Great Ocean Road: Cape Otway to Warrnambool
Cape Otway to Warrnambool on the Great Ocean Road · one way, about 264 km back to the start
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Why this ride
From Apollo Bay it runs 264 km to Warrnambool; allow about 3 h 37 of riding. It goes by way of Twelve Apostles and Port Campbell. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Roadbook
- Cape Otway
start
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.
- Twelve Apostles
scenic
Everyone calls them the Twelve Apostles, which is generous. There were never twelve, and the original name was the Sow and Piglets, a rather less holy image that tourism officials decided to retire. Today about eight limestone stacks stand in the surf off Port Campbell National Park, and one collapsed in 2005 in front of a crowd of onlookers. The cliffs are made of soft limestone, and the Southern Ocean is working on them constantly, so the view is never the same twice.
The stacks form because waves cut caves into headlands, the caves become arches, and the arches fall to leave isolated pillars. Eventually the pillars fall too. It is a process that is visible in a lifetime, and this stretch is called the Shipwreck Coast for a reason. A short drive west, Loch Ard Gorge marks the site where the clipper Loch Ard struck the cliffs in 1878, and only two young people survived, Tom Pearce and Eva Carmichael.
For riders, the Apostles are the highlight of the Great Ocean Road, and also its most crowded point. The viewing platforms are reached by a walkway from a big car park, and the midday crowds can be thick with tour buses and selfie sticks. Go at sunrise or an hour before sunset, when the stone glows and the visitors are fewer. The road here is mostly straight and open, running across wind-bent coastal heath, and gusts from the southwest can hit hard on the exposed stretches. A windproof layer is essential even in summer, since the temperature can drop abruptly.
The nearest big services are at Port Campbell, a small seaside village a few kilometres along the coast, while Timboon and Cobden inland are quieter dairy towns that also have fuel. Cobden is known for cheese and Timboon for whisky made at a local distillery. Watch for little penguins, which nest along parts of this coast, and for wildlife on the road at dusk, when wallabies and kangaroos are most active. Let the ocean do the talking.
- Port Campbell
scenic
Port Campbell is a small coastal town of Victoria's southwest, set into a narrow gap in the limestone cliffs and facing the wild Southern Ocean. It is the base for the most famous part of the Great Ocean Road, and its little harbour and beach are protected by a headland, so the town feels sheltered while the coastline on both sides is raw. The nearest bigger places, Timboon and Cobden, are inland and a long way off in the paddocks, so the town has to serve everyone who comes along the coast with fuel, food and a bed.
The sea has been carving this coast for millions of years. The soft limestone stands in cliffs of sixty metres or so, and the waves cut caves, arches and stacks, of which the Twelve Apostles, about twelve kilometres east, are the best known. They are fewer than twelve now, as stacks fall every few decades. The collapse of London Bridge in 1990, a double-arched rock formation, left two tourists stranded on the outer part and rescued by helicopter. Nearby, Loch Ard Gorge is named after a clipper that wrecked here in 1878, when two young survivors, Tom Pearce and Eva Carmichael, were washed into the gorge and lived. The coast was feared by sailors and is called the Shipwreck Coast.
For a rider, the road is as good as the scenery and not as simple as it looks. The Great Ocean Road was built by returned soldiers after the First World War and dedicated as a memorial to those who died, and it winds along the cliff tops with long views and broad bends. Here the road is straighter than the section further east near Lorne, and wind is the main trouble, as the Southern Ocean blows hard and cold, sometimes sideways. Rain showers come fast and the weather can change within an hour, so carry a layer even in summer. Tourist coaches and camper vans are common near the Apostles, and speed limits are strictly enforced.
The best time to ride is early morning or late afternoon, when the light turns the cliffs gold and the crowds thin. Winter has a drama of its own, with big seas, but the air is cold. Port Campbell has a fuel station, a bakery and fish and chips on the foreshore, and it is a good place to refuel before riding on toward Warrnambool.
- Warrnambool
finish
Warrnambool is the western gateway to the Great Ocean Road, or the end of it, depending on which way you ride, and it is a solid, comfortable regional city of about thirty thousand, where the dairy farms of south-west Victoria meet a cold, wild coast. The town spreads along the shoreline, with long beaches, a breakwater and good sea views, and the centre has all the practical comforts of a place that does not depend entirely on tourism.
The coast here is known as the Shipwreck Coast, and with good reason. Dozens of vessels went down on these cliffs and reefs in the nineteenth century, and the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village in Warrnambool tells their story. The most famous wreck is the Loch Ard, which sank in 1878; only two young people survived, a ship's apprentice named Tom Pearce and a passenger, Eva Carmichael, and the gorge where they came ashore is a short ride from the road further east. Also important is the whale story. Southern right whales come to Logans Beach, just east of the town centre, between about May and October to give birth, and a viewing platform lets you watch them from the cliff. It is one of the best land-based whale-watching spots in the country.
The riding around Warrnambool is more relaxed than the twisting section near Lorne. Roads run through flat farmland with long straights and wide views, and the wind off the Southern Ocean can be fierce, so a firm grip on the bars is wise. Tower Hill, a collapsed volcano a few kilometres west, has a lake inside the crater and walking tracks where you may spot emus, koalas and kangaroos. The old town of Koroit has handsome Irish-influenced buildings and a long history of potato farming.
Fuel is easy here, along with food of all kinds, from fish and chips on the foreshore to cheese from the dairy farms nearby. The weather is changeable, and cold fronts can bring heavy rain, so bring a waterproof layer.
If you have time, the road east toward the Twelve Apostles is one of the great coastal rides in the world, and the light in the late afternoon is superb.