The Great Ocean Road Trip is one of the best road trips in Australia and the world. This self-drive itinerary will give you two days along one of the most amazing stretches of highway in the world.
The Great Ocean Road is a 151 mile (243 km) Australian National Heritage road stretching from Torquay to Allansford in the South Eastern coast of Australia. It is a beautiful drive along the Southern Ocean. The main viewing attraction is the Twelve Apostles sea stacks. You’ll also see amazing rainforests, beaches, and animals. No trip to Australia would be complete without a trip along this amazing road.
Great Ocean Road Trip Itinerary
The Great Ocean Road trip was our favorite road trip we did in Australia. This road trip can be completed in one day or you can go at a more leisurely pace and space that out to four days. We completed a loop along the road, starting in Melbourne, in two days. This itinerary only goes to Port Campbell, which is not the end of the Great Ocean Road, but this itinerary will allow you to see the main attractions of the road in a limited period of time.
Great Ocean Road Trip – Day 1 – Ocean
Begin your trip from Melbourne by heading straight to Torquay, south of Geelong. This trip out of Melbourne is mainly along freeway so we didn’t find many stops that interested us. From Torquay, take the Great Ocean Road (B100) West along the coast. This is where your fun begins and this is the road you’ll stay on for the whole trip West. Once you join the Great Ocean Road, you’ll notice that the roads get curvy and the pace slows down. From this point on, we stopped at anything that looked interesting and we recommend that you do too.
If you need energy for your trip, your first stop should be the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery, right outside of Torquay. We bought some chocolate with interesting Australian ingredients and some delicious ice cream and then continued our journey. Our favorite treat was the honey comb ice cream.
Aireys Inlet
We recommend stopping next at Aireys Inlet to take a short walk to the Split Point Lighthouse. While the walk is short, it is elevated so make sure to take water. We just walked to the base of the lighthouse but you can pay to take a tour as well.
On the way out of Aireys Inlet, stop to take the iconic photos of Memorial Arch.
Lorne
Next, head into Lorne. We decided we needed a quick trip to the Lorne Beach for a relaxing lay in the sun. We jumped into the Southern Ocean for the first time here. This was our favorite beach in all of Australia and we highly recommend a stop.
On the way out of Lorne, take the short hike to Sheoak Falls. We were there at the end of a record drought so the waterfall was not running but the walk was a nice stretch for our legs and there were some pretty cool lizards along the way.
Apollo Bay
Continue on the Great Ocean Road, stopping at all the scenic lookouts to get some great pictures. Your next stop is Apollo Bay. Here we stopped at the Apollo Bay Seafood Cafe where Paula ordered the best calamari of her life. We later ate dinner at the Apollo Bay Hotel for pizza which was also very good.
Port Campbell National Park
After lunch, continue heading West. You’ll start to see the amazing rock formations that the Great Ocean Road is known for in Port Campbell National Park. Your first stop will be the Gibson Steps. Here, you can walk down the stairs to the beach and look up at the towering cliffs above you. Watch out for waves here as this isn’t a place to swim or be caught by the ocean.
Your next stop will be the Twelve Apostles Visitor Facility where you can take a short walk to the most iconic Twelve Apostles photo area. This walk has several lookout points where you can see the greatest number of sea stacks at one time.
The next stop on the Great Ocean Road is Loch Ard Gorge. Here you can walk down to a beach in the towering cliffs. There are also several longer walks that lead you to more scenic overlooks. We skipped some of these as we wanted to save our strength for later and were getting tired. Don’t forget to walk down to Thunder Cave and experience the crashing waves in the carved out inlet.
The next lookout is a little further down the road at The Bakers Oven.
You’ll next head through Port Campbell. On the West side of town, you’ll come to The Arch. This rock arch formed by the sea is another great sights on the Great Ocean Road.
Next, stop at the London Bridge viewing area to get another view of a sea arch.
