Since you are reading this post, you are probably considering taking the 2 Day Great Ocean Road tour — and honestly, it’s one of the best ways to do this iconic drive. On a one-day tour, you spend more time in the bus than at the actual sights, and the self-drive option… It’s a fantastic drive, but it’s over 500 km return – a lot to cover in 2 days.
When we did the 2-day self-drive, we quickly realised how hard it was to fit everything in (not to mention the stress of keeping to the schedule).
This spring, we had the opportunity to join the 2 Day Great Ocean Road tour from Melbourne, and it was an amazing experience. Of course, on a tour, you always wish that you had more time at some places, but having someone keeping you to the schedule and, most importantly, doing all the driving and giving you all the local knowledge and tips means that you see way more than you would on your own.
The key thing is to pick the small group tour, and this is exactly what this tour provided. There were just five of us – the beauty of low-season travel.
About the Great Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road is considered one of the world’s most beautiful coastal drives. It runs for 250 km from Torquay to Allansford, a small town just east of Warrnambool.
The drive is usually split into three stages: the Surf Coast (Torquay to Anglesea), characterized by surf breaks and coastal towns; the Otway Ranges (Anglesea to Apollo Bay), a more forested region with high cliffs; and the Shipwreck Coast (Apollo Bay to Port Campbell), famous for rugged coastline, dramatic rock formations like the Twelve Apostles, and historical shipwrecks.
Most of the road runs beside the Bass Strait, the stretch of ocean separating Victoria from Tasmania (about 400 km away). It’s beautiful, but also notoriously rough, especially in winter.
The last section follows the coastline of the Southern Ocean. Here, there’s nothing between you and Antarctica, 3,200 kilometres away.
2-Day Great Ocean Road Tour
The 2-Day Great Ocean Road tour is the epic combination of spectacular coastline, dreamy waterfalls, abundant wildlife, and the misty temperate rainforest of the Great Otways. Here’s the snapshot of the two days:
Day 1: Torquay to Apollo Bay, stopping at lookouts, beaches, and a couple of waterfalls. Overnight in Apollo Bay.
Day 2: Apollo Bay to Shipwreck Coast all the way to the Bay of Islands, returning to Melbourne via the faster inland route.
One optional highlight is a visit to Wildlife Wonders Sanctuary in Apollo Bay. This 34-hectare property has been restored to look the way the landscape did before clearing, and it’s home to kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, emus, and even potoroos (!). The animals live freely, and the dusk tour (starting at 4 pm) is a real treat.
This itinerary is packed with stops — around 24 attractions in total, including several short walks and two waterfalls near Lorne. Some lookouts are located right by the car park, while others require a short walk.
Know Before You Go
The tour starts very early in the morning – a 6 am pickup in Melbourne. And given how packed the itinerary is, there is no breakfast stop. So make sure to have some breakfast before joining the tour. There is a morning tea stop in Torquay, an hour and a half after departure from Melbourne, but it’s quite light – tea and biscuits.
The return leg starts just as early, but there is a bakery in Apollo Bay that opens 15 minutes before the tour departs, so you have a chance to pick up your morning coffee and something to eat.
Day 1 – Torquay to Apollo Bay
Torquay
The Great Ocean Road begins at a roundabout in this seaside town. This is the stop for the morning tea and the first taste of the coastal drive.
There is a lovely 15-minute walk along the coastline. It is a little too developed for my taste, something that would be at home at Palm Beach in Sydney, but you get the first look at the coastal cliffs here. And in the early morning light, the cliffs glow bright orange.
Bells Beach
Next up is Bells Beach – the famous surfing mecca which is forever tied to Point Break as the setting for the film’s dramatic finale, where Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) chooses to surf the legendary once-in-50-years storm instead of facing jail. Of course, that scene wasn’t filmed in Australia, but the beach really is famous in the surfing circles. It’s a nice lookout right next to the car park.
On our approach to Bells Beach, we drove past a paddock with the biggest mob of kangaroos I’ve ever seen.
GOR Chocolate & Ice Creamery
From the beach, we headed to the Great Ocean Road chocolate factory, which didn’t quite fit the theme of spectacular nature, but I suppose most people enjoy chocolate enough to spend half an hour waiting for the place to open, tasting a dozen different chocolate flavours and browsing the shop.
