Planning a Great Ocean Road day trip including Twelve Apostles is very achievable. And quite frankly it should be on everyones bucket list. It is truly a remarkable journey to travel from Melbourne, getting outside of the city, working your way through the Victorian countryside, stopping by small coastal communities and winding around the bends in the road where Australian bushland meets the ocean. Have I convinced you yet? You need to do this.
While many people will tell you not to, I drove the Great Ocean Road in a day, on a day trip from Melbourne. If I was to do the trip again, by all means I would do the drive over a few days stopping more along the way. But for those with limited time, you can most certainly do a Great Ocean Road day trip.
We stopped at beautiful little beaches along the way whenever we felt the need to take a short detour off the road.
Following the road around these winding bends provided some amazing views of the landscape before me. I couldn’t grab my camera quick enough to capture a picture of the koala that ran out onto the road. We had to swerve to miss it, luckily the furry little guy made it to the other side of the road safe and sound.
From Melbourne the drive to the Twelve Apostles is approximately three hours without stopping, but that’s rushing it. Part of the fun of the trip is the journey right?!
Above is the pathway to access the Twelve Apostles. A perfect bluebird sky day against the sunburnt landscape.
While off the road we explored some of the surrounding sights off the Great Ocean Road like the one above and below.
Then finally, we arrived at the impressive limestone stacks protruding from the Southern Ocean. The limestone stacks were at one time connected to the mainland, and eventually eroded to form caves in the cliff. These caves then collapsed to form arches and then stacks. The stacks have continued to erode, some of the stacks now have collapsed and no longer stand.
Stop at Bells Beach, Point Addis, Angelsea, Lorne, Mt Defiance and Cape Patton Lookout to name a few.
Hire a car – I hired a small compact car from one of the major car rental places for $50 a day, and of course petrol/gas will also cost you for this journey. All up you are looking at costs starting at approximately $100, should you opt out of the insurance option. If you are travelling with a group of people, this is by far the cheapest option and it also gives you flexibility to stop when and where you would like.
Local guides – There are a number of local guides which will take you from Melbourne for the day. Just google them.