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Published: November 28th 2022
2. Torquay Beach
Our first stop was at Torquay for breakfast todaySo much for summer in Australia, where’s all the warmth and sunshine! In protest, we still set off in shorts and t-shirts though.
We moved on from Melbourne this morning to start our journey along the Great Ocean Road. As we had to negotiate our way through the City we decided to get an early start (well 7:30am, so not really early, just early for us!). This was the first working day of the tram closures on St Kilda Road so we knew it would be bad…. After queuing to get down the road we decided to take a detour to a road running parallel to where we were as it led directly onto the M1 and out the other side of Melbourne. Unfortunately, we soon found out that you couldn’t turn right to get onto it, so we ended up looping back and going back to practically where we started! Our 2
nd attempt to get through was more successful thankfully!
We were very relieved to be out of the city and back onto smaller roads. The plan was to head to Torquay and grab some breakfast, we managed to find a little café with views of the sea,
3. Surf Coast
As its known as the surf coast, had to get a pic of a surfer the sun had come out too, so it was a great start to the day. After walking down to the beach and snapping a couple of photo’s, we jumped back in the car and set off on the start of the Great Ocean Road.
Unfortunately, we seemed to have grey clouds chasing us along the road today, we’d get somewhere, stop for a look in the sunshine only for it to cloud over and start to look as though it was going to rain! You could see evidence of the damage the heavy rain they’ve had here has done, landslides had been cleared but you could see where they’d probably blocked the road in some places. There were lots of roadworks taking place to put mesh/netting on the rocky slopes next to the road to prevent more issues.
Other than scenery pit stops, our first main stop was Split Point Lighthouse, Aireys Inlet. There was a lovely walk up to the lighthouse, where you then had to climb a ridiculous number of steps to get to the top (4 flights of 31 steps, plus a few more thrown in for good measure at the very top). However, once
4. Split Point
Climbed the lighthouse at split point, it was very windy at the top! you got to the top, there were spectacular 360 degree views along with very strong winds and a very knowledgeable bloke who sounded like he was from up north (of England that is!). After some photo’s and a quick chat about the lighthouse we started the slightly quicker journey back down to the bottom.
In addition to the lighthouse, there were a few platforms set down a slope slightly, which gave you the best views of the coastline, and back up to view the still fully functional lighthouse in its full glory. We had a stroll around here to take some photo’s then headed back to the car to continue along the coast. It was clear to see the three layers of rock, firstly some volcanic lava and then a layer of ‘Tuff’ left by volcanic fallout and then a top layer left by the sea!
After another few scenery stops, we got to Apollo Bay, which seemed like a nice place to stay the night. We found the Beachfront Motel which had a couple of rooms left, so checked in, dumped our luggage, then went for a walk around the town.
Once we’d walked up the
5. Split Rock from Lighthouse
This rock shows three layers, the bottom is volcanic lava, followed by volcanic debris and finally sea deposits! main strip of shops, bars and restaurants, we stopped off at the Apollo Bay Hotel which had a nice outdoor area and a bench around the front edge inside the bar which meant we could sit out of the wind and enjoy a nice cold beer while being almost outside. We had lovely views of the park and could watch the Cockatoo’s and Galah’s strutting around the grass. Turned out to be a wise move as those grey clouds that had been chasing us most of the day decided to deposit some light rain while we were sitting safely under cover!
The rain seemed to have cleared so we took a stroll over the road and through the park – passing the Galah’s and also what I believe were Crimson Rosella’s just pecking the ground next to the path. These are still an amazing sight for us, I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to seeing them, although I suspect the people who live here laugh at us taking photo’s of them! We scaled a small bank of sand to see the beach. It was a small but lovely beach which was quite popular, there were even a couple
7. Split Rock Lighthouse
The light house that we climbed at Aitreys Inlet, around 135 steps of people in the sea. We spotted a small marina along the coast a bit so wandered back over the sand bank then walked through the park to take a look. However, those pesky clouds decided to dump a whole load more precipitation on us, after taking shelter under cover by the toilets, we decided it wasn’t going to get much better so headed back to the room via the supermarket to buy some more supplies.
We’ll be continuing on our journey along the Great Ocean Road tomorrow, hopefully with better weather – but we won’t hold our breath!
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