{"id":7098,"date":"2019-04-02T08:11:41","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T08:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colourfuldreamer.com\/?p=7098"},"modified":"2019-09-02T23:51:50","modified_gmt":"2019-09-02T23:51:50","slug":"great-ocean-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colourfuldreamer.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/02\/great-ocean-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Ocean Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

Great Ocean Road: My don’t miss list<\/span><\/h2>\n
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One of Australia\u2019s most known road-touring routes\u00a0is the one crossing the Souther Ocean- actually begins in Australia\u2019s surf capital Torquay and passes by Bells beach then Cape Otway and ends at Port Fairy. From world class surfing spots to rainforests\u00a0inhabited by thousands of koalas and from calm relaxing port towns to dramatic limestone cliffs, Great Ocean road is the best place for having the perfect summer just in the middle of winter….<\/span><\/div>\n
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Why to visit Great Ocean Road?<\/span><\/h5>\n
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The\u00a0main reason I decided to spend 3 days on a road trip exploring this Southern Ocean\u2019s coastline was because of\u00a0a few\u00a0great pictures I saw\u00a0online. In reality, it took me only a few hours of\u00a0driving\u00a0on Great Ocean route to finally\u00a0realise that this road trip\u00a0will be\u00a0way more extraordinary than it looks virtually. I\u00a0was\u00a0thrilled by the long hiking routes throughout tropical rainforests, the\u00a0dramatic cliff landscapes and the endless sandy beaches..\u00a0Great Ocean Road is the perfect combination of remote and immediate! It is about\u00a0the perfect drive among\u00a0tiny coallas spending a lazy afternoon on long\u00a0eucalyptus trees. It is\u00a0about the\u00a0ideal sensation of tasting fresh sea food at every\u00a0single\u00a0stop\u00a0along your way.\u00a0This is not just\u00a0another\u00a0surfing\u00a0place but the absolute\u00a0destination with\u00a0the most famous surfing beaches\u00a0and the best\u00a0surfers\u00a0in the world.\u00a0\u00a0I was so\u00a0excited to be there\u00a0that if there was a single thing I’d do differently next time that would be to\u00a0spend definitely\u00a0more than\u00a0just\u00a03 days exploring and enjoying.\u00a0If you want to make the most\u00a0of your Great Ocean Road\u00a0experience\u00a0I\u00a0suggest you to hire a car\u00a0and escape Melbourne for at\u00a0least\u00a07 days!<\/span><\/div>\n
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Torquay – Bells Beach<\/span><\/h5>\n
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Great Ocean Road officially begins\u00a0in between of\u00a0Torquay and Anglesea and this is exactly\u00a0where our journey begun. This is\u00a0a city that\u00a0is serious about\u00a0for surfing and its is known to be\u00a0the home of two iconic surf brands – Rip Curl and Quicksilver.\u00a0The drive from Torquay\u00a0is gorgeous – in fact Torquay\u00a0\u00a0is the perfect departure\u00a0point for your road trip\u00a0thanks to its close\u00a0proximity to the\u00a0world-famous Bells Beach – which is part of international surfing folklore- makes it.\u00a0We\u00a0made a few nice\u00a0stops along our way, including\u00a0Torquay’s\u00a0view points\u00a0and the spectacular Point Addis where we did surfing\u00a0along with\u00a0some\u00a0professional surfers, swimmers, nuddists, and bohemian hand-glitters! Initially we booked a 2 hours class with a fantastic surfing school called Go Ride a Wave (2hrs lesson from $69\/59) and this bit was my favourite. Try to book in advance and you\u2019ll get cheaper prices.\u00a0After 3 hours of\u00a0surfing we managed to miss\u00a0the\u00a0famous Koorie Cultural Walk. If you have enough\u00a0time this is a walk highly recommended by locals.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Lorne beach<\/span><\/h5>\n
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Next stop\u00a0was at\u00a0Lorne, one of the Great Ocean Road’s original resort towns. Along with Port Campbell and Port Fairy Lorne\u00a0this is\u00a0one of the most charming towns we\u00a0saw . I loved its hilly streets, the Loutit Bay and the tall old gum gleams. Even thought we decided to make a short stop there for having some lunch we were amazed by its incredible natural beauty.\u00a0I personally recommend to get your lunch at Lorne Beach Pavilion. This place is famous for its\u00a0fresh oysters and\u00a0the spectacular view on the foreshore. Swing by at sunset for a bottle of prosecco or come at happy hour for $7 pints – enjoy!<\/span><\/div>\n
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Apollo Bay<\/span><\/h5>\n
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This is one of the larger cities along the Great Ocean Road and this is why I was desperate to try their local markets and walk around the city\u00a0centre.\u00a0When I finally arrived I was surprised to find out that restaurants, pubs and even the luna park are closing no later than 9.30pm. Apollo Bay seems to be Melbourne’s relaxed alternative and is home to some decent surfing. Its\u00a0wide sandy beaches will make you feel that summer in Australia’s sea towns is unbeatable.\u00a0The very next morning I had a nice walk across the foreshore and I discovered a small but quite picturesque port.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I got to spend only one night at Apollo Bay but the place I booked to spend the night ended up being my most favourite. YHA Eco Beach\u00a0is an amazing eco-friendly hostel\u00a0with\u00a0modern designed lounge areas and\u00a0a wide rooftop terrace with a gorgeous view towards the ocean. The\u00a0sharing areas of living room and kitchen make\u00a0this place\u00a0the perfect point to make some new friends!\u00a0If I had to spend some time again at Apollo\u00a0Bay\u00a0I’d chose the same place without second thought!<\/span><\/div>\n
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Cape Otway National Park<\/span><\/h5>\n
