Great Ocean Road Tours

Mini Bus Tour with Private Driver of the Great Ocean Road

Have you yet driven the Great Ocean Road? There are two types of people in this world, the type that are so focused on the destination that they never enjoy the journey and the type that enjoy the journey so much that wherever they end up is the perfect destination, whether it’s where they originally intended to go or not. Likewise, there are two types of road trips. The first is a trip you have to take, and the road is how you get there. The second is a drive for the sake of enjoying the drive itself. For the first type any road will do, so long as it is safe and ends you up where you need to be. For the second the road must be beautiful. It must be pleasant and calm, yet dramatic. It must be serene and picturesque yet exciting in its vistas. For this type of trip, there is the Great Ocean Road.

Stretching almost 250 kilometers in a great V shape from Torquay in the east to Allansford in the west and through several cities and major landmarks, the Great Ocean Road is an Australian national heritage site highway running along the Victorian coast and giving simply the best views of the ocean from up high in the cliffs. There are a great multitude of activities, sights and destinations along the Great Ocean Road route, but for the person who loves meandering the places to stop are secondary to the pure joy of a truly scenic drive. That is what a Great Ocean Road tour provides: Beautiful vistas to make memories that will last a lifetime.

Indeed, Great Ocean Road lives up to its name. The sea never looks quite so beautiful and powerful as when you could conceivably tumble off into it at any moment. The sea, ever changing, constantly in motion, provides a different aspect for every hour of the day and you can see her beauty and charm and power from every angle of illumination as Great Ocean Road provides a view from every angle. Time it right and you can chase the sunset over the mountains and watch it anchor from the westernmost coast. But the ocean views are not all a Great Ocean Road day tour will show you. Not by a long shot.

Even when venturing only from Lorne to Apollo Bay – a trip that would take forty five minutes non stop, but what’s the fun in that? – there are countless Kodak moments to stop and enjoy. The simplest towns along the route take on the countryside’s natural beauty. The first town you pass through, Separation Creek, seems carved from the stone of the seaside cliffs themselves. The second, Wye River, is so beautiful it defies descriptions. In parts orange sand with ice-blue water. In parts verdant coves. And, of course, a sandy beach is mandatory for any town along Great Ocean Road.

If you are looking for a way to spend a memorable day with the family or friends then a Great Ocean Road tour is perfect. If you’re on a tour of Australia, it simply cannot be passed up. On a scale of 1 – 10, a Great Ocean Road day tour should score a perfect ten… as the number one trip on your list.

The History of the Great Ocean Road

The history of the Great Ocean Road is an interesting one. The road was built by World War I veterans who returned after the war as a memorial to their fallen comrades. The road served a dual purpose not only as a memorial but as a way to end the isolation of Lorne and many other cities along the southern coast of Australia. Prior to construction of the Great Ocean Road some of the communities now easily accessible by the road were only connected to the rest of the nation by ocean. While those that wanted to travel between Lorne and Geelong had only a single rail connection by a coach track that went through the wild Australian bush.

It was the mayor of Geelong that made the major push to bring the road into reality. He raised the money to finance the project, which helped to employ soldiers upon their return home from the war. The Mayor was a true visionary as he was able to see the value of the Great Ocean Road as a tourist attraction to rival that of the French Riviera, and the San Francisco Road. He was right, and to this day travellers from all over Australia as well as abroad come to experience the Great Ocean Road.

Today visitors of the Great Ocean Road can learn all the details behind this grand engineering feat. There is now a permanent exhibition dedicated to keeping the story of the road alive. The Great Ocean Road Heritage Centre is in the Lorne Visitor Centre.

Including the Heritage Centre in a day trip tour by mini bus is a great way to begin or end the day trip to Australia’s Great Ocean Road. To schedule or enquire about a tour to experience the Great Ocean Road please use our online enquiry form and a logistics agent will contact you to arrange all the details of your trip.