Point out taking a highway journey in Australia and more often than not, the Nice Ocean Street, or GOR for brief will come up. That is normally one of many quintessential issues to tick off on the To-Do-Record on a go to to Down Beneath. I visited Melbourne in July this yr and did a highway journey on the GOR all the way in which till Port Campbell. Here’s a compilation of my expertise driving this iconic highway and the points of interest alongside the way in which.
For many guests, the gateway to the GOR is normally by town of Melbourne. From right here, its a roughly 1 hour drive southwest to Geelong on the M1 freeway. And from Geelong its one other half-hour drive to Torquay on the B100 freeway. Torquay is taken into account to be the official begin of the GOR as you’d go by the Jap Memorial Arch situated there.
If you’re coming from Melbourne, Torquay is an effective place to cease for a break, or lunch relying in your timing. We determined to have brunch right here earlier than persevering with on our journey. There are a lot of small cities alongside the GOR and you’ll resolve which of them to cease over for a break. For us, we determined to drive all the way in which from Torquay to Apollo Bay for our lunch. Its winter in July for Australia and days are quick, so we needed to attempt to make full use of the sunlight hours.
Airey’s Inlet is a small city alongside the way in which to Apollo Bay. Its most important attraction is the Break up Level Lighthouse. Lighthouse excursions can be found for guests. Though for ourselves, we didn’t have the time to take the tour and had been content material to simply stroll the grounds round it. The lighthouse’s stables have been changed into a pleasant cafe and would make for a great lunch break.
With a reputation just like the GOR, you’d assume that the highway follows the southern coast of Australia for its total size. Nevertheless, solely about half of the GOR really follows the coast. The rest of it from Apollo Bay begins to show inland in the direction of the mountains and forests, and also you gained’t see the ocean once more till you attain the 12 Apostles.
From Apollo Bay, the GOR begins to show inland, and we quickly discovered the highway meandering up into hills and forests for the following one and a half hours earlier than descending onto the coast. Very quickly after the GOR meets the coast once more, we discovered ourselves on the 12 Apostles. This iconic rock formation alongside the coast is what everybody involves see once they journey alongside the GOR, and if you happen to had been to seek for the GOR on-line, you’ll normally see footage of the 12 Apostles.
We stayed the night time at Port Campbell which is simply 10 minutes away from the 12 Apostles. From Port Campbell, there are a number of different rock formations to see apart from the 12 Apostles. One in every of these known as London Bridge.
Port Campbell is close to the top of the GOR and I believe it makes for a great midpoint stopover. Journey for one more 50km westwards and the GOR ends on the city of Allansford. From Port Campbell, the 12 Apostles and London Bridge are simply 10 minutes drive away, in addition to, different pure points of interest like Loch Ard Gorge.
For our return journey to Melbourne, we determined to backtrack the GOR as we needed to go to a few the locations that we skipped on the primary day because of time constraints. Should you had sufficient of the GOR and its quite a few twist and turns which might trigger movement illness in some individuals, there may be the inland route which makes use of the A1 and M1 highways for a straighter and sooner journey again to Melbourne.
Listed below are my ideas after driving alongside the Nice Ocean Street
It could take you greater than 3 hours to drive continuous from Melbourne to the 12 Apostles through the GOR overlaying a distance of roughly 230 km. Though taking greater than 3 hours to cowl 230 km looks as if a very long time, the highway is usually single lane on either side with not many locations for correct overtaking. The pace restrict ranges from 50kmh or much less in cities and as much as 100kmh in some stretches. A big portion of the highway is winding alongside the coast and thru the hills forcing you to decelerate for security. We took nearly 4 hours to cowl that distance, and I believe that could be a sensible timing for most individuals.
A variety of guests assume that the 12 Apostles is the one attraction to see alongside the GOR, and so they rush solely to see this one factor. Nevertheless, there are much more different attention-grabbing cities, eating places and pure points of interest which are price a go to, and it will be higher to plan no less than 2-3 days to cowl the GOR as a substitute of attempting to do it in a day journey. Dangerous climate can damage your plans if you happen to solely have restricted time to see the 12 Apostles, as what we skilled with rain on the primary day. A multi-day journey additionally permits for some flexibility to backtrack or go to points of interest in case of dangerous climate.