Anglesea
Anglesea is another scenic lookout on the side of the road with beautiful beaches stretching forever in both directions. It’s a quick chance to snap coastal views and enjoy the fresh sea air before heading further along the coast.
Aireys Inlet
You can see the white pillar of Aireys Inlet’s Split Point Lighthouse sitting at the top of the promontory, almost from Anglesea.
Once you get there, it’s about a 30-minute easy return walk past the lighthouse to the edge of the cliffs for more coastal views.
We were lucky to have an encounter with a Nankin kestrel who perched on the cliff edge right next to the boardwalk. These birds usually fly swiftly above, and it was a treat to see one sitting still long enough to be photographed.
Fairhaven Beach
This epic beach is one of the longest on the Great Ocean Road – it stretches for 6 kilometres.
At the start of the beach, we drove past the famous Pole House suspended 40 meters above Fairhaven Beach. It doesn’t look particularly impressive from below, but $1500 per night price tag gives you a sense of how special this architectural marvel actually is.
Memorial Arch
This arch commemorates the building of the Great Ocean Road as a memorial to Victorians who served in the First World War, 1914-1918.
Starting in 1919, the construction of the road took several decades. A total of three thousand ex-servicemen worked with pick and shovel, using the stone and natural materials of the area. Carving a road into sheer cliffs with picks and shovels is no small feat, and sadly, several soldiers lost their lives in the process. Today, the Great Ocean Road stands as the world’s longest war memorial.
The arch looks incredibly similar to the one at the start of the Transpantaneira highway in the Brazilian Pantanal. Both serve as those iconic “you’re really here” moments, the kind of landmark that makes you want to pull over, snap a photo, and feel like the adventure has properly begun.
Next to the arch, a small path leads into the eastern end of Fairhaven beach.
Erskine Falls
Just before reaching the town of Lorne we left the coastline and drove 9km into the forested hills of Great Otway National Park to Erskine Falls.
There are two lookouts at Erskine Falls: one at the top of the falls and one at the bottom.
A super easy walk brings you to a lookout onto the 30-meter waterfall framed by thick vegetation. It’s nice, but nothing to write home about.
The lookout at the bottom of the falls is much prettier. It does take a lot of stairs to get to the bottom, but you are climbing past the towering Mountain ash trees – the second-tallest tree in the world and the tallest flowering trees in the world. So it’s pretty cool.
This walk brings you to the edge of the small plunge pool at the bottom of the falls, and it is a beautiful stop, well worth a bit of effort to reach.
Lorne
Lorne (pronounced Lorn) is the biggest town on the Great Ocean Road and the perfect place to stop for lunch. There’s everything from fish and chips to seafood to Asian street food here.
There isn’t much to do in town beyond lunch. Lorne Beach is a wide stretch of sand, but by now you would’ve seen better beaches.
My favourite feature of Lorne is its friendly Sulphur-crested cockatoos. They are everywhere: on the beach, on the power lines and rooftops, and even on the outdoor tables of the local cafes and restaurants. They are practically Lorne’s answer to urban pigeons.
Sheoak Waterfall
Just past Lorne, Sheoak waterfall is reached by a 700-meter walk with some stairs (not many).
Our walk to the falls started off in grand fashion with an encounter with an echidna. This little camper was feeding right next to the trail and kept ambling towards us. We stayed still and quiet, and after a few minutes, it was so close I could’ve touched it.
There are also two lovely viewpoints onto the road hugging the side of the cliff along the way.
The waterfall is bigger, or at least wider, than Erskine Falls, and it drops into quite a large pool. But I would say it’s not quite as atmospheric.
W.B. Godfrey Wreck Lookout
This is a very different lookout with a sad story behind it. There is an old grave here, and here’s how the story goes: In March 1891, the ship W. B. Godfrey was sailing from San Francisco to Melbourne when thick smoke from bushfires obscured the coastline. Blinded by the haze, the ship struck the coastal rocks and was wrecked. Miraculously, every passenger and crew member made it safely to shore.
But the real tragedy came afterwards.
The following month, another ship arrived to salvage timber and cargo. Five men set out in a small boat towards the wreck—but the seas had other plans. The boat capsized. Three men were pulled to safety, but the ship’s mate and a seaman drowned.
As if that weren’t warning enough, a few months later, another group of five men tried again. Once more, the salvage boat overturned. Four men managed to scramble to shore, but one, unable to swim, was lost to the surf. His body washed up days later at Barwon Heads.
