Before heading out of Melbourne we walked along the river, strolled through the Queen Victoria Gardens, and gazed in awe at the Shrine of Remembrance. The early morning dog walkers and joggers were out, as well as rowing teams in sculls on the river.

The Shrine of Remembrance is a memorial dedicated to the men and women of Victoria who served in WW I.

It is always a challenge to head out on the road in a right hand drive car after decades of driving from the left. It takes a bit of getting used to, and can be daunting pulling into heavy traffic for the first time. We survived the transition period using the mantra “keep left, keep left”, and departed Melbourne in the direction of Geelong, heading southwest along the coast.

Our goal for the day was to make it to Port Campbell and the cabin we had reserved for two nights near the Port Campbell National Park, best known for the Twelve Apostles limestone formations just offshore.

The Great Ocean Road officially begins in Torquay, just south of Geelong. It travels through a few small towns, along some very winding two lane coastal roads and through farmland and forest.

It is very scenic, and is a perfect motorcycle road.

We stopped to stretch our legs at the Split Point Lighthouse. It was quite windy and rather cool compared to the previous day. They have some nice overlooks.

Lorne was probably the largest town along the road. The campgrounds were full and it had the feeling of a busy little seaside vacation spot.

Continuing southbound along the twisting two lane road, we pulled into an easily missed wide spot where it was reported that wild koala bears could be seen. We were not disappointed. We saw two. It pays to read the travel guide books. There is no sign and we had only read about this wild koala area the day before.

In Apollo Bay we stopped for fresh off the boat seafood at the Fishermens’ Co-op and took the opportunity to pick up a few items at the IGA grocery.

We pulled into our cabin at 7 pm. It took us just under seven hours to travel from the Melbourne airport to Port Campbell along the Great Ocean Road. We stopped a few times for pictures, and twice for food.