Great Ocean Road Tour, Australia

On Saturday, we did a tour of the Great Ocean Road.  It's a must do trip when in Melbourne and it's Australia's version of Route 66.  The route is 540 km (336 miles) which is about eight hours worth of driving.

We booked Melbourne Small Group Tours and I'm so glad that we did.  I'm not a big fan of big motor coach tours so a small van with only seven passengers was perfect.  Our guide Travis was fantastic!  Highly recommended.

The two-lane road is 243 km (151 miles) runs between Torquay and Allansford.  It was built from 1919 to 1932 by servicemen and it is dedicated to the soldiers who died in WWI.  The Great Ocean Road is the world's largest war memorial.

Our first stop was about 1,5 hours southwest of Melbourne at a popular surf beach where we had tea and cake.  Then it was on to take some photos at the Memorial Arch.




A stop at Teddy's Lookout gave awesome views of the coastline and the Southern Ocean.

At another stop we spotted some koalas in the trees.  The were doing what koalas do best...sleep.

At Apollo Bay we had an hour to walk around and grab a quick lunch.  Then it was back in the van as we continued our trip.  

Our next stop was at the Great Otway National Park where we had a 45-minute rainforest walk. 

 At Port Campbell National Park we got to see the Twelve Apostles, a collection of limestone stacks.  Although it is called the Twelve Apostles,  there were only ever eight.  Now seven as one collapsed back in 2005.

Another rock stack is the Razorback.  It used to extend further out in to the ocean but erosion has taken its toll.

About 3,5 km (2 miles) northwest of the Twelve Apostles is the Loch Ard Gorge.

On our way back to Melbourne we stopped in a small town called Colac where we had dinner at an Aussie pub.  It was well after 10 pm by the time we made it back to Melbourne but what an awesome day.