Despite the mounting toll, a third ship, the Clara, made her own attempt. Three crew rowed towards the shattered Godfrey while Captain Gortley watched anxiously from his vessel. Just as before, the sea claimed their boat. Two men reached land, but the third, Victor Godfrey, struggled helplessly in the breakers. In a desperate act of courage, Captain Gortley launched a dinghy to save him. Neither man survived.
So while the wreck of the W. B. Godfrey itself spared every life on board, the repeated efforts to salvage her cargo ended up claiming four people.
Kennett River
As a wildlife nut, I was looking forward to Kennett River possibly more than any other spot on the road. It is probably the most well-known place for spotting wild koalas in Australia. Well, maybe rivalled by Kangaroo Island.
Unfortunately, there are not as many koalas living here now as there used to be. It is essentially a short walk through a narrow stretch of bushland, with tall eucalyptus trees on either side.
We did spot one koala, but only one. For comparison, we spotted four along the road to Mariner’s lookout in Apollo Bay (see below).
Kennett River is also famous for its parrots. And we did have a couple of small flocks of King parrots racing through the air practically past our faces. But it wasn’t the parrot extravaganza we expected. There are many more parrots in the village of Lavers Hill in the Otways (see day 2).
Unlike the koala mystery, the lack of parrots is easily explainable – they are no longer fed at Kennett River, while there are plenty of bird feeders at Laver’s Hill.
Mariner’s Lookout in Apollo Bay
This lookout is as “authentic” as it gets. It is located on private farmland. After a 15-minute climb, you emerge in a sheep paddock on top of the hill with sweeping views of Apollo Bay.
The lookout and the trail were donated by Gladys and Norman Henriksen to the shire for the tourists to enjoy the view.
The view is not as dramatic as the coastal lookouts along the Great Ocean Road, but it is a nice view of Apollo Bay. And the sheep in the paddock give it a lovely rural atmosphere.
Wildlife Wonders Sanctuary
I’ve been meaning to visit the Wildlife Wonders for years, ever since seeing Lizzie Corke’s presentation at the Wildlife Tourism Australia conference in Tasmania in 2018. The idea behind this 34-ha property, which used to be farmland, was to restore the area to what it would’ve looked like before European colonisation. So trees were planted, habitats were restored, and native Australian wildlife species that historically occurred in the area were reintroduced on the property from other sanctuaries. Koalas moved in on their own – the sanctuary’s fence is not much of an obstacle for them.
To experience this wildlife extravaganza, Wildlife Wonders offers dawn and dusk tours (when animals are most active). We arrived in Apollo Bay just in time for the dusk tour.
The tour is a guided walk in search of animals who live freely on the 34 ha of native habitat. And we started seeing animals straight away. Emus strutted across the lawn as we walked past, Swamp wallabies and Eastern grey kangaroos browsed on the grassy slopes as we headed into the rainforest gully to look for the Long-nosed potoroos – the tiny, fluffy cousins of the kangaroo. While the potoroos still occur in the Otways, they are nocturnal, so they are not often seen. We spotted three (!!!) on our dusk walk.
Koalas are plentiful in Wildlife Wonders. We spotted one in the crook of an eucalypt tree at the car park when we first arrived. And another two or three during the walk.
At the end of the walk, we came to a grassy clearing by the ocean, where kangaroos, Swamp wallabies, Red-necked wallabies, and Tasmanian pademelons (extinct on the mainland) grazed together in a gentle chaos. Soon, an emu wandered in, and suddenly it felt like an Australian Noah’s Ark, ready to set sail into the sunset with its furry and feathered crew.
Day 2 – Apollo Bay to Bay of Islands
Day 2 covers by far the more spectacular section of the Great Ocean Road. The Shipwreck Coast between Apollo Bay and the Bay of Islands is where you find the spectacular limestone formations like the famous Twelve Apostles, the Razorback, and London Bridge.
Here, the coastline is composed primarily of limestone, the soft rock highly susceptible to erosion. In fact, we are loosing about 2cm of coastline to erosion each year.
This section of coastline is also prone to more dramatic events like rockfall and the collapse of rock formations. It is a living, breathing geology unfolding in our lifetimes. Six weeks before our trip, for example, a massive rockfall destroyed a section of Gibson Steps, and now there is no access to the beach.
