Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 4: Stunning Great Ocean Views, Apollo Bay, Almost Cape Otway Lightstation & Wild Animals!

My Victoria, Australia travelogue (so far):
Melbourne Day 1: Federation Square, Hosier Lane & Flinders Street Station
Melbourne Day 2: Queen Victoria Market, Royal Arcade & Block Arcade
Melbourne Day 3: Victoria Hall & Queen Victoria Market Again (Part 1)
Melbourne Day 3: St. Kilda Beach, Luna Park & Acland Street (Part 2)
Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 4: Car Rental, West Gate Freeway & Point Addis
Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 4: Anglesea, Aireys Inlet’s Split Point Lighthouse & Lorne

After leaving Lorne (2.15pm), we came to the part of Great Ocean Road where the views were absolutely stunning. The BLUE sea, greenery, crazy rocks formations, cool wind… this part was the best drive of all. My sis drove from Lorne to Apollo Bay (the next town) and poor her, I kept disturbing her with exclamation after exclamation like Look! Wow! Ohmygod! See see! (hahaha)

You will notice some shadows (reflections) in the pictures as they were taken inside the car. Please bear with it. Nope I cannot wind the window all the way down as the loud wind noise will be too much to handle.

St. George River (not far from Lorne) @ Great Ocean Road.
I would like to have this view from my house. 🙂


If this is heaven…

If you’ve been wondering what the heck is that on the car dashboard… well it’s a pack of strawberry bought from Queen Victoria’s Market on day 2. Haha

Great Ocean Road plaque at Mt. Defiance Lookout.
“This road was built to commemorate the services of the sailors and soldiers in the Great War 1914-1919”

Great ocean view near Mt. Defiance Lookout.

Lalalalalala
A beach just by the road.


Great Ocean Road drive near Carisbrook Falls.
Sun, sea, LOVE!

After Lorne, there weren’t many cars on the road anymore. I think most decide to stay in the town. Hence we feel like we OWN the road! Not that we were driving dangerously. In fact we abide to the speed limit all the time. And we gave way to fast cars.

It’s a winding road!
Top left picture was taken from the car side mirror hence the ‘mirror’ look. It’s very pretty in full size.

I like this picture. Something about the road elevation and tall trees in between.

Ahh finally we reached Apollo Bay at 3.25pm.

First thing first, toilet! To find one, just go to any Tourist Information Center where you’re at. They always have a washroom nearby.

Muslims praying on the field. This was Hari Raya day 3.

Just beside all these is the Apollo Bay beach.

Stunning eh?
But can you see the dark clouds in the background? Ohh rain coming!!!

Apollo Bay town.
Another lovely town! An old charm. Would love to stay here a night but nope nope cannot miss the highlight of this trip.

It did rained a little at Apollo Bay but then it was sunny again.

Thank God we didn’t decide to stay in Warrnambool. 161km!!! nuts ohh

Not long after leaving Apollo Bay, the Great Ocean Road begin to cut into the Otway National Park. No more scenic ocean. This for me is the most ‘frightening’ part of the road. Read on and you will find out why.

For one, there’s even lesser car on the road and we’re driving in the forest (think about the small road to Cameron Highlands with tall trees in between… hmm okay that’s not scary but this road is!!!). Oh and I’m driving btw.

Then we reached a junction that read ‘Cape Otway Lightstation’ turn left. We didn’t plan to visit this lighthouse but sis abruptly said “Let’s go there” and I followed her advice, thinking “Why not? Since we have a nice time at Split Point Lighthouse. A short detour is ok.”

And as I turned into Otway Lighthouse Road, I began to regret my action.

Otway Lighthouse Road is an unsealed road. It is paved but rough, bouncy and dirty on both side of the road. I feel uneasy driving this road though the forest. I just hate it. We only met 2 cars and 1 bike. I kept imagining tire puncture and being stuck here all by ourselves. Eeek

I wanted to turn back at first but sis said “Only 3km” (something like that, she was referring to her GPS) and so we continued on. 5 minutes later, we’re still travelling. 10 minutes later… still is. Then we found out it was actually 13km. Ohh and the fact that I need to answer nature call and driving at the same time didn’t help at all.

Saw a couple of caravan park and cottage signs along the way. Didn’t see the accommodation though. I believe they must be inner some more. I can’t imagine myself staying here. No street lamps lagi.

Finally we reached an opening… ahh finally blue sky and cows! This part of road is pretty. 🙂

1/2 hour after we left Apollo Bay, we reached the gate of Cape Otway Lightstation.

We parked our car and went into this cute ‘house’. And then more nightmare. To go to the lighthouse we need to pay entrance fee AU$16.50. Not that we can’t afford it. I didn’t expected this after driving ‘scarrily’ all the way here for like 20 minutes (I’ve actually read about the entrance fee prior to this trip but have forgotten about it totally). So we decided not to go in because we’re actually running late. Going to the lighthouse will take about 30 mins and driving back to Great Ocean Road will take another 20 minutes. It’s 4.15pm and we’re nowhere near our main destination. So I asked for the loo ‘aje’. Well well apparently the loo is near the lighthouse. Pay or no loo. Hahaha

I was dumbfounded. Wah dui????? Why this cute ‘house’ has no washroom? I was disappointed and decided to just leave. So here we go again. I choose to drive because I have no confident with my sis driving on this road.

Not long after, my sister shouted “Kangaroo!!!”. Argghhh too bad I missed it. That bugger was so fast.

Not far away we saw a few cars in stationary and they were looking up at the trees. We slowed down too.

This is what we saw. Wild koalas!!! Wohoooooo…

Here’s to show you how high they are from the ground.

We drove some more and saw a few koalas nearer to the ground.

Most of them were sleeping. We saw one that carry a baby koala behind her back.
Taken by sis (using TZ-7).

Oh cute fluffy koala!!! I wanna HUG you! 🙂
Ahh never mind, I have a “Queensland’ giant koala toy given by dad back at home.
Taken by sis (using TZ-7).

We continued on after that. I felt better (not so scared) on the drive out. My sis said “At least we get to travel to the southern edge (almost) of Australia and we get to see wild koalas & kangaroo”. She’s right. 🙂

But I did questioned her with this quote “Funny eh? We took so many brochures from the Tourist Centre in Melbourne and we have the Cape Otway Lighthouse brochure, why didn’t you open and check it?” Hahaha

Anyway by the time we reached the junction of Great Ocean Road & Otway Lighthouse Road the time is 4.45pm. Oh no!!! Will we make it in time to our main destination, the Twelve Apostles for sunset? And what about me wanting to pee?

Well you gotta stay tuned for all that!

Time taken from Lorne to Cape Otway Lightstation & back to the junction of Great Ocean Road & Otway Lighthouse Road @ Victoria is 2 hours 30 minutes.