The lighthouse at Cape Otway has been guiding ships through Bass Strait since 1848, and it is the oldest surviving lighthouse on the Australian mainland. The cape is the point where the Otway Ranges meet the sea, and it is where the Southern Ocean and Bass Strait collide, which makes the water among the roughest in the world. Hundreds of ships were wrecked along this stretch, and the lighthouse was built because too many had gone down with their cargo and crew.
To reach it you leave the Great Ocean Road and take a side road of about twelve kilometres through the forest, a pretty ride through tall eucalypts and manna gums. This is koala country, and you will often see them in the trees beside the road, sitting in forks like furry bags. The surface is paved, narrow and often busy with tour buses and rental cars, so keep your speed down, and watch for wildlife on the road, especially at dawn and dusk.
The wider region is a mix of rainforest and heath. Mountain ash, among the tallest flowering trees on earth, grows in the gullies, with tree ferns and mosses beneath, and the soil is rich enough to hold glow-worm colonies in places like Melba Gully. Closer to the coast, the vegetation is wind-bent and low, and the cliffs are limestone and sandstone. Whales visit offshore from roughly June to September, and from the cape you may see southern right whales with calves.
Apollo Bay, about eighteen kilometres away, is the nearest town and the place for fuel, food and rooms, since the cape has only a small cafe and a few cottages. The weather can change fast, and cold southwesterlies are common, so layers matter. The best light for the coast comes in the late afternoon, when the sun drops over the sea. There is an entry fee for the lighthouse precinct, which funds its upkeep. Pay it, climb the tower if the weather is clear, and take in the long view over the strait.