Melbourne Free & Easy Trip Day 5｜Great Ocean Road One-Day Tour: The Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, Melbourne's Most Beautiful Coastline

On April 29th, we joined the most classic day-trip highlight of our itinerary — the Great Ocean Road. This scenic route winds along the southern coast of Victoria, and it's the dream road that many travelers consider a must-visit when coming to Melbourne.

A simple breakfast near Victoria Market — the hot dog isn't recommended For breakfast, we chose "Bratwurst Shop," a German sausage shop near Victoria Market that was recommended online. While the sausage itself was decent, the way we ate it following the online recommendation actually made the overall flavor rather bland, and at 9.5 AUD each, it's really not something we'd recommend.

The 'sleep on the bus, take photos when you get off' senior tour group mode This time we signed up for a Chinese-speaking tour group, and the guide was a second-generation Chinese immigrant — you could tell from his accent. On the bus he emphasized three times why the 'Great Ocean Road' is called 'Great' — because the construction process was arduous, and it was built along the coastline to make supply delivery easier — this kind of explanation felt a bit repetitive. As expected, this was a 'sleep on the bus, take photos when you get off' senior tour group, with the bus almost entirely full of elderly Chinese tourists. First stop: Torquay lighthouse town Our first stop was Torquay, where we could see the famous 'little red riding hood' lighthouse from a distance.

Villas cover the hillsides along the Great Ocean Road. According to our tour guide, Australians are very used to going on holiday together with three or four families during long weekends, and many families even book next year's vacation right away — it's become a kind of fixed ritual.

Stop 2: The Great Ocean Road Arch Next, we arrived at the iconic Great Ocean Road arch, a spot where almost every traveler stops to take photos. This is where the famous Great Ocean Road officially begins.

The bus continues along the coast. If you get the chance to take a Great Ocean Road-style trip like this, I'd recommend choosing a seat on the left side of the bus, so you can take in the most beautiful coastal scenery.

Stop 3: A Wild Koala Appears at Kennett River!

It turned out that koala was hiding so incredibly well that if someone hadn't pointed it out, we really would never have spotted it crouching up in the treetop. In that instant, everyone on the bus got as excited as if they'd won the lottery. Lunch: Apollo Bay Seafood Fry-Up At midday we took a break at Apollo Bay, the crescent-shaped bay, where I used Google Maps to find a little seafood spot loved by locals too, "Apollo Bay Seafood Café." We ordered three dishes to share: fish and chips (you could choose the type of fish, and we went with local sea fish), a chicken salad, and fried squid. Everything tasted great, and the total came to 71.2 Australian dollars, which felt like a reasonable price.

Stop 4: The Twelve Apostles After lunch, the car turned onto the mountain road and headed into today's main highlight — the Twelve Apostles rock formation. Although it's called the Twelve Apostles, there were actually only nine limestone stacks to begin with, and due to long-term erosion by the sea, only seven remain today. There are several viewing platforms and information boards here, allowing you to admire these towering rock pillars from different angles.

Interested travelers can also take a helicopter ride at their own expense to admire this spectacular coastal rock scenery from the air, though we did not join this activity this time. Stop 5: Loch Ard Gorge – A Sea-Carved Wonder Our final stop was the impressive Loch Ard Gorge. This place was named in memory of an immigrant ship called the Loch Ard, which ran aground here in 1878. The sights here include: The Razorback: a rock ridge as sharp as a blade's edge

Tom and Eva: The Names of the Only Two Shipwreck Survivors

Loch Ard Gorge: The site itself lets you look down from above onto a spectacular sea-eroded landscape.

There's a section of the trail that leads down to the beach, and I went down alone to explore. On the limestone wall behind the beach, there are clear traces of stalactites. A-Mao and Kun-ge chose to watch from above instead, since they don't really like stepping in sand (haha).

Island Arch Lookout: Originally two arch-shaped rock formations standing side by side, but one collapsed in 2009, leaving only a single, isolated rock pillar standing alone in the sea

Return trip & tour guide vent session We left the attraction a bit after 5pm and began the three-hour trip back. This time, the tour guide and group experience were a bit disappointing, for three reasons: Poor scheduling of gathering time: for a group of 30 people, we were only given 5 minutes for the bathroom, so the bus never departed on time. The guide talked politics: openly discussing Chinese politics with tourists on the bus was really jaw-dropping. Thin tour content: repetitive narration with no in-depth introduction, lacking the depth and interest a good tour should have. But aside from these letdowns, the scenery of the Great Ocean Road itself is truly not to be missed.From the winding coastline to the towering limestone sea stacks, everything was breathtakingly beautiful. Dinner time: stir-fry and red wine to wrap up the day In the evening we headed back to Melbourne, and Woody brought over some stir-fried dishes to hang out at our hotel. We were missing the vibe of pairing it with beer (the liquor store had already closed), but we still had the red wine we'd bought a few days earlier to drink alongside. This trip had been planned since before the pandemic, and it finally happened — what a real stroke of fate!

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