Great Ocean Road, Australia

beginning of drive outside melbourne

we stopped along the way and hiked to see this waterfall

lovely colorful birds

really nice rolling green hills prior to the coast becoming very steep

a koala sighting

and another one - we saw more than 20 of them in the cape Otway park

we got to the "12 apostles"  part of the coast just at sunset (only 7 remain, rest have fallen in recent years)

was really beautiful

this was the coast on the other side of the "12 apostles", was so much lighter than the sun setting side, was amazing

same 12 apostles rocks

our last stop on the drive before we headed for warramboul, our overnight stop


 We picked up the rental car in Melbourne and braved the left side of the road driving (with steering wheel on passenger side). Every time I wanted to turn I put on the windshield wipers, a minor problem.  The Great Ocean Drive starts a bit outside Melbourne and ends more or less just before the agricultural town of Warramboul. Gorgeous scenery, some of which you can see from the car and other spots you pull in and hike a very short distance to see the views. It is all set up for perfect viewing. A drive not to be missed if you are in the Melbourne area. With all the stops one can make to look for koalas, enjoy lunch on the coast, hike to waterfalls etc it can take a lot longer than you would imagine. In fact, we drove part of it in the dark (doesn't help that is becomes dark around 4.30). We knew we were missing great sites so the next day we retraced our steps in the light of day and it was well worth it.