13D Australia Summer Trip: Bunyip's One Day Great Ocean Road Tour
If you are not really a city traveller, Australia has so many road trip routes to offer. One of its famous road trip route is the scenic coastal drive, the Great Ocean Road. The Great Ocean Road is a one-and-a-half-hour drive from the city of Melbourne and the road stretches from Torquay to Allansford near Warrnambool for 243 km. Lee was actually considering renting a car and driving it throughout the road by himself but I was kinda against the idea because it would be so tiring on him since I could not drive. Second, we had no idea how easy or difficult the terrain would be and being involved in any kind of accident during your travel is not fun at all.
If you are like us, you may want to consider taking the option of joining a day tour from the local travel agency which departs from Melbourne (pick-up at hotels is provided). After many researches (and listening to people's recommendations), we booked our one day Great Ocean Road tour with Bunyip, one of the many popular travel agency in Australia. The one day tour costs AUD 130 and it includes a stop at several scenic stops along the Great Ocean Road such as 12 Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge, a must-visit places if you decide to take on this route. The tour really takes the whole day and it started rather early (around 7AM) if your pick-up location is in the Downtown Melbourne so you have to allocated minimum one day for Great Ocean Road trip.
Bunyip's one day Great Ocean Road tour started with a 1.5 hours drive from Melbourne city. Since the sun has not even risen yet at that hour, most of the tour participants just continued their sleep in the small bus. Bunyip's tour is designed in such a way that one group should only consist of small number of people (around 10ish). I find this kind of arrangement is way better and easier to manage for the driver/ tour guide. Our first activity for the day started around 9AM when the driver pulled over for a short beach stop to allow us having some tea/coffee and biscuits for breakfast. Oh right, please don't have a lot of expectation on food provided along the tour because after all, you are no longer in the city. This is actually a good start for us to wake up properly while introducing ourselves and have a small chat with the rest of the group and the tour guide himself.
Our next stop is the high lookout at Cape Patton. The lookout is located between two coastals town, Lorne and Apollo Bay. The road to Cape Patton was build back in the year 1935 but the link from the lookout to the Great Ocean Road was only built in 1919. You can read more on Cape Patton and its connection to the Great Ocean Road on the signboard available nearby.
The lookout offers a very spectacular ocean outlooks and the sight of long sweep of ocean beaches culminating in Apollo Bay. This is the last highpoint on the journey to Apollo Bay. After this, the Great Ocean Road runs along a series of coves and beaches with big surf.
We made a 20 minutes stop in the coastal town of Apollo Bay because the tour guide needs to pick up two passengers from this town. The coastal town is located between Wye River and Cape Otway and it is a popular stop-over point for adventurer embarking on a Great Ocean Road trip. Apollo Bay offers a good selection of restaurants (mostly seafood) and lodging as well. You can immediately feel the vibe of relaxing at the seaside emanating from this coastal town.
Apollo Bay is also calling itself as a town full of interesting characters. Hmm, looking at this yellow car...I suppose there may be some truth to this statement.
Other than great seafood and quirky characters, Apollo Bay also offers a lot of surfing spots and beach walks. Kayak hiring is available too if you are interested. Surf beaches closest to Apollo Bay include:
1. Apollo Bay: an eastern facing beach offering a progressive beach waves which is known to be a great learners wave. Surf schools are available in the area and lifesavers are spotted on patrol during summer months (do people surf in winter?)
2. Kennett River: a sheltered point break with a reef/ rock bottom. Since it seems to be rocky and there is a risk the waves will crash you upon the rock if you are not careful, this does not seem to be recommended surf's point for beginner surfers.
3. Wye River: sandy beach break offering right and left waves. Similar to Apollo Bay, lifesavers are on patrol during summer months.
Our next stop is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Australia, Cape Otway Lightstation. The coastal area alongside Great Ocean Road is actually not an easy path to travel for the ships back then. Historic records have shown that there were so many shipwrecks along the coast and this had led to an expedition of Charles Latrobe through the Otways to reach Cape Otway to scout out a lighthouse location. It was not an easy feat for the guy to conquer and in fact, he only managed to succeed on his third attempt in 1846 with the help of the local Gadubanud people. The lighthouse has been so handy in years to come, helping so many shiploads of European settlers to reach Australia. You can enter the lighthouse and climb up all the way to the top between 9AM to 4.30PM daily but please note that an entrance fee of AUD 19.50 applies for each person. I personally feel that the entrance fee is kinda too expensive for the experience so I did not enter the lighthouse.
