The Great Ocean Road is a very long stretch, 664 kilometres long to be exact. Coming from Melbourne, it would take at least three days to finish. Starting from Torquay and ending in Port Fairy. If only my friends and I had the the luxury of time we would do the entire tour but to our dismay, my best friend Mika was only in town for the weekend while my friend Mandee had exams the next day. We could only accommodate the day tour in our schedule.
There are many tours available for you to choose from ranging from 5 days (the full experience with many activities) to one day- the tour just like ours. I logged on to viator.com and typed "Great Ocean Road" and chose the best tour based on the reviews. We went with Go West Tours. It costs $104 per person. Breakfast and lunch are already included in this price along with transportation, tour guide and the entrance fees to the sites you will be visiting. Only dinner is at your own expense.
We started the day at 7 am. The shuttle picked us up in South Yarra then we may our way to our first stop Torquay, a famous surf town. It was way too cold out to surf. We just found a bench to sit down on while we ate our breakfast and enjoyed the view.
Our tour groupmates setting up our breakfast spot |
After Toruqay, we made our way to Kennet River. This was where we were going to see one of Australia's native animals, the Koala! They are a thousand times cuter in person. Sadly, it was too difficult to take a photo of them because they were way up high on the trees. We got to take photos with the birds instead.
Mandee made a new friend. She was scared that it would poop on her! |
Our first group photo together (Me, Mika & Mandee) |
We stopped in a small town for lunch then proceeded to Apollo Bay, a crescent shaped beach. You can see the people behind us were all ready to swim while we were wrapped up in our jackets. We were freezing. It must be an Asian thing.
Entering Port Campbell National Park, there are several points of interest that you cannot miss.
First is Twelve Apostles-- originally there were twelve limestone stacks formed by erosions. However four have already collapsed due to natural causes but they are still called the twelve apostles until this day.
I tried getting a shot of all eight limestone formations in one photo but they were too far from one another |
Second is Loch Ard George, a beach named after a famous shipwreck from the 1800s. Our tour guide mentioned that a lot of ships have been found washed up on the shores because of the rough waves of the Great Ocean.
Wish it was warm enough for me to be walking by the beach in a bikini |
Lastly, Gibson's Steps, a 70 meter high limestone formation across the Twelve Apostles. The cliff has steps that you can go down onto the beach.
There are still so many spots worth paying a visit to along the Great Ocean Road like Angelsea, Colac, Camperdown, Lorne, Nelson and other beautiful places. I hope to be able to come back one day and finally complete the tour.
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