© Lonely Planet Publications GREAT OCEAN ROAD The Great Ocean Rd (B100) is one of Australia’s most famous road-touring routes, where the Otway Ranges and the sheer limestone cliffs of Port Campbell and Peterborough collapse into the crashing surf of the Southern Ocean. Beyond Apollo Bay, the treacherous Shipwreck Coast – from Cape Otway to Port Fairy – is littered with wrecked vessels. This is some of the planet’s most beautiful coastal scenery, a point not lost on the hordes of international tourists in rental Winnebagos making their languorous way past the road’s hills and hair-pin turns. The road weaves its way along classic surf beaches before sliding into the Otway Ranges just after Apollo Bay. REGIONAL VICTORIA REGIONAL The lush Otway Ranges, stretching from Aireys Inlet to Cape Otway, offer revitalising land- scapes for bushwalking and camping – most of the coastal section is part of the Great Otway National Park. Too many visitors drive straight through the open stretches of road, pit-stopping only at the towns and major sights – Lorne, Apollo Bay, the Twelve Apostles – but it’s the isolated beaches in between the towns and the thick eucalypt forests in the Otway hinterlands where you can GREAT OCEAN ROAD really escape the crowds and truly commune with nature. To miss this is to experience only part of what the region offers. Spend a few weeks scratching below the surface here – this is God’s own country. As we make our way along the Great Ocean Rd we pay our respects to the indigenous peoples of this region – from east to west they include the Gulidjan, Gadubanud, Giraiwurung and the Gunditjmara people. The first sections of the Great Ocean Rd were constructed by hand – picks, shovels and crowbars – by returned WWI soldiers. Work began in September 1919 and the road between Anglesea and Apollo Bay was completed in 1932. GREAT OCEAN ROAD Mt Gambier To Hamilton Mt Napier To the Grampians (19km) (443m) (85km) Princes HwyVICTORIA C184 Ha Branxholme Penshurst mil To Adelaide to Mt Napier n H (451km) M wy y State Park erri R SOUTH A1 Dartmoor w Princess Margaret H Caramut AUSTRALIA y Rose Cave iver nt G He Mt Eccles len Macarthur elg R National Park Nelson iver A200 Lower Glenelg Drumborg Lake National Park Condah Mt Eccles C192 (179m) Broadwater Piccaninnie Heywood Ponds Kentbrucks Fit a r zro Woolsthorpe y R ive Mt Richmond erall R iv iver e Tyrendarra e Discovery Bay r m C184 Discovery A1 u Tower Hill yn E Coastal Park P R Bay rinces Lake Reserve A1 Hwy Yambuk Mo Mt Richmond Koroit National Park Yambuk Bridgewater Portland Bay Killarney Descartes Bay A1 Lakes Portland Warrnambool Cape Bridgewater Black Nose Point The Crags Port Logan’s Beach Fairy Cape Duquesne Point Danger Lady Cape Cape Nelson State Park Bay Bridgewater Lady Julia Cape Nelson Percy Island Griffiths Bridgewater Island Bay B A S S S T R A I T 224 LIGHTHOUSES & SHIPWRECKS WALKING lonelyplanet.com In the era of sailing ships, Victoria’s beauti- The Victorian west coast attracts walkers of all ful and rugged southwest coastline was one ages and fitness levels who come to enjoy the of the most treacherous on Earth. Between wide coastal vistas and sea air. The are many the 1830s and 1930s, more than 200 ships coastal walks, along beachfronts and over head- were torn asunder along the so-called Ship- lands, that can be done in stages as leisurely wreck Coast between Cape Otway and Port Fairy. strolls or as multiday treks. Visitors centres From the early 1850s to late 1880s, Victoria’s issue maps of town walking tours that take in gold rush and subsequent economic boom historic landmarks and points of interest. The brought countless ships of prospectors and gentle 30km Surf Coast Walk ( p227 ) leaves Torquay hopefuls from Europe, North America and and goes to Moggs Creek; the Great Ocean Walk China. After spending months at sea many ( p234 ) starts at Apollo Bay and runs all the way vessels (and lives) were lost on the final ‘home to the to the Twelve Apostles; but the biggie is VICTORIA REGIONAL straight’. The lighthouses along this coast – at the Great South West Walk ( p246 ), a 250km epic. Aireys Inlet ( p229 ), Cape Otway ( p237 ) and Port Fairy ( p244 ) – are still operating. The Cape Otway Lighthouse was also involved in the first tele- SURFING graph cable laid between Tasmania and the The Great Ocean Rd offers fantastic oppor- Australian mainland in 1859. The spectacular tunities for surfers with great year-round coast around Port Campbell ( p238 ) is where the Southern Ocean swells lashing every beach and GREAT OCEAN ROAD Loch Ard famously sank, and the town is lit- point. Wannabes can have lessons in beachside tered with material salvaged from this and towns between Torquay to the South Austral- many other shipwrecks. At Wreck Beach ( p238 ) ian border. Bells Beach ( p227 ) is one of the most you can see the anchors of the Marie Gabri- famous surfing spots on the planet, and there’s elle which sank in 1869, and the Fiji, driven a legendary (read: suicidal) break at Johanna aground in 1891. Beach ( p237 ), but every stretch of this coast offers a mix of breaks for beginners and surf-nazis 0 40 km 0 20 miles To Ballarat (45km) M Lismore id To la Melbourne C143 n d (62km) C148 Lake B140 Teesdale H B140 Gnarpurt Cressy w y Ham ilton A300 M1 C165 Hwy Inverleigh Mortlake C164 C146 Lake B120 Murdeduke Geelong B156 wy H Lake A1 s Corangamite kin A1 River Winchelsea op Camperdown Terang Lake wy B100 H Colac s H s Prince Torquay in Hwy Anglesea es Cobden Ri opk nc Barwon River ver Jan Juc H Pri Colac Bells Anglesea Point Beach Allansford Deans Great Otway Addis Marsh National Park iver C164 C155 B100 Great Ocean R Aireys Inlet Fairhaven Nullawarre rdies R s Eastern Cu Timboon e The River Gellibrand ng View Moggs Creek Forrest a Cove R Lorne rand y C119 a d B156 R Barramunga tw d n Port Gellib O a Bay of Islands Campbell Beech ce Cumberland Forest O River Peterborough Port Campbell Aire Valley Rd Melba Gully at Wye River National Park State Park re ns Great Otway G Kennett River r National Park e Princetown Lavers er Cape Patton The Grotto s Hill The Arch of Tho Aire Riv Wongarra London Bridge Skenes Creek Crown Johanna Glenaire Apollo Bay B A S S S T R A I T Mutton BirdLoch Island Ard Gorg Moonlight Gibson Steps Twelve Apostle Head Johanna Hordern Blanket Bay Beach Vale Cape Otway 225.