While I was trying\u00a0to find out\u00a0which places are worth a visit around Apollo Bay\u00a0I discovered the National Park of Cape Otway and Otway. The natural beauty of this National Park is incredible! It is only a 21km drive to Cape Otway\u2019s light station and on your way\u00a0you’ll be passing the national park of Cape Otway.\u00a0Within only\u00a0few hours\u00a0we passed by\u00a0stunning ancient rainforests, pristine beaches, dramatic coastlines, and amazing waterfalls! From walking trails to hidden forest retreats, the Otway is a place for adventure, romance and discovery.\u00a0What I loved most along the way\u00a0was the cute\u00a0koalas hiding among the towering tress.<\/span><\/div>\n
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On our way to Lighthouse we passed by the Bimbi Park that peculiarly enough is recommended by many touristic providers.\u00a0My personal experience was quite different though.\u00a0There was\u00a0nothing impressive to see there, the camping place under the forest was nothing special to see and the customer service\u00a0was really poor.\u00a0I\u00a0personally\u00a0wouldn\u2019t consider staying there and wouldn’t recommend to anyone spending a night at this place.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Once I arrived at the Lighthouse I was surprised by\u00a0how well maintained it has been kept – especially considering that was\u00a0built in 1848 and\u00a0is one of\u00a0Australia\u2019s oldest surviving lighthouse. There is also a lovely\u00a0museum there devoted to lighthouse\u2019s different historic eras. I was excited walking around the whole surrounding area that\u00a0is a sprawling complex with\u00a0a few breathtaking views towards the ocean. I absolutely fell in love with this place! In case you are planning\u00a0to visit\u00a0you might better consider renting!\u00a0Actually you can stay at\u00a0Head Lightkeeper\u2019s House or the smaller Manager\u2019s House for about \u00a3200! Both options provide full contained accommodation and can be great getaways for couples, families or groups of friends. I visited both and the truth is that they are fantastic places to stay. During the whale season you\u2019ll be able even to watch whales to\u00a0play off the lighthouse.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Port Campbell<\/span><\/h5>\n
Along our way to Port Campbell we made a quick stop at Cape Otway\u2019s National Park a place filled with natural beauty which\u00a0give an\u00a0excellence chance of Koalas sightings.\u00a0We also made a stop\u00a0at Princetown which strangely enough was one of the beaches that were not recommended by any tourist guide I red. Luckily enough that was the most surprisingly beautiful beach of\u00a0all our\u00a0trip. Seeing the beach appearing throughout the natural landscape only few metres walk of the massive Princetown lake is a really unforgettable moment. Port Campbell which was our next stop is known to be the home to a complex of\u00a0magnificent rock stacks that rise up majestically from the Southern Ocean on Victoria’s dramatic coastline. Since the time you’ll be arriving in Australia these limestone wanders including\u00a0Loch Ard Gorge<\/a>,\u00a0The Grotto<\/a>,\u00a0London Arch<\/a>\u00a0(formerly London Bridge) and\u00a0The Twelve Apostles\u00a0<\/a><\/sup>should be on the top of your bucket list.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The Tower Hill Reserve\u00a0is a free to the public reserve where you can find echidnas, koalas, kangaroos and unique species of gorgeous birds. Given its on your way to Port Fairy would be almost a crime to miss it!<\/span><\/div>\n
Port Fairy<\/span><\/h5>\n
Except being the last city along the Great Ocean’s Route, Port Fairy is also one of the best surfing hometowns. In fact, there is also a surfing school located on the beach but we found out that we should have rented our boards and swimsuits from the city centre first and it was already super late to go back. At that point it happened to meet a fantastic surfing teacher who was happy to borrow us his surfing board. And yes, you guessed right! That was the only day we jumped into the super cold sea without wearing any proper surfing swimsuit. Later on, we went to get some fresh fish and oysters at \u2018All Fresh\u2019, and we grilled them at Port Fairy’s lovely park. I was surprised to see how easy is to get everything grilled and how perfectly everything works. In case you\u2019ll go for this option, don\u2019t forget to get some olive oil, plastic plates and cutleries with you. We didn’t take any of these but thanks to our good Australian neighbors we were fine at the end. Once we had our delicious late picnic lunch we found a small but colourful lunapark very close to the beach where we went for a crazy ride with the cart cars! We had so much fun there!<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Great Ocean Road: My don’t miss list One of Australia\u2019s most known road-touring routes\u00a0is the one crossing the Souther Ocean- actually begins in Australia\u2019s surf capital Torquay and passes by Bells beach then Cape Otway and ends at Port Fairy. From world class surfing spots …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,325],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-my-posts","category-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colourfuldreamer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colourfuldreamer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colourfuldreamer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colourfuldreamer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colourfuldreamer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7098"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.colourfuldreamer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7281,"href":"https:\/\/www.colourfuldreamer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7098\/revisions\/7281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colourfuldreamer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colourfuldreamer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colourfuldreamer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colourfuldreamer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}