder the beauty of it....it just leaves you tired, frustrated and wanting to see more.

Like all our day trips, the tour took us to all the main famous highlights of the Great Ocean Road (that is possible to see in a day!): Bells Beach, Spithouse Lighthouse (apparently it's the Lighthouse from the program "Round The Twist" - anyone remember or am I actually too young to remember this???) Cape Otway and Port Campbell National Parks, Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge, Razor Back, Island Arch and of course, what is on all the postcards or the front cover of any Great Ocean Road book or tour booklet......the beautiful Twelve Apostles....for which 1.7 million visitors a year come especially to see on the Great Ocean Road.

Spithouse Lighthouse
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So yeah, hands down, it really is a Great Ocean Road