Most travel guides would encourage you to take a tour out of Melbourne to explore Southern Australia.

We had a lot of time to spare in Melbourne. Hence, we thought it would be a great idea to do a one-day tour on the 240km-long Great Ocean Road! We booked the Great Ocean Road National Parks & Wildlife Tour from Klook at SGD 98.70 per person.

We considered for very long whether to drive by ourselves (which was what we did in Jeju). In the end, we decided it made more economical sense (& also safer) to book a one-day tour that would drive us around the attractions.

1-Day Itinerary

Anglesea

The tour started bright & early with pickup at 7.30am. It was about 1.5-2h drive out of Melbourne before we got to Anglesea for a quick morning tea provided by the tour company.

It’s a very beautiful and quiet town in Victoria that is supposedly famous for kangaroos. Apparently some in our tour group managed to spot a kangaroo – but not us!

Memorial Arch

After morning tea, it took us about another 30min to get to the ‘official’ start of the Great Ocean Road: the Memorial Arch.

What makes the Great Ocean Road special is also the fact that it was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932. In fact, this road is the world’s largest war memorial!

More about the history of the Great Ocean Road can be found at the Memorial Arch.

The Memorial Arch is next to this Coalmine Creek.

Walk in the small opening between the bushes and trees, and you’ll find a beautiful beach!

After a brief stop here, the tour continued on its way to Apollo Bay for lunch.

We did take a few stops here and there along the Great Ocean Road to take more photos of the scenery!

Apollo Bay

Apollo Bay seems to be a common pit stop for those travelling along the Great Ocean Road. This is in part due to the fact that they have many restaurants here, along with other shops.

Unfortunately we only got about 30-40 minutes to get lunch and rush to the toilet, which is a common problem with group tours.

However, we did the chance to have a delicious lunch in Pit Stop Bros! This is a very cute diner that serves burgers, milkshakes, etc. I had the Mac & Cheese Burger (AUD 18.90) while my companion had the Classic Cheese Burger (AUD 15.90). The fries are a separate order at AUD 8.90.

Port Campbell National Park

After lunch, the tour bus continued the drive to Port Campbell National Park. This is where the tours usually try to do some koala-spotting!

We were pretty lucky to find not just 1, but 2 koalas snoozing on the tree branches! Unfortunately they didn’t wake to let us take clearer photos of their faces, but it was still a cool experience.

Along the way we also witnessed smoke bellowing from the trees – a clear sign of a bushfire. Our guide did tell us though that this could be a controller bushfire.

Controlled burns are conducted during the cooler months to reduce fuel buildup and decrease the likelihood of more dangerous, hotter fires. Controlled burning stimulates the germination of some trees and reveals soil mineral layers which increases seedling vitality.

We also noticed that the park (and also some of the towns) has a few of these fire danger rating boards. It alerts visitors whether there’s danger of fire happening on that day, which is very helpful!

12 Apostles

After koala spotting, we moved on to the main highlight of the Great Ocean Road Tour: the 12 Apostles!

The 12 Apostles are 4.5m tall, limestone pillars that were once connected to the mainland cliffs. They now stand after long periods of erosion, rising out of the Southern Ocean.

It’s a bit crowded around here as almost everyone doing the Great Ocean Road tour is here for the 12 Apostles. But I would say the breathtaking views are honestly worth it. We reached here between 2-3pm, which is a great timing to catch the sunlit rocks.

We picked a particularly good day to tour the Great Ocean Road. The skies were very clear and almost cloudless, and the waters were super blue!

Mutton Bird Island

After marvelling at the 12 Apostles, the rest of the time was spent exploring some of the other natural features around the area.

Our tour guide brought us to Mutton Bird Island. Unfortunately our timing was a too early, as there is usually a spectacle of nightly swarming birds from September until April.

The walk to the island from the main carpark is about 1km – not too far, and completely doable even for a pregnant woman (aka me).

Once you’re done, you can walk to other key attractions, including Loch Ard Gorge and Shipwreck Coast.

We left sometime near 4.30pm, right before the sun set, and took a faster inland route back to Melbourne, which took about 3-4 hours.

The views and scenery along the Great Ocean Road were some of the most stunning ones I’ve ever seen. All the other visitors were also clearly in awe the whole way!

If you’re planning to do your own drive down the Great Ocean Road, you may consider taking the itinerary that our tour group did, with more flexibility for lunch time. Otherwise, I highly recommend booking the Great Ocean Road National Parks & Wildlife Tour from Klook for more convenience!

Related Posts:

• Melbourne Food Guide 2024 – Cafés, Restaurants, Bars etc.
• Best things to do in Melbourne 2024 – Museums, theatre, & more!
• Melbourne Museum: what to see at this comprehensive museum

---

PIN THIS!