Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road is one of the world's great coastal drives, winding for some 150 miles along Victoria's wild southern shore. It begins near Melbourne and follows the edge of the Southern Ocean as the road bends through surf towns, over green headlands and past one dramatic lookout after another, a journey that is every bit as much the point as any single stop along it.
Its most famous sight is the Twelve Apostles, a row of golden limestone stacks that rise sheer from the surf where the cliffs have been cut away by the sea, with Loch Ard Gorge and its sandstone walls close by. Between the headlands lie easygoing seaside towns like Lorne and Apollo Bay, the cool temperate rainforest of the Otways with its tall tree ferns and tumbling waterfalls, and wild koalas dozing in the roadside gums.
The light is what makes it unforgettable. At sunrise and sunset the cliffs and the stacks glow gold above the dark water, and the crowds thin as the colors deepen. For the grandest view of all, a helicopter lifts off over the coast and reveals the full sweep of the Apostles and the surf line curving away beneath you, a fitting finale to one of Australia's most beautiful drives.
