Once again we found ourselves travelling across the world to celebrate the wedding of two of our good friends. This time it was to the land down under. This was my first time in Australia so I wasn’t really sure what to expect nor what to do. Luckily, my friends thought of virtually everything and had planned out a wonderful week for our whole group so that we could see the best-of in that part of Australia.
My Aussie friend coincidentally happened to be from Torquay, the starting point of the historic Great Ocean Road. It is an Australian national heritage 243km road that stretches along the south eastern coast of Victoria, Australia. While the name might not ring a bell, its possible you’ve seen photos of the incredible rock formations off the coast, such as the 12 Apostles.
The road was reminiscent of driving down Hwy 1 in California, albiet more epic and with the occasional kangaroo (seriously, they’re like deer). We began our drive after a few days in Torquay. Its a bit unnerving at first, since they drive on the left side of the road there. About every kilometer you’ll get a reminder traffic sign telling you to do just that. The plan was to drive from Torquay to Port Campbell stopping at places along way, stay the night at Port Campbell Hostel (which was great), and then head back to Lorne for the wedding. The Great Ocean Road actually continues farther to Warrnambool but for time sake we didn’t drive down that far.
Scenic drives aren’t typically my thing. I much prefer walking through a place as opposed to getting out of the car every 15 minutes. But mostly I attribute that dislike to my susceptibility to motion sickness. However, if you can bare with it, it was quite a site to see. Photos do not do this place justice. Those rock pillars off the coast are incredibly tall and stand so starkly against the ocean.
London Bridge
But you don’t really get a sense of scale unless you make it down to the beach. While the views of London Bridge, the Arch, and the 12 Apostles were amazing, my favorite spot was probably the Gibson Steps. If you’re up for a brief hike down a staircase, you can get the chance to walk along the beach and see the pillars up close. Just don’t go during high tide.
Gibson Steps
As you can tell between these two photos taken 1 day apart, the weather can fluctuate a descent amount. We were visiting in mid-February.
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