Maits rest
Before we get to the spectacular coastline, we spend the morning exploring the misty temperate rainforest of the Great Otways.
We started the day with a 30-minute wander along the Maits Rest trail among the towering 300-year-old Mountain ash and Myrtle birch trees. It is a spectacular, magical rainforest with enormous moss-covered trees and a mind-boggling variety of ferns.
Victoria’s (in)famous weather means that we start the walk under the clear, bright sky and finish it in the rain. And this weather lottery continues for the rest of the day. Luckily, the forest is at its best on a rainy morning.
Castle Cove
Castle Cove is a gorgeous wild beach. It feels untouched, almost secret. You can wander down to the sand if you have the time, but most people just stand at the edge and soak in the drama of it all. That’s what we did before heading into the hills of the Otway Ranges.
Lavers Hill
Perched 480 metres above sea level, Lavers Hill is the highest point on the Great Ocean Road. It feels a bit like a mountain outpost tucked into the heart of the Otway Ranges. The road up from the coast twists through dense temperate rainforest, and then suddenly you’re in a quiet little village on top of the ridge, where mist drifts through the trees and rolling green hills stretch away in every direction.
There are a handful of cafés with verandas looking out over the forest — perfect for soaking in the views with a coffee in hand. At the Visitor Centre, the café has bird feeders out the back that attract a flurry of colour: dozens of Crimson Rosellas, King Parrots, and the occasional rowdy Sulphur-crested Cockatoo.
Gibson Steps
From the top of the range at Lavers Hill, it’s about a 30-minute drive back down to the coast, where the road drops you right at the Gibson Steps. Normally, this is one of the best spots to walk down to the beach and stand at sea level beside the towering limestone cliffs of the Twelve Apostles, but a recent rockfall has closed off access to the beach.
Even so, it’s quite a dramatic viewpoint of the coastline, with one particularly striking rock pillar standing just offshore. Some guides count it as part of the Twelve Apostles, others say it doesn’t quite make the cut.
We lucked out with the weather: a moody overcast morning, with shafts of sunlight breaking through the storm clouds and throwing the limestone cliffs into dramatic relief.
The Twelve Apostles
The Apostles are the most famous stop on the Great Ocean Road. There are two main viewpoints here: one from the boardwalk, where you’re right on the edge looking across at the pillars, and another from the less-than-pretty upper lookout that gives you a broader sweep of the coastline.
Despite the name, there were never actually twelve of them, only nine. One collapsed dramatically into the sea in 2005, leaving eight standing today. The pillar closest to shore is alive with birdlife, and we spotted a huge nest clinging to its side that probably belongs to a sea eagle.
Our visit turned into a bit of a waiting game — huddling against the wind and sideways rain until the clouds finally broke and a few rays of sunlight spilled through, transforming the Apostles into a moody, photogenic scene.
While this spot has been promoted as the postcard image of the Great Ocean Road and has become the most famous landmark (just look at the size of the car park!), it is not the most dramatic spot on the road. In fact, no single location can be considered the prettiest site on this stretch of coastline. The beauty here is in the diversity of shapes and sizes. So don’t expect too much from the Apostles. It’s just one of many dramatic formations.
Razorback, Island Archway & Loch Ard Gorge
This sight ended up being one of our favourite stops on the Great Ocean Road. There are three short walks here, and we managed to explore them all in about 30–40 minutes.
First up were the Razorback and Island Archway lookouts. The Archway is a rocky bay framed by two limestone stacks, while the Razorback is something else entirely — a towering, narrow ridge with a jagged spine. It’s so monumental it almost looks like a ruined temple rising out of the surf. The whole site feels otherworldly.
The next two trails lead to different viewpoints over Loch Ard Gorge itself. The gorge is beautiful on its own, but what makes it unforgettable is the story behind its name. In 1878, the clipper Loch Ard wrecked just off these cliffs after a long voyage from England. Of the 54 people on board, only two survived: teenagers Tom Pearce and Eva Carmichael. Tom managed to pull Eva from the waves, and together they sheltered in the gorge until help arrived.
Today, the site is a natural memorial to that shipwreck, and standing at the lookout, with waves hammering the cliffs below, it’s easy to imagine the scene. One of the walks takes you to the cliffs where the ship went down, while another leads above the tiny bay where Tom and Eva washed ashore. Access down to the beach is closed for now due to unstable cliffs, but the views from above are still spectacular.
