Australia: the Great Ocean Road, the Grampians and Kangaroo Island

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Melbourne

   Melbourne Airport (MEL) to your hotel in the city centre, then the laneways on foot

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Melbourne
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Melbourne Airport (MEL), about 25 km north-west of the city, where a driver meets you in arrivals for the transfer to our central hotel. Plan to land by about 2 pm so you are settled before the group meets. At 4 pm your See Sight Tours guide gathers everyone in the lobby for a short briefing on the week: the two longer drives, what to pack for a coast where the weather can turn in an hour, and how the island days work. Then we walk the city centre for about two hours, all inside the Free Tram Zone: Flinders Street Station and Federation Square, the street art of Hosier Lane, the café tables of Degraves Street and the mosaic floor and glass roof of the Block Arcade, opened in 1892. We finish at a local restaurant for a welcome dinner, with the dietary needs from your booking already passed on.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Melbourne Airport (MEL)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Guided walk through the laneways and arcades of the city centre
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the 4 pm briefing; the evening is the welcome dinner, so Melbourne has no free evening

   Activité : If you land later than about 2 pm, the driver still meets you and you join the group at dinner.

2. Jour 2 : The Great Ocean Road to the Twelve Apostles

   Melbourne to Torquay, Lorne and Apollo Bay, then Port Campbell

   • Environ 4.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Port Campbell
   Détail du jour 2

   We leave Melbourne at 8 am and reach the coast at Torquay, where the Great Ocean Road begins. Returned servicemen built the road between 1919 and 1932 as a memorial to those killed in the First World War, and the Memorial Arch at Eastern View marks it. From here the road clings to the cliffs: the Split Point Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet, coffee in Lorne, and Kennett River, where wild koalas often sleep in the gums along Grey River Road. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Apollo Bay. In the afternoon we walk the Maits Rest boardwalk in Great Otway National Park, under myrtle beech and tree ferns, then cross farm country to the limestone coast. At about 290 km and four and a half hours of driving, this is just over our usual cap, because the road itself is the sightseeing: no stretch runs much past an hour without a stop. We check in at Port Campbell, then go back to the Twelve Apostles for sunset, when the stacks turn gold and the day-trip coaches have left.

   Compris

   • The Great Ocean Road from Torquay with your guide: the Memorial Arch, Split Point Lighthouse, Lorne and Kennett River
   • Sit-down lunch in Apollo Bay
   • Maits Rest rainforest walk in Great Otway National Park
   • The Twelve Apostles at sunset

   Activités en option

   • A short helicopter flight over the Twelve Apostles, booked locally, with the price shown at booking

   Temps libre : Dinner in Port Campbell is your choice tonight

   Activité : Sunset at the Twelve Apostles is around 8:45 pm in midsummer and earlier in spring and autumn; exact times come with your final itinerary. The road is winding: bring travel-sickness tablets if you need them.

3. Jour 3 : Apostles at sunrise, then into the Grampians

   Port Campbell to the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge and Tower Hill, then Halls Gap

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Halls Gap
   Détail du jour 3

   Wake-up is around 5:15 am for the one sunrise of the trip: we are at the Twelve Apostles viewing platforms before first light, about 6 am in midsummer, to watch the stacks come out of the dark with hardly anyone else there. Back in Port Campbell for breakfast, then the rest of the limestone coast while it is still quiet: down the Gibson Steps to the beach below the cliffs, Loch Ard Gorge, named after the clipper wrecked here in 1878 with only two survivors, the Arch, and London Bridge, whose span fell into the sea in 1990. Late morning we turn inland to Tower Hill, a wildlife reserve inside the crater of a dormant volcano, where emus and koalas are often close to the path. Lunch is in Warrnambool. The drive north past Dunkeld brings the sandstone ranges of the Grampians (Gariwerd) up ahead. From Halls Gap we drive up to Boroka Lookout and walk out to the Balconies above the Victoria Valley, then watch kangaroos come out to graze at dusk.

   Compris

   • The Twelve Apostles at sunrise
   • The Gibson Steps, Loch Ard Gorge, the Arch and London Bridge in Port Campbell National Park
   • Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve
   • Sit-down lunch in Warrnambool
   • Boroka Lookout and the Balconies walk in Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park

   Option plus facile : Skip the sunrise and meet the group at breakfast; the coast walks come after it.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Halls Gap

   Activité : Wake-up is around 5:15 am in midsummer, a little later in spring and autumn; the only pre-dawn start of the trip. The Gibson Steps are 86 steps down to the beach and back; the Balconies walk is about 2 km return on a level track.

