So clearly we enjoyed our time on the Great Ocean Road. So much so, that all plans to make it to Adelaide went out the window and we decided to just slow down and enjoy the ride and take it all in. Basically after four days of driving, we finally made it to the city we’d planned on stopping in the FIRST night! To put that into perspective, it took us four days to go about 200 miles. 🙂 Yes, I know, that is SLOW!
We loved every minute of it, though, and have determined amongst the three of us what the best highlights were from our time there.
Here we go, in no particular order…
- KOALAS – When we got to Kennett River, just past our Wye River stop, we took a little detour off the beaten path behind a local campground that we’d heard was a good location to spot koalas. The dirt road wound through a forest of eucalyptus trees. You could easily miss koalas by not realizing the drive IS the destination! It’s not taking you anywhere in particular, but the forest itself is full of those furry little fellows. We basically all rolled down our windows and did the drive as slow as we could with our heads stuck out the window shouting, “Koala!” whenever we spotted a furry little blob high up in the tree! We even managed to find a momma and her baby, which was our favorite moment!
2. RAINFOREST WALKS – Any time we had an opportunity to stop and do a rainforest walk on the Great Ocean Road, we took it! Just ask Jack, he’ll let you know I was a fanatic about wandering through them. There’s something so magical and pre-historic feeling about being under a canopy of trees where everything is so cool, fresh, green and quiet. It was amazing to see the size of some of the trees and my favorite part were all the ferns! My absolute favorite rainforest hike was at a place called Maits Rest…beautiful!
3. SECLUDED BEACHES – I mean it is called the Great OCEAN Road, so you would expect some beaches, right? The more unexpected part of it to me was not just how beautiful they all were, but how secluded they were! Most of them we had completely to ourselves if we wanted to walk or explore. It was far too chilly to go swimming, which was okay since most of them had crazy big waves anyway, but they were stunning to look at!
4. WATERFALLS – Admittedly, we were as much of a sucker for waterfall hikes as we were for rainforest ones. There were quite a few along the way and Jack got used to trekking up and down the steep hikes to get to the top (or bottom as the case may be)!
5. WAR MEMORIALS – One thing we were struck by while traveling the Great Ocean Road was that every little town, no matter how small, had some sort of memorial set up to remember those from the town who had lost their lives protecting their country. I’ll admit, at first I might have walked right past them had it not been for my history buff husband stopping to take a look.  It wasn’t necessarily something grandiose, just small and simple, yet heartfelt to memorialize those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Well done, Australia…lest we forget.
6. COASTAL ROCK FORMATIONS – And last, but certainly not least, what the Great Ocean Road is most widely known for are some of the amazing rock formations along its coastline. There are really almost too many to see (I said, almost!), and you can take a lot of different stop offs for scenic overlooks. The Twelve Apostles are the most famous, but as of today, only seven remain as the others have fallen over the years. While they were lovely to see, we found our family favorite to be the Bay of Islands. A local told us about a boat ramp near them where we could get a really great viewpoint. We tend to gravitate more toward out of the way spots and this was right up our ally. Honestly, though, you really can’t go wrong with any of them!
And that’s a wrap for our time on the Great Ocean Road!! All of the sights and a lack of wifi left me horribly behind on the blog! Making up some ground now so I can fill you in on what we’ve been up to since then!
The Detour Diary 