Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5km detour goes to the wild, thrashing and often massive surf of
Johanna Beach
(forget
swimming). The world-famous Rip Curl Pro surfing competition relocates here when
Bells Beach isn't working.
area between the dunes and the rolling hills; book ahead.
Pebble Point
( 03-5243 3579;
www.pebblepoint.com.au
)
is an upmarket alternative with luxury tents overlooking a valley, and
a short drive from the Twelve Apostles.
WORTH A TRIP
OTWAY FLY, FALLS & BREWERY DETOUR
Twenty kilometres inland from the logging town of
Lavers Hill
on the Colac Rd (C155) is the popular
Otway
Fly
( 03-5235 9200;
www.otwayfly.com
; 360 Phillips Track; adult/child $22.50/9; 9am-5pm, last entry
4pm) . It's an elevated steel walkway suspended among the forest canopy, and includes a swaying lookout tower,
50m above the forest floor. Kids will enjoy the 'prehistoric path' loaded with dinosaurs, and everyone can test
their bravery on the guided 2½-hour
zipline
tour - including a 120m run. You can also abseil down one of the gi-
ant trees.
Along the same road as the Fly is
Triplet Falls
, which passes an historic timber site and is worth the 900m
hike. The
Beauchamp
and
Hopetoun Falls
are just past Beech Forest, down the Aire Valley Rd, and are also
worth the trip.
On the corner just before the Fly, pop into
Otway NouriShed
( 03-5235 9226;
www.otwaynourished.com
;
3810 Colac-Lavers Hill Rd; mains $8-20; 10am-6pm), an old potato shed converted into a rustic cafe serving
meals and fair-trade coffee. Further afield towards Colac past Gellibrand is the
Otway Estate
( 03-5233 8400;
www.otwayestate.com.au
;
10-30 Hoveys Rd) brewery, which produces Prickly Moses beer plus cider and wine;
call ahead to check it's open. It has accommodation in self-contained cottages from $200.
Seven kilometres southwest of Lavers Hill is
Melba Gully
, with a rainforest nature walk under a canopy of
blackwoods and myrtle beeches, ferns and 300-year-old 'Big Tree' - a messmate eucalypt. After dark, glow-
worms glimmer in the park.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Port Campbell
National Park
The road levels out after leaving the Otways and enters narrow, flat, scrubby escarpment
lands that fall away to sheer, 70m cliffs along the coast between Princetown and Peterbor-
ough - a distinct change of scene. This is Port Campbell National Park, home to the
Twelve Apostles, and the most famous and most photographed stretch of the Great Ocean
Road. For aeons, waves and tides have crashed against the soft limestone rock, eroding,
