Great Ocean Road
Travel Advice for Seniors: Great Ocean Road:
About four and half hours outside of Melbourne lies the Great Ocean Road, a magnificent scenic drive highlighting Victoria’s southeastern coast. The road not only features fantastic scenery such as the Twelve Apostles rock formations but also various parks and wildlife.
The road is said to be a memorial to soldiers killed during World War I, as the returning soldiers built the road, along with several memorials alongside, between 1919 and 1932. It is the world’s largest war memorial.
The road begins at Torquay and runs about 150 miles to Allansford. It’s a three-day self-driving trip for those who wish it. The actual driving part is about 9.5 hours, but there is plenty to see and stops to make along the way including the 12 Apostles, Bells Beach, the Memorial Arch, the Great Ocean Walk, Great Otway National Park, Loch and Gorge, London Bridge, and Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve.
Our Great Ocean Road full day tour started with a stop by a local golf course and home to several wild kangaroos. The kangaroos had a perfect place to hang out under some trees and brush between fairways. Apparently, the golfers don’t mind and neither do the kangaroos! We were able to get close enough to take some pictures and there were several of them there to photograph.
Next stop was a nature preserve to see some koalas in the wild. They were in trees that were close to the park’s elevated walkways, but you still needed a telescopic lens to get a good photograph. Koalas are fascinating animals. They live in eucalyptus forests and eat the leaves from the trees. They are not fast-moving animals and though they may appear cuddly, they are not. They are marsupials and their closest relative is a wombat. They are an endangered species. You can’t help but smile when you are watching them, they are so photogenic!
Our next wildlife viewing on the way to the Great Ocean Road was at a roadside stop where wild parakeets were nesting. The parakeets were various colors, and a red one decided she liked Mom enough to sit on her shoulder and then on her head! Great photos there! Don’t forget to purchase some parakeet cookies to attract them.
Finally, we arrived at the Great Ocean Road. We went through a gated memorial to the builders and then began our slow scenic drive. We had a lovely sunny day, and the water was a beautiful turquoise. We passed by a beach full of stacked rocks that people had made for fun or for memorials on our way to a stop at a rain forest.
The rain forest had huge old-growth trees and plenty of waterfalls, waterways and fern gardens. It was a lovely place to stretch our legs.
Next stop was Port Campbell National Park. This park features several rock formations on the coast where the Southern Ocean has made its mark. The most famous formation is the Twelve Apostles, now eight. The limestone stack rock formations shoot high above the water but are not that wide and there are several in one area, inspiring their name. It is awesome to see them amidst the peaceful white-capped waves coming in from the sea.
We also stopped by the Lock and Gorge formation, site of a shipwreck 120 years ago.
It was great to get out of the city and do some countryside driving, especially with such an outstanding view. It was also a happy surprise to stop at several sites to see wildlife native to Australia, some of which were unscheduled stops that our guide “just happened” to know about.
Another thing our guide just happened to know about was a delightful biscuit (or cookie to us in the States) called a Tim Tam. These chocolate-covered marvels come in several flavors and are two chocolate wafers with a frosted filling dipped in chocolate. We only very occasionally find these in the States since our return. I think our guide may have been disappointed that we were just as excited to eat his Tim Tams as we were to stop at some of the scenic stops! Obviously, he didn’t know in advance about Mom and her sweet tooth!
Where we stayed: Novatel Melbourne, breakfast included.
How we got there: Flew from US to Melbourne via Sydney then private transport to hotel. This was part of a three-week private tour through Australia. We began in Melbourne and ended in Sydney for New Years’ Eve.
General Accessibility Information: Major tourist sights, hotels and transportation in most major cities is accessible. Further, several hiking trails are accessible. See AllTrails’ wheelchair-friendly trail guide.Call in advance to verify and make specialty arrangements.See our sections on specialty apps and accessible travel for more on accessibility assistance.