London Bridge
After Loch Ard Gorge the coastline shifts — from here on it’s not the sheltered Bass Strait anymore, but the full force of the Southern Ocean. There’s nothing between this stretch of cliffs and Antarctica, 3,200 kilometres away (about the same distance as Darwin!).
London Bridge itself was once a double-span natural arch jutting out into the sea. In 1990, one of the spans suddenly collapsed, leaving two tourists stranded on the seaward side until they were rescued by helicopter. What’s left today is still impressive: a massive limestone arch standing alone in the surf, pounded day and night by the Southern Ocean.
The Grotto
If the Razorback and Loch Ard Gorge are the most dramatic spots on the Great Ocean Road, then the Grotto has to be the prettiest. From the car park it’s just a short boardwalk and a set of steps down to the viewing platform, but the effect is magical.
What you find is a sunken limestone chamber, open to the sea, with a natural archway framing the view. On calmer days, the water inside glows like a mirror, perfectly reflecting the cliffs and sky beyond. When the swell is up, you’ll see foamy bursts of surf pushing into the pool, giving it a wilder, more elemental feel.
It’s one of those places that seems to shift with the light and weather — serene one moment, moody the next. Since we were on a tour, we didn’t get to pick the timing, but honestly, it didn’t matter. The Grotto has a quiet, otherworldly beauty that comes through no matter what conditions you catch it in.
Peterborough
Peterborough is a quiet little beach town, more low-key than the bigger stops along the Great Ocean Road. There isn’t a lot to do here, but the Shipwreck Walk is worth stretching your legs on, with lookouts over the reefs that once made this stretch of coast so dangerous. Just beyond town, the Curdies River flows into the sea, creating a wide sandy estuary.
Bay of Martyrs
From the car park, a short boardwalk leads past a couple of lookouts with views of a chain of small rocky islands scattered just offshore. The path winds down to the beach, where funky, wave-sculpted rock formations break up the sand. It’s a quieter stop, and the views feel more intimate compared to the bigger cliffs further east.
Bay of Islands
This is more or less the final big attraction on the Great Ocean Road. Two lookouts sit right by the car park, giving you wide, sweeping views of limestone stacks rising out of the sea and the crescent-shaped cliffs curving along the coast. It’s a fitting last stop: dramatic, windswept, and a reminder of just how much the ocean has shaped this landscape.
Port Campbell
Once we reached the scenic end of the Great Ocean Road (the road technically continues to Nelson, but there isn’t much to see on that final stretch), we headed back to Port Campbell for lunch and a short walk to stretch our legs before the drive back to Melbourne.
Walter dropped us off at the top of the headland near the sign for the Port Campbell Biodiversity Walk, and we made our way down to town via a very scenic set of stairs. This was a great opportunity to get a bird’s-eye view of Port Campbell and stretch our legs before the long drive.
There are a few places to eat in Port Campbell, from fish and chips on the beach to cozy cafés in the side streets. My favourite was the Grassroots Deli Cafe, which had excellent food and the feel of a small-town cozy cafe – think shelves brimming with local jams and knick-knacks for sale, with local art displayed on the walls.
There’s also enough time after lunch to walk to the Port Campbell jetty or simply relax by the beach.
Winchelsea
From Port Campbell, we took the inland route, travelling through lush green fields. My biggest surprise came during a comfort stop at Winchelsea, about halfway to Melbourne.
I heard some unfamiliar parrots calling from a large eucalypt tree in the car park. Given my obsession with Australian parrots, I rushed to grab my camera from the bus. To my delight, they turned out to be Purple-crowned Lorikeets – a species I had never seen before. They are described as “pollen nomads,” which sounds exactly like the kind of life I’d love to live.
Final Thoughts on 2 Day Great Ocean Road Tour
So what is our verdict for the 2 Day Great Ocean Road Tour? Do it! If you have the opportunity to join this tour, don’t think twice. You see so much in 2 days, it will feel like a week-long holiday. And with the early morning starts and almost 500 kilometres of driving in two days, you’ll be glad to have all the logistics taken care of for you. The option to pay a little extra for a double room in Apolo Bay YHA (instead of slamming it in a dorm room, which is included) makes it one of the best multi-day tours I’ve done in Australia. It is excellent value for money and absolutely jam-packed with sites and activities.
