The Tourist Gaze

Snaking through the southeastern cost of Australia, the Great Ocean Road offers one of the most scenic drives in the country. We’re traversing this road, driving westward on a day tour from Melbourne, about to squeeze what I’m expecting to be a relaxed road trip into less than 12 hours.

I would’ve wanted to drive this and explore this strip of highway on my own pace; but, one, driving in Australia is on the “wrong” side and I’m not confident behind a right-hand-drive wheel and on the left side of the road; and, two, traveling with my parents requires accessibility and ease of mobility. A tour is helpful especially for the latter is especially. So here we are in a bus with a host of tourists from various parts of the world.

As we drive out of Melbourne and the neighboring town of Geelong, wide expanses of land slowly replace the urban sprawl. In about an hour, we reach Torquay, which “serves as a gateway to the Ocean Road,” our driver and guide Joe tells us shortly before he parks the bus and we get down. “This town is also known as the surfing capital of Australia. Its beaches are dotted with surfers trying to catch the waves.”

Indeed, Torquay is home to several major surf brands, including Rip Curl and Quiksilver, which were founded here. The town features numerous surf shops, surf schools, and the Australian National Surfing Museum, which showcases the history and culture of surfing in Australia.

Then we speed through a couple of towns to the Memorial Arch at Eastern View. One of the most significant landmarks on the Great Ocean Road, the arch serves as a tribute to the soldiers who built the road and those who fought in World War I. The Great Ocean Road was built by returned soldiers as a means of employment and rehabilitation after World War I. The construction was arduous, involving manual labor to carve the road out of rugged cliffs and coastal terrain.

“The Memorial Arch symbolizes the beginning of our journey along the Great Ocean Road,” Joe says. “You haven’t been to the Great Ocean Road until you’ve had your picture taken at this arch.”

On our way to lunch, we have two short stops. One is at the Kennett River, a small coastal town located known as one of the best places to spot koalas in their natural habitat. We do find one perched atop a tall eucalyptus tree, though at that height, it’s too hard to spot.

The other is at the Cape Patton Lookout Point midway between Kennett River and Apollo Bay. The site is a popular spot for photographers and sightseers because it provides a picturesque vantage point of the expansive Southern Ocean, rocky cliffs, and rolling waves crashing against the shore.

At around noon, we arrive at Apollo Bay, a charming coastal town with a wide, crescent-shaped beach ideal for swimming and surfing for beginners. With crashing waves and a somewhat frigid temperature, though, we’re not here for any beach activities. Instead, we head to a restaurant to have our lunch. Apollo Bay has a variety of cafes and restaurants, and this being a coastal town, seafood is a highlight, with fresh catches from the local harbor featured on many menus. But we settle for the familiar, ordering some burgers and fries at the cheapest restaurant we could find.

Tummy grumbles fixed, we continue the drive westward, stopping another time to spot koalas high above the eucalyptus trees. Another half hour later and we arrive at the Maits Rest Rainforest Walk, a popular spot in the Great Otway National Park, as the Great Ocean Road briefly curves inland. The site is named after Maitland Bryant, a forestry worker who used the area as a resting spot during his patrols. Mait, as he was often called, would often rest here, perhaps appreciating the serene environment and the natural shelter provided by the dense forest canopy, and thus the etymology of the name.

The walk takes us to a manageable 800-meter loop of boardwalk and gravel pathways, through a cool, temperate rainforest featuring ancient myrtle beech trees, towering tree ferns, and a variety of other native plants. Along the trail, interpretive signs provide information about the rainforest ecosystem, the plants, and the animals that inhabit the area.

Another hour on the road brings us to the highlight of any Great Ocean Road trip — the Twelve Apostles. These rock formations are a group of limestone stacks located off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park. The harsh and extreme weather conditions of the Southern Ocean gradually eroded the soft limestone, forming caves in the cliffs, which then became arches, and eventually collapsed to form stacks.

Despite the name, there were originally only nine stacks. According to Joe, these rock formations were originally known as the “Sow and Piglets,” with Muttonbird Island representing the sow and the smaller rock stacks being the piglets. However, the more evocative and memorable name “The Twelve Apostles” was adopted in the 1950s to better market the area to tourists.

A bit further west is the Loch Ard Gorge, where our tour concludes. The gorge is surrounded by towering limestone cliffs, carved out over millions of years by the relentless pounding of the Southern Ocean waves. The gorge’s main features include a natural archway carved into the cliffside and a tall limestone stack rising from the water just offshore.

Loch Ard Gorge is named after the clipper ship Loch Ard, which ran aground on nearby Muttonbird Island in 1878 during a storm. Of the fifty-four passengers and crew aboard, only two survived: Tom Pearce, a ship’s apprentice, and Eva Carmichael, an Irish immigrant. Memorials to the two are found near the gorge, commemorating their survival and the tragic loss of the others.

From Loch Ard Gorge, we backtrack eastward, but turn north at the intersection past the Twelve Apostles to return to Melbourne just in time for dinner.