3 Day Great Ocean Road and Grampians Tour

Tour Details

Operator

Natural Treasures Tours

Destinations

Great Ocean Road, Grampians, Ballarat, Torquay and Bells Beach

Departs From

Melbourne

Tour Description

Depart Melbourne Hotel of your choice and get introduced to the special journey that lies in front of you. We head over West Gate Bridge and discover rural Victoria before we make our first stop at Anglesea Golf course. Don’t worry, we are not here to play a round of golf, instead you get your first introduction to the unique Australian fauna, the Eastern Grey Kangaroo, who usually are willing to pose for a photo!
At Lorne we stop for morning tea and enjoy the scenery of the Southern Ocean and beautiful surrounds. A short distance out of Lorne, we stop for our first ‘treasure chest’ and reveal the story behind the making of the Great Ocean Road.
Further along, at Kennet River, we take a detour and look for Koalas in their natural environment. We arrive at the township of Apollo Bay for lunch at 1300.
After lunch, we continue our drive through the Otway National Park with its majestic Mountain Ash forest while learning of the rich Aboriginal heritage of the region and the early contact period with European settlers. While in the National Park you will have an opportunity to discover the peace and tranquility of a secluded tree fern gully in the Otway rainforest. Who knows, we might across the Spotted Tailed Quall, the beautiful King Parrot or even a Wallaby.
We then arrive at you 4 star accommodation set within native forest close to Apollo bay. This property offers the perfect environment to relax and unwind. Following dinner, we take you on a ‘Rainforest by Night’ walk to see the magical glow worms (weather permitting).

DAY 2
This morning a continental breakfast is served before we depart the cottages by 0900.
We continue our journey along Great Ocean Road and our first stop, the famous Twelve Apostles. Load your camera and enjoy this spectacular coastline – also known as the Shipwreck Coast – while you hear of their creation and the continued reformation of the region.
A short drive further along the coast takes us to Loch Ard Gorge, where the tragic story of the Loch Ard shipwreck will be brought to life for you, with extracts read out from the journal of the two survivors and original artifacts from the shipwreck handed around.
After having lunch at the seaside village of Port Campbell we head off to visit London Bridge and learn of when it collapsed stranding 2 visitors on the rock formation. We then turn north towards the Grampians National Park. In Gariwerd (the Aboriginal name for the Grampians) we retrace the footsteps of explorer Major Thomas Mitchell, reading extracts from his diary as he led an expedition through the region in the 1830’s.
We visit some of the many astonishing lookouts where you will discover the extraordinary and dramatic formations that were created here 400 million years ago. We also stop at Brambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre where the Aboriginal communities share their knowledge of the culture, both past and present, through display, exhibitions and bush tucker.

DAY 3
Eighty percent of Aboriginal art sites in Victoria occur here in the Grampians, we visit an Aboriginal rock art shelter which is dated at over 5,000 years old. En-route to the Goldfields, we call in at some of the local wineries. As we pass through the historic township of Ballarat, we hear tales of life on the Victorian goldfields as told through the letters of diggers, storekeepers and bushrangers. A visit to Sovereign Hill is optional at guests own expense.
We arrive back in Melbourne at 1800.


Note that lunches are not included as part of the tour.