Region Overview
You’ll be thanking your lucky stars you brought your car across to Victoria, for the state lays claim to one of the world’s most scenic coastal drives: the Great Ocean Road!
Taking you past world-class surfing breaks, pockets of unspoiled rainforest, quaint lighthouses, sheer limestone cliffs and koala-filled canopies, the road winds its way along the coast and offers plenty of pull-over spots for you to marvel at the view. The centrepiece of the drive—one that’s splashed across virtually every postcard you’ll find of Victoria—is the 12 Apostles, a collection of awe-inspiring limestone stacks rising from the shallows of the Southern Ocean. Sadly, despite the name, there are only eight stacks left (four have eroded since their discovery), so there's all the more reason to take a trip out here to see the ones left standing. On a fine day, we recommend arriving close to sunset, when the cliffs are suffused with an alluring, amber light.
Speedsters and tailgaters take note: you aren’t welcome here. The best way to explore the Road is at your own leisure. Take your time, stop in at the many gorgeous towns dotting the coast—Torquay, Lorne and Apollo Bay come to mind—and relish the journey through this strip of pure paradise.