Your next stop will be The Grotto. This stop has a bit of a hike but the rock formations here were some of our favorite and less popular with tourists.
Your last stop will be the Bay of Martyrs just outside of Peterborough.
Now that you’ve stopped at all the lookout points on the Great Ocean road, head back to your accommodations for the night. We stayed at an amazing AirBnB in Marengo. We’re so happy we did because it was an amazing place. However, we then had a long drive back to our Bed and Breakfast and we were exhausted when we go there. We would recommend staying closer to Port Campbell so that you can divide the driving time equally between the two days.
Great Ocean Road Trip – Day 2 – Rainforest and Wildlife
On the second day of your Great Ocean Road trip, we would recommend focusing on the amazing wildlife that can be found in this area. The Great Otway National Park is a unique ecological attraction of the Great Ocean Road.
We had initially planned on focusing only on the coast when traveling the Great Ocean Road. However, our Bed and Breakfast proprietor gave us a strong recommendation to visit this forest and we’re so happy we did. We started our morning with the amazing experience of feeding the wild birds almonds with the help of the Bed and Breakfast owner, so we assumed she had some excellent ideas about the rainforest as well.
Great Otway National Park
On your second day, we recommend focusing on exploring the Great Otway National Park. Start your day by completing the Maits Rest Rainforest Walk. The rainforest here is a temperate rainforest so it is a very unique habitat with some very amazing wildlife.
Continue North on Binns Road which which will take you on some challenging roads throughout the rainforest. We found these roads to be challenging yet very sparsely traveled. Binns Road leads to Hopetoun Falls which is worth the short hike. Next, you’ll come across the Redwoods of Otway National Park. Here you’ll find a towering grove of California Redwoods growing among the native Australian trees. If you still have some energy, you can then take the short hike to Beauchamp falls.
From here, head East on Beech Forest Road and then South on Skenes Creek Road. Skenes Creek Road was the best spot in Southern Australia for spotting koalas for us. We spotted a few in the Eucalyptus trees in the mountain tops and they didn’t seem to care that we were snapping away with our cameras.
Returning Journey
You’ll end up back in Skenes Creek on the Great Ocean Road once again. From here head East on the Great Ocean Road making any stops you may have missed on the way out. You’ll end up back in Melbourne once again that evening.
Want to Adjust the Itinerary?
If have less time, you could do the coastal portion of the trip in one very packed day. It is possible to do, but you would have to move at a fast pace and prioritize where you will stop. If you plan to do this, we would recommend driving straight to the Gibson Steps and stopping at all of the lookouts that are part of the Twelve Apostles. Then take the Great Ocean Road back towards Melbourne stopping at anything you may have time for on the way home.
If you have more time, you could take a leisurely pace and take three days doing this same route. We would recommend slowing the pace and taking two days traveling West along the Great Ocean Road and spending one day heading east through the forest. If you have four days to devote to this trip, we would recommend traveling all the way to Port Fairy. By heading to Port Fairy you could then stop at the Bay of Islands and Port Fairy Lighthouse.
Packing Tips
As with any Australian trip, make sure you pack plenty of sunscreen. This trip involves a lot of outdoor time, so make sure you slop on the sunscreen. You’ll also want to make sure you have a bathing suit and a towel as the beaches on this trip are very tempting and you’ll definitely want to stop at at least one.
There is also quite a bit of hiking involved in this Great Ocean Road trip as well. So make sure you pack proper shoes; we used athletic shoes. You’ll also want to make sure you have plenty of water. We like using hydration backpacks.
Packing layers of clothing is also recommended in all seasons. We visited in January so it was quite warm. However, it got pretty chilly along to coast when the ocean breeze picked up. It also got cold in the shade of the forests in the Otway National Park.
As with any road trip, we would also recommend making sure you have a paper map with you. We did buy a SIM card for our phone so we had cell service. However the cell service on this trip was limited.
