Great Ocean Road in Australia

The Great Ocean Road in Australia is the section from Torquay to Allansford

Those who have been to the Algarve region of Portugal and have ridden the Jadran Way (Adriatic Route) through Montenegro and Croatia will not see much excitement in the Great Ocean Road of Australia. It's a ride more for local Australians who don't want to fly to Europe. The views are really beautiful, but the remoteness - 3 hours by car one way to the viewpoints, wind and cloudy weather at best, and so it often rains here... Who would like such components for a vacation? It's like driving through sunny Croatia and admiring similar views, wanted to stop at the beach and swim) In Portugal, you walk in sunny weather on trails with the same views, but they are 15-30 minutes away from your accommodation.

Main attractions:

•     Great Otway National Park with its rain forest of ferns
•     Twelve Apostles Marine National Park: Gibson Steps + Twelve Apostles Lookout
•     Port Campbell National Park: The Razorback + Loch Ard Gorge + Thunder Cave
•     London Bridge

The most frequently visited section of the Great Oecan Road is a 2-3 hour drive from Melbourne, Victoria, and the locations listed above are viewed on bus tours. You can get here by car or as part of an organized tour. Car rental in Melbourne from 120-150 USD per day + expenses for gasoline + you will have to spend hours at the wheel, since the nearest location from Melbourne to drive at least 2 hours. Also do not forget about the left-hand traffic, serpentine, narrow Australian roads and the speed limit "for turtles". The maximum speed allowed on the highway is 100 km/h, but very often there are signs for 80 and 60 km/h!!! Also the roadbed, on the way to the Great Ocean Road, leaves much to be desired - there are even potholes... In the end, it is cheaper and more comfortable to take a tour for 120 c.u. per person and not think how and where to go. Exactly for this kind of entertainment the excursion is just right. However, it is worth paying attention to the locations you are invited to visit in the announcement. Prices for tours on the website Viator varies greatly, which depends on factors such as: whether lunch is included, how many people in the bus, how many locations are seen per tour. After analyzing the many proposals, we chose the best and were 100% satisfied with the organization, so we can safely advise you to take a tour here. Payment is made through the website "Great Ocean Road Reverse Itinerary Boutique Tour - Max 12 People" (tour company Hit the Road Tours), a day you can cancel the reservation and the money will be returned to the card. The main advantage of this company is that they leave an hour earlier than the others - at 7 a.m. and go first to the center viewpoint of the 12 Apostles, and only then explore the rest of the locations. This reversal avoids the masses of tourists! People come to the 12 Apostles before you only in their cars)

The main attraction - 12 Apostles National Park - are the rocks, which are beautifully set back from the shore) There are also Gibson steps to descend to the beach. The time to visit these beauties is 1-2 hours. To see enough and a couple of minutes, then depends on your desire to walk on the beach ... Going down the steps is 5 minutes one way. Near the steps of Gibson is parking for 10 cars, if you came in the morning, there will be places, but if lunchtime you can go straight to the 12 Apostles, and from them to walk for half an hour to the steps and the observation deck at the 12 Apostles - about 15 minutes one way. That leaves 1.5 hours) Views are beautiful, but wind blows strongly, drizzles small rain, clouds covered the sky! And it's constant weather here, given that we visited these places in January - the height of summer...

Port Campbell National Park: namely The Razorback + Loch Ard Gorge + Thunder Cave is a 10 minute drive from 12 Apostles Lookout. It takes about 1 hour to see the sights of Port Campbell. There are three trails, 2 of which lead to the lookouts and the third is the descent to the beach with the grottoes.

Great Otway National Park is a beautiful rain forest of huge ferns with a circular path with one-way traffic in a clockwise direction. walking time is about 30 minutes.

After visiting all the above places bring you to Apolo Bay, where you will eat, and then look for wild koalas in the trees) Strong you can not get excited) You will get to see a piece of soft butt, high in the crown of the eucalyptus, one to two koalas. There are many varieties of eucalyptus in Australia, but koalas eat only one single species. It is because of this that locals can tell exactly where there are koalas. In Victoria, koalas are not allowed to be stroked even in the zoo! So to get the most out of koalas and kangaroos go to Brisbane. It is there that there are many animals in the special park and even in some places you can see kangaroos outside. Although more often than not, kangaroos are seen on the highways run down along the side of the road... Locals say they start galloping across the highway just after the sun goes down... Because of this, almost all cars in Brisbane drive with "kangaroos". But Sydney and Melbourne are more of a city and the cars here are regular Jeeps or even sedans. In Brisbane, on the other hand, it's mostly Jeeps and more often pick-ups.

The Great Ocean Road in Australia, should I visit it?

If you are in Australia, and especially in Melbourne, of course, visit it. But it's not worth going here specially, as well as in Australia in general. So many times have seen pictures of these apostles in the internet as a wonder of the world, but at the same time there are few places to find that the Algarve region in Portugal is in no way worse, but even better. And the road from Tivat to Herceg Novi, through Kotor in Montenegro - that's the wonder of the world, although there is the sea, while in Australia it is just a beautiful road along the ocean.