Apollo Bay

Apollo Bay sits where the Otway Ranges meet the Southern Ocean, a working fishing town that's managed to stay low-key despite sitting on one of Australia's most famous coastal drives. You'll wake to the smell of salt air and eucalyptus, watch fishing boats unload their catch at the harbour, and spend your afternoons walking through temperate rainforest or scanning the horizon for southern right whales between May and October.

Most visitors use Apollo Bay as a two-night stop on a Great Ocean Road loop from Melbourne, but three nights gives you time to hike into the Otways without rushing. The town itself is small enough to walk end-to-end in twenty minutes, with most accommodation strung along the Great Ocean Road as it curves around the bay. You're two hours from the Twelve Apostles heading west, ninety minutes from Lorne heading east, and surrounded by hiking trails that start just behind town.

Getting around

You'll need a car. There's no public transport within Apollo Bay or to the surrounding Otways, and the nearest train station is in Geelong, two hours away. The Great Ocean Road runs straight through town as the main street, with free parking along most stretches and a large car park near the harbour. Petrol is about ten cents per litre more expensive than Melbourne. If you're hiking the Great Ocean Walk, shuttle services run between trailheads for around thirty dollars per person. The town centre is flat and walkable, but anything beyond the foreshore requires wheels.

What to eat

Apollo Bay Fishermen's Co-op sells whatever came in that morning — flathead, garfish, crayfish in season — and will steam or grill it for you to eat at the harbour tables. For sit-down meals, Chris's Beacon Point Restaurant does Greek-influenced seafood with ocean views, while La Bimba serves wood-fired pizza and local wine in a converted weatherboard cottage. The Apollo Bay Bakery opens at six and does proper sausage rolls and vanilla slices. Saturday mornings from October to April, the farmers market at the recreation reserve has Otways mushrooms, goat cheese, and sourdough.