This is one of the most beautiful stretches of road I have ever had the pleasure of driving along.

After we had finished our group Contiki tour a few of us wanted to explore further and see the great ocean road. We had all heard amazing things about the sights you could see along here. We were desperate to get a glimpse for ourselves.  So, how did we do it?

How we started

Firstly we flew from Sydney to Melbourne. We hadn’t actually arranged anything at this stage, and had literally just sorted accommodation for that night in the morning before we caught our flight!  We had the challenge of it being the weekend of the Grand Prix. This meant that most of the hotels were already booked. Either that or they only had expensive rooms left. This wasn’t ideal when we’d already been travelling for a while and funds were starting to get low.  We did however finally manage to find a hotel to stay that night in Melbourne.  The problem was we had no future accommodation arrangements planned. We were really struggling to find somewhere that could mean we could begin our trip along the GOR.

Camping

Luckily that evening when we were watching TV, an advert came on for a store which was having a massive sale on camping stuff.  We did some research online and found an abundance of camping grounds along the route we wanted to do. Some were free and some were just a small amount if you want electric, around $20 a night.  Perfect right?  The next day we hired a car went to the store and brought a tent, sleeping bags, fold up BBQ etc.  We found somewhere to stay on the Mornington Peninsula. From where we set up camp you literally walked through some trees and were on the beach.  Across the road were shops and a garage which was ideal.

Planning the Journey

Each day when we woke up we decided how far we wanted to go/what we wanted to see that day. Nothing was ever set in concrete if we wanted more time in a place we spent more time there. The car we hired had wifi in it so we would just search the nearest campsites to stay for the night. We never had any issues or problems and it worked perfectly.

The Great Ocean Road itself was incredible. It exceeded everything I expected and was so beautiful. I loved every second of it. I would quite happily drive along that road forever I don’t think its beauty would ever get old.

My advice to others – if you don’t mind camping I would definitely camp the road. It relieves the pressure of having to find and book somewhere. It also means you can be flexible with where you go or what you see. You don’t have to work to a time scale because you have to reach a certain place to be able to make your accommodation stay.