There is a restaurant located near to the lighthouse where Bunyip has partnered to provide us meal for the day. The meal provided is referred to as Australian lunch which consist of salad, some meat and potato. Basic stuff so don't expect so much on them. Once our stomach is filled, we continued our drive along the Great Ocean Road to the even more interesting scenic adventures. But just when we were about to dose in the car (there's something about getting sleepy in the car after eating, I dunno why), our tour guide woke us up and asked us to look up. We were passing through an area full of trees but most of the trees are actually leaf-less even though it was summer. Kinda wondering what has happened to the trees, turns out the leaves are eaten by these wild furry local animals only exist in Australia, the koalas. They look so meek and soft and yet, so ravenous. We managed to spot a few of them on the top of the trees. Munching while hugging the tree branch. Hmm. What a good laid-back life they are living, I guess.
You better be awake for the next few locations left on Bunyip's itinerary because they are leaving the best for the last. Our next stop is the Gibson Steps, which is part of Port Campbell National Park (where 12 Apostles is also situated). The highlight of the Gibson Steps is basically the 70-metre high vertical cliffs where you can marvel at Gog and Magog (again with the names? Really?), the nicknames given to the giant limestone stacks rising up out of the sea. When the weather is good, you can make your way down to the beach via the 86 steps that were carved into the face of the cliff by local settler, Hugh Gibson (aha, and hence, the name of the steps). He worked on the route originally used by the Kirrae Whurrong people and made it into the steps.
Gibson Steps is also referred to as the gateway to the famous 12 Apostles rock formation. The 12 Apostles is a magnificent rock formation which was created by constant erosion of the limestone cliffs of the mainland since 10 - 20 million years ago. The stormy Southern Ocean and powerful winds gradually eroded the softer limestone, forming caves in the cliffs. The caves eventually became arches and when they collapsed, rock stacks up to 45-metres high were left isolated from the shore (and hence, it looks like the rock majestically arising from the sea). If you are counting and you cannot find 12 rock formation, you may start to wonder if you have passed your math exam successfully back then in school day. But not to worry because it turned out that when the 12 Apostles were christened by Victorian tourism in the 1920s, there were actually only nine rocks in the cluster (huh then what's with the name?). Now, there are only eight rocks standing because of the rapid rate of erosion. It may even be lesser and lesser in the future with the way nature is behaving nowadays, so do give them a visit quick before they are all gone.
Just a short 10 minutes drive from the 12 Apostles lies another scenic spot along Great Ocean Road, the Loch Ard Gorge. The gorge is home to a beautiful bay and an inlet of clear, blue water. It is flanked by two cliff faces and tufts of vibrant grenery. The bushy greenery though is home for the snakes, we even saw a sign warning visitors on the random spot of snakes along the path. Yikes.
The gorge is actually named after a large ship from England, "Loch Ard" which have suffered a crash upon the beach. From the 54 passengers, only two survived the shipwreck, a 15-year-old boy called Tom Pearce and 17-year-old girl Eva Carmichael. The story did not develop into love story though because Eva returned to England soon afer, having lost most of her family in the tragedy. Pearce, however, continued to live a fruitful life in Australia.
One of the many viewpoints available at the Loch Ard Gorge will give you a beautiful view of the cliff and the crashing waves. You can also enjoy looking at the Grotto, a sinkhole geological formation which kinda looks like a cave above the sea.
Bunyip's One Day Great Ocean Road Classic Roud details:
- Fees: AUD 130
- Departs: Daily
- Includes: All park entrance fees, Aussie lunch (sausages and salad), tea/coffee/biscuits, tour guide
- Options (must be pre-booked):
(1) A 15 mins helicopter flight above 12 Apostles - additional AUD 145
(2) Hop on/ Hop off (overnight or extended coastal stay) at Torquay, Lorne, Apollo Bay or Port Campbell. Only a small day pack is allowed, maximum 5 kg - additional AUD 30
- Tour duration:
Bunyip tour departs between 7.15AM - 7.30AM from Bunyip Tour Office and returns approximately 8.30PM