Melbourne to the Twelve Apostles in One Day

There are three big problems with the Great Ocean Road. The first is – it is stunning. When driving through to the Apostles, you start on a stretch of the road that lines the cliffs of Southern Victoria, which is not exactly an ugly part of the world. You then move on to dense bushland/rainforest, before finally emerging once more into endless stretches of paddocks and rolling hills dotted with cows, sheep and trees. It is really hard not to make constant stops to take in and photos of absolutely everything.

Being a coastal road, there are many twists and turns along the way. Neither TNM nor I identify as speed demons, so we took our time navigating these unfamiliar roads.

Apollo Bay.

On top of that there is just so much to do along the Great Ocean Road. We pulled into Lorne for brunch – a necessity as we were both starving by this point in the journey. I have a slight beach addiction (as anyone reading this blog may have noticed) and wished to stop at as many as possible, in order to get my fill. We had another break at Apollo Bay, did a rainforest walk at Maits Rest and on my request, took a massive detour to Cape Otway, a national park that boasts a famous lighthouse and a plethora of activities to do. With tickets at twenty dollars each and it being late afternoon by then, we both opted out. On our way back to the car, TNM made a casual observation:

“I hope the Twelve Apostles don’t close before we get there,” she commented. I whipped around to face her.

“Close?!” It was so obvious, yet in my frenzy to do everything, it hadn’t occurred to me that we might miss out on the sight that was at the top of my list.

In the middle of winter, the road to Cape Otway seems almost post apocalyptic.

We ran back to the car in a panic, threw ourselves in and zoomed out of Cape Otway. It was three in the afternoon, we were still around an hour out and neither of us had reception, in order to ascertain what the closing time of the attraction actually was.

What a fine thing it would be, if we were to finally make it there just as it closed, I thought to myself. I silently considered my options. Hurling myself into a nearby corner and crying my eyes out seemed the most appealing. To be honest, I didn’t know what I would do. I was desperate to see them and I knew it would probably be many years before I would have the opportunity to do so again.

We pulled into the car park around a quarter past four, locked the doors and ran through the kiosk towards the rocks. It was freezing by this point in the day. Our multiple layers were no match for the wind coming in off the Southern Ocean, which somehow managed to snake its way into every nook and cranny; causing us to shiver in its wake. On top of that, we had to deal with the sort of intermittent rain that Victoria is notorious for – Four Seasons in One Day really should be made the state’s official anthem.

These conditions however, were perfect for our purpose. Here we were, at one of Australia’s most popular tourist attractions and both the weather and late hour of the day meant that there were only a handful of other people about. That meant we could snap away to our heart’s content, or simply stand there, agape, marvelling at the beauty of these strange anomalies. We couldn’t go down to the beach; the waves were wild. Yet, it was enough, at this point in time, to finally see them from the viewing platform with my own eyes.

Best of all, upon our return we saw that the kiosk was closed (which also hurt, as we were both starving and in need of a warm drink). We must have just made it. Our respective hunger pangs could only distract us so much from our sense of complete satisfaction in accomplishing our mission.

The drive from Melbourne to the Twelve Apostles takes approximately four hours along the coast; two and a half if you choose to take the direct but less scenic backroad (which we opted for on our return to the city). The Apostles themselves are part of the Port Campbell National Park, which boasts a collection of other rock formations and activities such as nature walks, fishing and diving.

If you ever have the chance to see these stacks, just go. It can be done in a day, after all.