Summer road trips: Start planning your Great Ocean Road adventure

Australia’s Great Ocean Road is one of the world's most scenic coastal drives. Photo / Visit Victoria

Destination of the week: The Great Ocean Road, Australia

Why you should go

Here in Aotearoa, we’re prone to a scenic road trip – and a wiggly highway to boot. Australia’s Great Ocean Road is pitched as one of the most picturesque coastal drives in the world, but how does it compare to our own? Winding its way around the bluffs, there are plenty of twists and turns to remind you of home, albeit dotted with koalas lazing overhead. With summer coming, plan the ultimate road trip and find out who has the one-up: NZ or Oz.

Warrnambool is home to Pippies By The Bay restaurant and the Deep Blue Hot Springs hotel. Photo / Visit Victoria

Top spots

We can’t skip past the premier attraction: the 12 Apostles. These gigantic limestone columns always offer a dramatic panorama whether they’re battered by the Southern Ocean, bathed in a sunset glow or dressed in sunshine.

The 12 Apostles are a highlight of the Great Ocean Road. Photo / Visit Victoria

You’ll want to stop in Mount Gambier and walk the perimeter of the colossal Blue Lake. Just don’t get caught out by the clocks. Mount Gambier is 30 minutes behind The Twelve Apostles – a charming quirk of this road trip.

If driving (or backseat driving) starts to take its toll, make a pit stop at Deep Blue Hot Springs, Warrnambool, home to Victoria’s first hot springs hotel. Almost as numerous as the wildlife-spotting opportunities are the microbreweries that pepper the route and at Kennett River, you’ll find one of the best places in Australia to spot wild koalas. Great Otway National Park boasts Australia’s best rainforest scenery, with Otway Fly Tree Top Walk providing a great place to admire it from.

Otway Fly Tree Top Walk provides a great place to admire Great Otway National Park. Photo / Visit Victoria

Best eats

Regaled Australian chef Dan Hunter’s Brae restaurant and working organic farm is a hillside hideaway but the $340pp set menu won’t leave much change. The seafood is understandably a highlight of the Great Ocean Road – try Pippies By The Bay in Warrnambool for the freshest catch. The Coast in Anglesea champions local produce and modern Australian fare, and you simply can’t miss Sweet View – The Great Ocean Road Lolly Shop for nostalgic sweets.

Brae restaurant and working organic farm is a hillside hideaway. Photo / Visit Victoria

For more things to enjoy on the road, see visitgreatoceanroad.org.au