AN ODE TO THE Otways
From the southern outskirts of Geelong, the Surf Coast Highway (B100) cuts across the Bellarine Peninsula to Torquay, there to become the Great Ocean Road and begin Australia's most famous coastal journey.
“The steep, rugged coastline is fringed by marine cliffs, sea caves and tidal platforms, interspersed with long sandy beaches that link the land to adjacent marine parks”
Completed in 1932 as a lasting memorial to Victorians who served in WWI, this iconic road trip follows a sinuous route for 260km around Cape Otway to Warrnambool in the west. For most of its length the road shadows Bass Strait, connecting holiday towns and passing through a spectacular, ever-changing landscape of densely wooded hilltops, steep forested gorges and dramatic cliffs that plunge to a coastline pounded by the Southern Ocean.
For good reason, the heritage-listed Great Ocean Road is rated as one of the top 10 travel experiences in the world. But the experience is not just the journey; it also embraces the breathtakingly beautiful Otway Ranges that loom above the road along its eastern half and beckon travellers to explore a hinterland of towering hardwood forests, rolling green pastures and magnificent waterfalls.
WHISPERS OF TIME LONG GONE
The Otway Ranges stretch from Anglesea to Cape Otway, bounded by Bass Strait in the south and the fertile rolling plains of the Colac region to the north. Their highest point lies just west of Lorne. Millions of years ago,
