One of the most beautiful roads in the world - Melbourne's Great Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road is located southwest of Melbourne city, starting from Torquay and ending at Allansford. It is about 276 kilometers long and passes through various spectacular terrains along the way, including lush rainforests and rugged rivers, ancient volcanoes and spectacular coastal scenery. It is known as one of the most beautiful roads in the world. It is a must-see attraction for self-driving or tour groups, and may also be the preferred destination for many tourists coming to Australia.
The Great Ocean Road was built in 1920 and completed in 1932. The purpose of building the road was to improve the transportation facilities in the southwest of Victoria. On the other hand, the Australian government also hoped to use it to commemorate those who died in the First World War. Australia also participated in the First World War in 1914 and invested a large amount of resources and soldiers. Although it was a victorious country, Australia was also severely damaged and suffered heavy casualties. As compensation for the soldiers who participated in the exhibition, the Australian government introduced a policy of allocating land to returning soldiers and launched a number of infrastructure projects to provide employment opportunities for demobilized soldiers. The famous Great Ocean Road is one of such projects. There is now a Memorial Arch at Eastern View at the entrance of Great Ocean Road to commemorate the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in World War I.
The Great Ocean Road is quite long and there are many attractions along the way. In addition, there is no public transportation, so the most common modes of transportation are self-driving or group tours. There are a large number of one-day group tours available, with little difference in cost, and most of them only briefly visit the main attractions. If you choose to travel by car, you will have more flexibility. You can plan an itinerary of more than two days and use Port Campbell as a base to explore the various attractions on the Great Ocean Road in depth. However, if two people plan to take a one-day self-driving tour of the Great Ocean Road, the cost budget is actually similar to joining a one-day tour, and the 12-15 hour journey will make people very tired, so it is not recommended.
There are many attractions worth visiting on the Great Ocean Road, including Bells Beach, Memorial Arch at Eastern View, Apollo Bay, The 12 Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge and London Bridge.
Bells Beach is located in Torquay, the starting point of the Great Ocean Road. The beach is not only one of the famous surfing resorts in Australia, but also an excellent place for diving, fishing and various water sports. Therefore, many Melbourne locals come here to relax and have fun during holidays. As mentioned above, the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch is a check-in point to commemorate the soldiers who died in World War I. Under this wooden plaque, there are memorial stone tablets and statues of construction workers, where tourists can stop and take pictures. Apollo Bay is a coastal town about 80 kilometers away from the Twelve Apostles. The entire town is built along the coastline. The town is a relatively lively place on the Great Ocean Road. There are a large number of restaurants, accommodation and souvenir shops in the town, so that tourists can take a break before continuing on their journey.
Coming to the highlight of the entire Great Ocean Road, the Twelve Apostles Rocks are an indispensable attraction. I believe that the ultimate goal of all tourists who set foot on this coastal road must be here. However, you may not know that the name of the Twelve Apostles was actually just given for marketing purposes. Although the large stones have collapsed due to erosion and only eight are left today, it turns out that there were only nine stones here from the beginning, not the twelve huge stones as generally understood. The best place to view the Twelve Apostles is from the Castle Rock lookout, from here you can not only see the panoramic view of the Twelve Apostles, but also the magnificent cliffs and beach views. The scenery is even more charming if you come here to take pictures at sunset. In addition, if you want to take pictures of the Twelve Apostles from a horizontal plane, you can also walk to the beach from the nearby Gibson Steps and feel the majesty of the rocks up close.
The last two attractions to be introduced are Loch Ard Gorge and London Arch Bridge, which are located eight kilometers east and west of Port Campbell respectively. Therefore, you can arrange your trip to end with the sunset view of the Twelve Apostles, and then visit these two attractions on the second day. Like the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge also has trails connecting various viewing platforms, allowing visitors to enjoy the scenery from different angles. In addition, there are stairs leading to the beach below in Loch Ard Gorge, allowing visitors to appreciate the three huge boulders and stalactite caves standing in the sea up close. The name Loch Ard Gorge is said to have come from the fact that a British cargo ship named Loch Ard was wrecked here. Only one man and one woman survived out of the 54 people on board, so the place was named in memory of the victims. The London Arch Bridge is another famous attraction in the second half of the Great Ocean Road. There used to be a walkway on the bridge for tourists to walk on. It collapsed in 1990 due to erosion by waves and became the Broken Bridge we see today. However, it is still very spectacular and it is definitely worth taking a morning to walk around.