I spent a lot of my childhood in Victoria and there were a group of families from my church at the time that would go camping on most long weekends. We went to lots of different places throughout the years, but one of the most regular trips that we took was to Airey’s Inlet at the beginning of the Great Ocean Road. One of the families had a house there and we would camp out in the backyard. I have many fond memories of dyeing eggs, Easter egg hunts down on the beach and climbing around the lighthouse at Airey’s Inlet trying to fit into the tiny windows.
We moved away from Melbourne when I was about 10 and it was a long time before I went back to the Great Ocean Road. My latest trip was a few years ago when I went down to Melbourne to visit my 3 older siblings. We spent the Easter weekend camping and stopping at different beaches along the Great Ocean Road. This was such a special weekend because I don’t often get to see my siblings anymore, since we live interstate from each other. We all love exploring so the opportunity to go on a weekend adventure was too good to pass up. We made use of multiple free camping sites in the area and lived off cheap food cooked over barbeques – it was glorious!
The Great Ocean Road is well-known for a few different natural attractions – namely the 12 Apostles (which must be down to about 7-8 apostles now!), Loch Ard Gorge and London Bridge. I have visited each of these places and while they are 100% worth a visit, they are certainly not the only places worth your attention! You could stop pretty much anywhere along the Great Ocean Road and have an incredible time, but some of my favourite places include Johanna Beach and Apollo Bay, and I would also highly recommend taking a detour away from the beach to visit the Great Otway National Park. There was one particular walk that we did that led to a beautiful waterfall and for someone who definitely prefers mountains and forests to the beach, it was a welcome dose of green. Another place that we stopped for dinner had a walk that you could do with the opportunity to see glow worms after dark.
It was amazing visiting the Great Ocean Road again after quite a few years as it brought back many memories of when I visited these places as a child. There were definitely places that I remembered visiting when I was younger, but there were others that I didn’t remember seeing until we got there and then the memories started coming back.
I would highly recommend visiting the Great Ocean Road if you get the opportunity. As someone that is a nature and adventure lover, I would always go back if the opportunity arose!
The Barefoot Adventurer 