Geelong: Gateway to the Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road, stretching 243 kilometres along Victoria's southwest coast from Torquay to Allansford near Warrnambool, begins its route within an hour of Geelong, making the city the natural base for visitors planning to explore the road and the return journey for those who have driven its length from the western end. The road's construction by returned servicemen between 1919 and 1932, dedicated as a memorial to Australians who served in the First World War and built by those who survived it, gives the road a historical significance that complements its scenery.

Torquay, the surf capital of Australia and the location of the Rip Curl and Quiksilver headquarters and surf museum, provides the first significant stop on the road from Geelong, its combination of the surfing heritage, Surf City Plaza shopping centre for surf brands, and the annual Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach that opens the World Surf League competition season creating the surf culture gateway to the road's more dramatic scenic sections beyond.

Bells Beach, the legendary surf break south of Torquay where the Rip Curl Pro has been held since 1973 as the world's longest-running professional surfing event, provides the pilgrimage destination for surfers from around the world who want to ride the break where much of surfing's competitive history has been made. The beach's own surfing quality, the cliff-top viewing platform, and the heritage of the contests that have shaped professional surfing make it one of the most significant surf sites in the world.

The Otway ranges that the road traverses beyond Lorne provide the ancient temperate rainforest environment that the Great Otway National Park protects, with the Californian redwoods of the Otway Forest Park, the Hopetoun Falls and the Triplet Falls, and the koala colony at Cape Otway providing the inland nature experiences that complement the road's coastal drama for visitors who venture inland from the sealed main road.

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