Need to enthuse your teenager to come along on the family holiday? Here’s a super cool adventure in the Otways that the entire family can enjoy!
Wondering how to get your teenager enthused about a family holiday?
Lure them with a trip to the world’s longest and highest all-steel constructed treetop walk!
Just two hours from Melbourne in the Great Otway National Park is Otway Fly Treetop Adventures, just two hours from Melbourne.
Not only can you walk across the canopy of a magnificent rainforest (yes, Victoria has rainforests!), you can ‘fly’ through the trees on a zip line!
Everybody feels like a big kid at our attraction, and it’s a great way to bring the family together for a big adventure on the Great Ocean Road!
Here’s my suggested three-day itinerary that’s sure to rate you as the ‘coolest’ folks around!
For this trip, I suggest basing yourself in Apollo Bay, which is 3 hours from Melbourne.
Suggested accommodation: Marengo Holiday Park.
Check in to your accommodation for a quick rest and freshen up, before dinner.
Suggested eateries: Apollo Bay Hotel, Masala Bay
Tip: Everyone leave their devices at home and enjoy a family dinner.
Grab a coffee and food-to-go from the Apollo Bay Bakery and take the one-hour drive to Otway Fly Treetop Adventures, via Glenaire and Lavers Hill.
Start with the self-guided walk through the rainforest to see the different types of tree ferns, waterways and wildlife like possums, bandicoots, wallabies, platypus, echidnas and birds (there are snakes, too, so be careful!).
Then, climb 25 metres up to embark on a 600m walk above the towering tree canopies, which is dominated by Myrtle Beech, Blackwood and the epiphytic Kangaroo Foot Ferns.
If you dare, walk up the 45 metre tall Spiral Tower for an even higher view of the rainforest. Would you believe that the original trees were twice the size?
Lunch: At the on-site cafe.
Our expert crew will securely connect you to the zip cable so you can ‘fly’ 30 metres above the ground through the trees between several platforms (we call them ‘cloud stations’).
You’ll whiz through the trees and have a completely different perspective of the forest. Everyone will be breathlessly exchanging stories at the end of this experience and will be pumped with adrenalin!
Dinner suggestion: Chopstix
Coffee/breakfast suggestions: Icaro Wholefood Cafe
By now the teens will probably be hanging to get back on social media, so why not set a family photography challenge at a waterfall? There are so many creative possibilities along the winding tracks, through the forest scrub; under the towering trees.
Carisbrooke Falls is about a 20 minute drive from Apollo Bay through Kennett River and is an easy to moderate walk. The walking track leaves the carpark and heads upwards along the eastern side of the gorge with views over Carisbrook Creek, leading to a viewing area giving excellent views of the falls. Best seen after heavy rain.
Stevensons Falls is about 50 minutes from Apollo Bay through Skenes Creek. It’s an easy walk (1.5hr return) from the campground. There are also toilets and picnic tables.
Dinner: Casalingo
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Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the Great Ocean Road region the Wadawurrung, Eastern Maar & Gunditjmara. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging. We recognise and respect their unique cultural heritage and the connection to their traditional lands. We commit to building genuine and lasting partnerships that recognise, embrace and support the spirit of reconciliation, working towards self-determination, equity of outcomes and an equal voice for Australia’s first people.
