Dec-2025
AUSTRALIA’S ICONIC ROAD TRIP: THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD + TWELVE APOSTLES
As I mentioned in our Eastern Australia Itinerary post, we visited the most southern part of mainland Australia and explored along the Great Ocean Road. This road is one of Australia’s most iconic and thrilling drives.
All the coastal towns in this region are relatively small, but Apollo Bay (near where we stayed) and Port Campbell are the largest. In addition to its rugged natural beauty, this road is a memorial built in 1932 to the First World War. This spectacular coastline winds through quaint seaside towns, pockets of rainforests, koala-filled tree canopies, dinosaur tracks, and sheer limestone cliffs. Despite all this beautiful scenery, the kids claim their highlight of our stay was zip-lining through the rainforest!
Here are a few highlights from our visit:
Our Coastal Airbnb
Our coastal Airbnb was located in Skenes Creek (near Apollo Bay), nestled amongst the gum trees with superb views overlooking the Southern Ocean. If we were visiting during the summer months, the patio would’ve been used much more, but we still enjoyed watching the curious wildlife and stargazing in the evenings.
Exploring along the Great Ocean Road
The actual Great Ocean Road is actually a memorial, built between 1919 and 1932, for the First World War. The project employed veterans and connected isolated coastal communities to the outside world by car, replacing older, difficult sea and bush tracks. The road was a huge engineering feat, with workers carving it out of the cliffs by hand, and it officially opened in 1932. The beaches along this road were rugged with sandy beaches. We stopped off at a few of them to let the kids explore the tide pools, burn off some energy, and even gape at mid-Cretaceous theropod and sauropod prints!
Koala Hunting
We did get to see koalas at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, but I was always on the lookout for koalas. I was surprised to find out that they only live in a specific type of eucalyptus tree called as the Swamp Gum or River Red Gum tree along the Great Ocean Road. Finally, one afternoon, we saw three koalas way up high, looking down at us—such a treat to see these shy creatures in the wild.
Zip lining through the rain forest
Located in the stunning Otway Rain Forest, the Otway Fly Treetop Adventures was an incredible experience we will never forget! It was a chilly 2.5-hour tour zip-lining from leafy treetop to treetop (called cloud stations) nearly 120 feet up. It was definitely the scariest adventure (don’t ask me about getting stuck halfway through the zip line) I’ve ever experienced. Yet, the kids said it was one of their favorite activities ever!
Twelve Apostles
The amazing Twelve Apostles are a collection of limestone sea stacks along the Great Ocean Road, formed by erosion over 15-20 million years ago. Powerful winds and waves eroded the limestone cliffs, creating caves and arches. Eventually, these arches collapsed, leaving behind the isolated sea stacks. The remaining seven stacks continue to be eroded by the Southern Ocean and are expected to collapse in the future, but new stacks are expected to form as the coastline continues to change.
Planning your own trip to Australia? View our full itinerary here.
NOTE: Time of Year Visited: June 2025 (Australia’s winter)
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