Oliver (left), Jaime, Liz, Hamish, Zara and Rebecca at the Twelve Apostles Lookout. Photo / Rebecca Foreman
This Mother’s Day, we check in with one brave mum who asked her teenage kids to plan their next family holiday. Here’s how things unfolded for Rebecca Foreman.
As time slips away and my kids grow up, I cherish our holiday memories. To keep them involved, I flipped the script: my best friend and her kids joined us on a Great Ocean Road Expedition, with a twist — our teenagers planned it all.
“We’ll cook food like this,” enthused my 15-year-old son Ollie, as he bit into the juiciest hamburger I’d ever seen at Langlands Restaurants on the 25th floor of Melbourne’s Hyatt Centric. We were talking about menu planning, specifically what the kids had planned for us all to eat on our five-day trip along the Great Ocean Road. We’d handed them the organisational reins! Not only in meal planning mind you, but activities too — and not only my two, Ollie and Zara, but my bestie’s kids, Jaime and Hamish. The only real help my mate Liz and I felt obliged to give was in organising and driving two RVs to the caravan parks along the way, which they had decided. Liz and I hoped it would be a fun, educational adventure for all of us and not one that left us regretting relinquishing holiday control.
READ MORE: Victoria: Exploring the Great Ocean Road
Hello Jucy HQ, located near Melbourne Airport to pick up our vehicles/homes for the trip. Liz and her two had chosen the newly launched Jucy Cruiser (4-berth), while me, Ollie and Zara went for the roomier StarRV (6-berth) and were all given a rundown of how they worked. I was pleasantly surprised by the high-end kit out of both motorhomes, like tiny houses but tinier. The kids took it all in — where all the hoses and cables went so they could operate important things like the lights, cooker, aircon and toilet.
Then we were off on the road to Torquay, the official start of the GOR, home to Australia’s Surfing Museum and spectacular surf beaches. We parked at nearby Jan Juc Caravan Park, decided beforehand in our WhatsApp group, as well as Zara and Jaime being in charge of the following day’s meals. Given a A$120 budget, Liz drove them to the local supermarket while the boys bought takeaway for dinner, which we consumed around the roomier StarRV table, everyone excited by the adventure before us.
The plan was to wake early, have brekkie and hit the beach before driving to the first activity, but that didn’t happen. When we piled out for breakfast at 7.30am, Zara had arranged a dollop of yoghurt, fruit, a hot cross bun each and a slice of buttered toast — meager portions for teenage boys that prompted a frank discussion about food portions, and had they really bought enough food for that day but also, what about the next day’s food and where we were going to be able to access another supermarket when we were in the middle of Otway National Park. The kids scrapped the beach for the supermarket instead.
A two-hour drive southwest through lush national park led us to Otway Fly Treetop Adventures. Before the trip, Liz and I had invited the kids to research the GOR and fill in a Google Docs table with activity ideas. Between themselves, they had worked out a rough daily plan of where they wanted to go and I arranged the bookings. Otway Fly was unanimously their first choice, combining a treetop walk then zipline, equal parts peaceful and exhilarating. After which we made a beeline for Bimbi Park, home for the next two nights. Zara and Jaime made delicious burritos for dinner, while Hamish and Liz managed a roaring fire, which meant s’mores for dessert.
We all woke to an ample breakfast sorted by Jaime and then explored Bimbi Park, a 50-year-old campsite offering not only accommodation, but mini golf, basketball and rock climbing.
Owner Emmanuel Fotinas explained that hundreds of thousands of guests have visited throughout the years, “It’s the draw to living in nature and a safe place for kids to grow up. How it used to be.”
We had already seen two sleeping koalas, dogs playing and a kookaburra, all before lunch.
The kids wanted to explore the Cape Otways Lighthouse, full of esteemed history as the longest continuous operating light on the Australian mainland, then a telegraph station added to the site when Tasmania was connected by a submarine telegraph line from Cape Otway to Launceston in 1859.
Liz and I hankered for a decent coffee, so perched at the quaint cafe and left them to it. Back at camp, the kids played mini golf and gathered wood for another fire. Ollie made respectable home-made pizzas, after which we sat around the fire and played “what would you rather” games, with Liz and I interjecting stories about our mischievous childhood.
Our group was pulling together and there was a beautiful shift in us all being equally valuable in this adventure, not the usual “do what I say” parent-child dynamic. It felt surreal to think the memories we were making were ones that maybe our kids would one day recount around a campfire with their own children.
We rose to glistening dew on the grass. It would have been easy to stay longer at Bimbi Park, but we had places to be, like the Twelve Apostles. Ollie navigated us southwest through Otway National Park, but not without incident. I took a corner hard and the StarRV fridge and kitchen drawers flew open, along with many of the fridge contents including a plate of leftover burrito rice, which sprayed every corner of the floor. After I yelled at the kids for not locking the kitchen doors before we set off, we laughed back on the road towards the Twelve Apostles Lookout — a stunning photo vantage point along the coastal road, providing uninterrupted views of the limestone stacks and worth every Instagram cent.
Perhaps thoughtfully or maybe accidentally, the kids had chosen an activity with us all in mind — a two-hour session at Deep Blue Hot Springs in Warrnambool. Incredibly relaxing, submerging into hot spring pools of varying temperatures, interspersed with cold plunging had provided a healing experience by ironing out aches and sore necks from ziplining and unfamiliar beds. Back at camp, Ollie and Hamish cooked up big, juicy burgers for dinner, just as he promised back at the Hyatt Centric.
Our last full day on our adventure, our troupe ate breakfast, packed up camp and were on the road in record time to see as many points of interest as possible. Firstly, Bay of Islands, then the Grotto, then London Bridge, lastly Loch Ard Gorge and then Apollo Bay, all equally stunning.
Liz and I needed to work that afternoon, and had to raise voices at the kids for them to leave us, but it seemed they’d imprinted themselves to the Jucy and StarRV — we couldn’t prise them away.
The kids wanted to do the Wildlife Wonders tour on their last night, so off we went for a nocturnal journey hosted by the Conservation Ecology Centre. A truly wonderful guided opportunity to see emus, wallabies, potoroos and koalas in their natural habitat at night.
Running like a well-oiled machine, everyone did their assigned jobs; Zara the toilet cassette, Ollie the grey water, Hamish on rubbish detail, Jaime cleaned, while Liz and I packed up the beds and concluded that teen travel takeover had been a successful experiment.
Off for the last trek back along the magnificent Great Ocean Road, stopping at Lorne for breakfast and a couple of standout photo spots overlooking the mighty Southern Ocean. Back at Jucy HQ we all said goodbye to the vehicles that had provided us shelter, beds, a place for the kids to prepare our evening meals, plus ultimate freedom to explore one of the world’s most iconic road trips. Later, as I luxuriated back at Melbourne’s Hyatt Centric, I had the chance to reflect on what the journey had gifted me. Too many to name, most of all memories that would hopefully filter through generations to come.
Flight to Melbourne: The flight from New Zealand to Melbourne typically takes about 3 to 4 hours, depending on your departure city and airline.
Arrival in Melbourne: Upon landing at Melbourne Airport (also known as Tullamarine Airport), follow signs for immigration, baggage claim and customs. Once through customs, you’ll find transportation options like taxis, rental cars, and public transport to take you to your accommodation in Melbourne or Jucy HQ location near the airport.
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