A trip along Great Ocean Road

By Ezmee Wyatt, University of Melbourne, Australia

One of the most popular things to do around Melbourne is a road trip along Great Ocean Road. Six of my friends and I decided to visit for a long weekend (although you could easily take a week) and we had an amazing time! Here is a list of what we got up to, so future visitors have some ideas of where to start.

We hired two cars from an app called Popcar (which does amazing student discounts – I highly recommend!) and left Melbourne on Friday evening after everyone had finished with uni. We had booked an Airbnb in Wye River – I really recommend staying here, it was so beautiful and very peaceful, we felt like the only people there at times! Another option, especially if you decide to go for a bit longer, would be to hire a Campervan (the app CamperMate shows you all the freedom camping spots in Australia and New Zealand). 

On the Saturday morning we woke up at 6ish to do a sunrise swim (we were only a 5 minute walk from the beach). As we went in August (the middle of winter in Australia), the sea was freezing (and the sunrise perhaps a bit underwhelming) but it was really fun and a great way to start the day. When we went back to the house for breakfast we saw cockatoos and parrots on our balcony – they were super inquisitive and would jump onto our hands. We then set off on our first drive of the day to Port Campbell, where many of the famous landmarks of Great Ocean Road are located. We visited London Bridge and Loch Ard Gorge before driving a bit further back to see the 12 Apostles (although I think only eight are left now). All of these areas were beautiful and because of the time of year, there weren’t too many tourists so we had a lot of the lookouts to ourselves. On the way back to our Airbnb we stopped at the Great Otway National Park which is a temperate rainforest that had loads of amazing waterfalls and hikes. 

On Sunday (our last day) we visited Kennett River which is famous for its ‘Koala Walk’ where you can see koalas in the wild. Despite the koalas, this is a beautiful place to visit, but seeing the koalas was definitely a highlight! This was the first time I had seen one, and to see them in the wild was amazing. There is also another walk where you can see wallabies, although you have to keep your eyes peeled as they hop across the path very quickly. We finished the day by stopping at Lorne Beach for a sunset swim which I would highly recommend!

Overall the trip was amazing. This was the first time I had been out of Melbourne CBD and explored a bit more of what Victoria had to offer, and it didn’t disappoint!