Autopia Tours

Autopia Tours runs a full-day coach tour from Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road, with pickups at central Melbourne points from around 7:35am and a return by roughly 8:30pm. The route follows the road from its start near Anglesea, past the Memorial Arch — erected in 1939 — west through Apollo Bay to Port Campbell National Park, around 190 kilometres of coast road, where the Twelve Apostles are the main destination.

Port Campbell National Park, managed by Parks Victoria, is the stretch of coastline where wave erosion has carved the limestone cliffs into stacks, arches and gorges; the Twelve Apostles are the best-known of them, and the coastline keeps changing — the nearby Island Archway collapsed into the sea in 2009. Loch Ard Gorge, named for a 19th-century shipwreck, is another stop along the same stretch. Autopia’s tour includes a guided walk through the rainforest of Great Otway National Park earlier in the day, plus national park entry fees.

The tour runs by coach — Autopia's own page for this trip lists a maximum of 38 passengers — with morning tea included and a stop for lunch, at the traveller's own cost, along the way. It's a long day out and back: of the roughly thirteen hours away from Melbourne, a large share is spent travelling, with the guided rainforest walk and the coastal stops concentrated at the western end of the drive.