Signing you up...
We have decided to take this tour with Go West, as the itinerary had everything we wanted to see plus more and a small group concept appealed to us.
The 24-seater bus picked us up from our hotel, made a few quick stops to pick up other guests, and before long we were on our way to the Great Ocean Road. After a couple of quick hours, we made our first stop in Aireys Inlet. Our wonderful driver Lee set up a morning tea while we explored the rugged coast and visited Split Point Lighthouse.
Continuing on, we arrived at the official start of the Great Ocean road and from that point onwards the coastal views were breath-taking. A bit spectacle with our next stop, we were promised sights of wild koalas and birdlife. To our delight beautiful, colourful parrots were in abundance and koalas were happily sleeping in the eucalyptus trees. Parrots were so used to tourists that they were not afraid to land on our arms, shoulders and even head! This was a wonderful experience and I have really enjoyed seeing and being so close to Australian wildlife.
Another short drive and a few photo stops later, we arrived at our lunch destination. There was a few lunch options to choose from, including some Thai dishes and hot wraps. We were able to go a walk around this town, stopping to get some delicious ice-cream and even managed to try Vegemite ice-cream!
Just when we though this day can’t get any better we arrived at the famous 12 Apostles. Perhaps one of the best decisions of the day, we opted to take a short helicopter flight that departs right by the main 12 Apostles carpark. Our driver kindly notified the helicopter crew prior to our arrival, so that we didn’t have to waste time waiting and also took advantage of a discounted flight, being part of the Go West tour which was wonderful. The flight was truly breath-taking, seeing the formations from a bird’s eye view was unbelievable and very hard to describe how incredible it made us feel. After the flight we were also able to walk to the main viewing point of the 12 Apostles and enjoy the views.
Next was a visit to the famous Loch Arch Gorge, just a few minutes down the road. Lee shared with us a tragic shipwreck tale which happened in 1878. This made the visit even more memorable and exciting. This was a beautiful and interesting stop to finish our day. After that we were only a few hours away from Melbourne, stopping to grab a quick dinner on our return.
This was definitely a great choice of a day tour and Go West did a wonderful job organising this itinerary, plenty of rest stops and various or activities made it a very enjoyable day trip.
Have you ever been on the Great Ocean Road in Australia? Let us know what your highlights were in the comment section below.
