Back in January Muriel, myself, her son Chris and his girlfriend did a two-day trip of the Great Ocean Road here in Victoria.

Monday saw the 4 of us line up in Chris’s car to board the Ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff.  The trip takes about 40 mins

 

Once the car is on the Ferry you can go upstairs to the lounge grab a coffee and sit back and relax.

If your quick you can spot dolphins cruising alongside the ferry.  I wasn’t but I did manage to get a photo of a seal sunning himself.

 

 

The best part about the ferry is your 4 legged friend can join you however they are not allowed in the lounge.

A quick stop at Barwon Heads for a toilet break.

 

The Great Ocean Road Memorial Archway was built to commemorate the 3,000 returned soldiers from WW1 who built the Road between 1918 – 1932.

The Arch is located 5 km west of Aireys Inlet. Parking is available on the beach side of the Great Ocean Road.

In addition to the Arch a bronze sculpture depicting some of the returned serviceman who built the road and Interpretive signage provide additional information at this site.

Lorne was our next stop.  Before we had something to eat we drove around the town and found a stunning lookout called Teddy’s Lookout.

 

Lorne has some amazing eateries that cater for everyone.  I found an organic cafe where I got some Kombucha and Banana Bread.  Tasty! Muriel, Chris and Christine found a noodle bar where they shared two huge bowls of food.  Wow so much food they even had leftovers.  I also found another cafe where I was able to get some yummy sweet potato fries.

Once we got to Lorne the traffic had thinned out a lot.  The Great Ocean Road is a holiday destination.  It was summer and the school holidays so yes the traffic was thick and slow.

Cape Otway Lighthouse was our next stop. It is the oldest surviving lighthouse on mainland Australia.

Built in 1848, the lighthouse known as the ‘Beacon of Hope,’ sits 90 metres above the pristine ocean of Bass Strait.

Hundreds of lives were lost along this shipwreck coast – a sad but fascinating history which led to the building of the Lightstation on the cliffs edge.

For many thousands of 19th century migrants, who spent months travelling to Australia by ship, Cape Otway was their first sight of land after leaving Europe, Asia and North America.

 

The four of us weren’t that impressed with our visit to Cape Otway Lighthouse.  Maybe we were tired and hot who knows.  If you have visited the Lighthouse and enjoyed it let me know.

Now to find our Air BnB for the night.  We were greeted by an army of dogs all wanting our attention.  The farm had kangaroos, chickens, dogs, cats.

We put our bags in our rooms and then drove to the 12 Apostles.  We were hoping for a sunset photo.

 

 

 

 

The next morning we left early and drove to Port Campbell for breakfast.  Once we had filled our tummy’s and drank copious amounts of coffee we headed back to the 12 Apostles.

Poor Chris had to drive through a thick mist.  This was caused from the cold water and waves crashing against the cliffs and the heat of the ground.

 

 

Loch Ard Gorge was our first stop.  This was named after the ship Loch Ard that crashed back in 1878. The ship  traveled for three months, from England and destination Melbourne. There were only 2 survivors that night. A real tragic event.  The two that survived were Tom and Eva.  Tom climbed out of the Gorge and got help.  Eva was left on the beach with just a bottle of rum.

As we looked at the cliffs it was hard to imagine how he managed to climb out.

The beach is a perfect setting for a movie.  Warning though – don’t go swimming in the waters, the current is extremely strong.

We walked around to the view of Razerback, unfortunately part of the path was closed off due to the cliffs being unstable.

 

If you want to get a photo of the 12 Apostles from a beach then you head to Gibson Steps. There are 86 steps down to the beach.  We let the young ones head down.  Both Muriel and I were having issues with our legs.

 

 

Cape Otway Fly TreeTop Adventures would be our next stop.

We didn’t do the Fly however we did do the walk through the tree tops.  I can throughly recommend anyone to do this.  Its fun for young and old.  You can even see fairies in the undergrowth.

Its about 1.9 km long to walk , there is even a shuttle bus which takes you to the start of the walk.  Muriel and I took advantage of that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Late lunch was at Colac.  We had headed inland instead of coastal.

We got to the ferry around 5pm and we were lucky they let us board.  Chris had booked the Ferry for the last crossing at 7pm, however if there is room you can board.

They dropped me off at home around 6.30pm.  I live around 15 minutes from Sorrento.  We had a jam packed two days and it was so much fun doing this trip with family.

 

You can do the Great Ocean road in a day but you must leave Melbourne very early.  Its easy to hire a car or there are many  bus trips from Melbourne.

 

I never tire of seeing the majestic coastline.  It changes all the time.  Currently there are only 7 of the 12 Apostles left.

 

**On the first day we were at the 12 Apostles, a guy climbed over the fence and was heading literally to his death.  Everyone was yelling at him to get back to safety.  His friends  were screaming at him. You could hear all the different languages screaming at him   He turned around and his feet slipped.  All I thought was thank goodness the cliff goes under so we wouldn’t see him fall to his death.  Lucky for him he managed to get back over the guard rail.  Trying to get that great photo is fine… to put yourself and everyone around you at risk is pure stupidity.  Please if your visiting the area stay on the paths.  Its for your safety but also for the cliffs.  Thats why the paths are there.**

 

Here are some links you can look up at your pleasure to learn more about the most amazing Great Ocean Road.

Sorrento Ferry

Great Ocean Road

Cape Otway Lightstation

Port Campbell National Park

Otway Fly TreeTop Adventures

Our accommodation

 

Of course more photos will be on Instagram of the   3 Sisters Instagram

Thank you so much for stopping by xx