Why this ride
Out of Torquay, one way: 91 km, roughly 1 h 49 in the saddle. The plan has 1 food stop marked.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Great Ocean Road · Apollo Bay Run · short arc
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 91 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 49
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Torquay
Torquay is where the Great Ocean Road begins, or ends, depending on which way you ride. It is a town of about thirteen thousand people on the edge of Bass Strait, and it has a reputation that has little to do with motorcycles: this is the capital of Australian surfing. Bells Beach, a few minutes down the coast, hosts one of the world's oldest surf competitions, held every Easter, and the town gave birth to brands such as Rip Curl and Quiksilver that have since gone global. Surf World, the museum in town, tells the story with boards, photographs and a lot of sun-bleached nostalgia.
Read the complete Torquay write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Torquay is where the day begins. Next is Lorne.
2. Lorne
Lorne is where the Great Ocean Road stops being a seaside drive and starts behaving like a mountain road. The town sits on Louttit Bay with the Otway Ranges standing right behind it, steep and thick with eucalypt, tree ferns and the odd waterfall. About twelve hundred people live here, a number that swells enormously in the Australian summer holidays, when Melbourne decamps to the beach and the main street fills with surfboards and ice cream.
Read the complete Lorne write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lorne is where this day stops to eat. Next is Apollo Bay.
3. Apollo Bay
Apollo Bay is where the Great Ocean Road stops being a headline and starts being a town. It sits in a curve of bay on the south coast of Victoria, with the forested Otway Ranges standing directly behind and Bass Strait rolling in from the front. A population of about fifteen hundred swells in summer when holidaymakers arrive, and you notice the change in how busy the main street and the foreshore are.
Read the complete Apollo Bay write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 91 km.
Leg by leg
Torquay to Lorne
Torquay → Lorne is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lorne to Apollo Bay
Lorne → Apollo Bay is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.