If you’re an outdoors person and love fishing and surfing, here are Jack Murphy’s top 10 places that he found between Torquay and Port Fairy.
The Great Ocean Road is arguably one of the best drives in Australia, winding through the rain forests and hinterland of the Great Otway National Park and over the escarpments, peeking over the 12 Apostles along the way.
For the most part, you don’t even have to leave the warmth of your heated car seats to score some impressive visuals. But, I recommend you do get out and have a look along the way. Just don’t forget good walking shoes, beanie, binoculars and a camera!
We ventured from Torquay to Port Fairy. Here are my top 10 recommendations:
Torquay is the gateway to the Great Ocean Road and definitely worth an early stop. This energetic coastal town has plenty of great shopping and is known as the surfing capital of Australia.
And, for good reason, Bells Beach is just down the road. When the conditions are right, it produces one serious slab of surf – but this is for the seasoned surfers only. Bells Beach is also home to the world’s longest continuously run surf competition. It started back in 1962 and is now know as the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. In the movie Point Break, Bodhi (actually his stunt double) paddles out in a 50-year storm at Bells Beach. Except, er, he didn’t. It was actually filmed in Oregon. Damn Hollywood!
After checking the surf at Bells Beach, keep trucking down the Great Ocean Road until you hit Lorne and stop for lunch and explore this beautiful seaside town. If you’ve got more time, it’s a 15-minute drive inland to check out Erskine Falls.
Next stop, and just over an hour (not including lookout stops) from Lorne, is Apollo Bay. It’s especially picturesque from the water and is the home port to some classic (still-working) timber fishing vessels.
Pick up supplies for dinner and stop in for a quick bevvie at Great Ocean Road Brewhouse. I recommend the Prickly Moses Otway Pale Ale on tap. It’s a great one for southern sojourns.
Apollo Bay is a great halfway spot to stop for the night. If you really want to impress the missus, head out to Cape Otway Lightstation (the oldest surviving working lighthouse on mainland Australia) where you will have already booked the Lightkeeper’s Cottage for the night.
Built in 1857, it’s been renovated to sleep eight and has mega views of the lighthouse and over Bass Strait. Keep your eyes peeled for koalas. If you stay nice and quiet, you’ve got a great chance of spotting them in the eucalyptus trees.
If you’re feeling perky after coffee and brekky at the Lightkeeper’s Cafe, shoot inland to the Hopetoun and Beauchamp falls.
These two spectacular waterfalls are relatively easy to access and the trail passes through massive mountain ash forests, with large myrtle beech, blackwood, Californian redwood and thick ferns.
It’s an easy walk and all that nature has got to be good for the soul.
Drive an hour sou’west from the waterfalls and you’ll run into the 12 Apostles.
These precariously picturesque limestone stacks attract tourists from all over the world and are one of the most famous natural attractions in Australia.
However, a name change is well overdue as there are only seven Apostles still standing (the eighth collapsed in 2009).
Turns out that ancient limestone is no match for the winds and tides of Bass Strait. That said, you still must see this.
Equally as beautiful – and only five minutes down the road from the 12 Apostles – is Loch Ard Gorge.
If it’s not too cold and the water is calm you can even swim at this amazing natural wonder.
It’s named after a famous shipwreck on nearby Muttonbird Island in the late 1800s.
Everyone aboard the Loch Ard drowned except for two teenagers, who were swept into what is the only safe gorge on the coast.
There are some 600 known wrecks along this coastline. No wonder it’s called the Shipwreck Coast, eh?
Port Fairy is perhaps the most “ye olde fishing village” on the coast and hasn’t changed much in more than 100 years.
Nineteenth-century bluestone cottages and stone churches line the wide streets behind proud Norfolk pines.
Head out to sea and count on running into dolphins, seals and even whales in winter.
The Gum Tree Caravan Park offers accommodation with great trailer boat facilities. For a slightly more offbeat sleepover, check out the Overland, a “red rattler” first-class train carriage built in 1905 to run between Melbourne and Adelaide.
Try your luck catching some bluefin tuna. If your other half doesn’t want to join in the sashimi session, suggest she has brunch at Bank St + Co.
I can heartily recommend the smashed avocado on toast with poached eggs, Persian feta and almond dukkha.
Once you’ve caught your fill of bluefin, throw on the wetsuit and have a look for a crayfish or two. You’ll find some great rocky grounds in close off Warrnambool.
After hauling a giant bluefin into the boat and plucking mouth-watering crayfish from their rocky lairs, it’s time to bring home the bacon, er, seafood. Grab the soy sauce, wasabi, and a couple of lemons and set up a tastebud-tantalising crayfish and sashimi picnic.
And guess what? You just won the Husband/Boyfriend/Dad of the Year Award and got to go fishing at the same time. Win-Win. You owe me a beer.
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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.