   

4. Jour 4 : The Pinnacle, then west to Adelaide

   Halls Gap to the Pinnacle, then Horsham, Bordertown and Adelaide

   • Environ 6 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Adelaide
   Détail du jour 4

   An early start for the walk most people come to the Grampians for: the Pinnacle, a sandstone outcrop above Halls Gap with views over the town, Lake Bellfield and the ranges. We are walking by 7:30 am, while it is cool and quiet; from the Sundial car park it is about 4 km return and two hours on a rocky but steady track. At about 10 am we load up and head west for the one long drive of the trip, about 500 km and six hours on the Western and Dukes highways. It is long because there is no worthwhile overnight between the Grampians and Adelaide, and this road links the two halves of the trip. We break it every hour and a half or so: coffee in Horsham, a sit-down lunch in Bordertown just over the South Australian border, where watches go back 30 minutes, and a last stop in the Adelaide Hills. We reach Adelaide at about 5:30 pm local time, and the evening is yours.

   Compris

   • The Pinnacle walk with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Bordertown
   • The drive to Adelaide, with regular stops

   Option plus facile : Walk the easy Venus Baths loop from Halls Gap, about 2.3 km, instead of the Pinnacle.

   Option plus active : Climb to the Pinnacle (same 7:30 am start) the steep way from the Wonderland car park, through the Grand Canyon and Silent Street.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Adelaide

   Activité : Fresh fruit and vegetables cannot be carried into South Australia; eat or bin them before the border.

   

5. Jour 5 : Adelaide's market, then the ferry to Kangaroo Island

   Adelaide to Cape Jervis, the ferry to Penneshaw, then Kingscote

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Kingscote
   Détail du jour 5

   Adelaide is a planned city, laid out on a grid by Colonel William Light in 1837 and ringed by parklands. After breakfast your guide walks the centre with you, along North Terrace past the Art Gallery of South Australia and the State Library, then into the Adelaide Central Market for coffee and a wander between stalls of cheese, bread, fruit and seafood from the state's farms and coast. At about 11 am we drive south down the Fleurieu Peninsula, through vineyard country, with a sit-down lunch on the way, to Cape Jervis for the afternoon ferry. The crossing of Backstairs Passage takes about 45 minutes, and dolphins sometimes ride alongside. From Penneshaw we drive across the Dudley Peninsula to Pennington Bay, a surf beach on the island's south coast, and on to Kingscote, the island's main town, where we stay two nights. The evening is free: walk the foreshore or find a table for local oysters.

   Compris

   • Guided walk in Adelaide: North Terrace and the Adelaide Central Market
   • Sit-down lunch on the Fleurieu Peninsula
   • Ferry from Cape Jervis to Penneshaw, with our vehicle
   • Pennington Bay

   Option plus active : Climb the steps to the Prospect Hill lookout on the way to Kingscote, for the view over Pelican Lagoon.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Kingscote

   Activité : The Central Market is closed on Sundays and Mondays and trades only partly on Wednesdays, so departures are set for this day to fall from Tuesday to Saturday, with limited Wednesday trading. Honey and other bee products cannot be taken onto Kangaroo Island.

   

6. Jour 6 : A wildlife day on Kangaroo Island

   Kingscote to Seal Bay, Little Sahara and Flinders Chase National Park, then back to Kingscote

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Kingscote
   Détail du jour 6

   Today is for the animals, with about 290 km and four hours of driving split into short legs. We leave after breakfast for Seal Bay Conservation Park on the south coast, where a ranger walks us down onto the beach among a colony of Australian sea lions, a threatened species, resting on the sand, nursing pups or coming in through the surf. If the beach is closed, the ranger's visit runs from the boardwalk above it. A short stop at Little Sahara, a field of white dunes in the bush, then west to Flinders Chase National Park, which burned in the 2019 to 2020 bushfires and is growing back. Lunch is a sit-down meal near the park. At Remarkable Rocks, wind and sea have hollowed granite boulders into strange shapes on a dome above the ocean, and at Cape du Couedic a boardwalk leads down to Admirals Arch, where long-nosed fur seals haul out on the rocks. On the way back we look for koalas at a wildlife sanctuary near Hanson Bay, and at dusk kangaroos come out along the roadsides. Farewell dinner is in Kingscote.

   Compris

   • Ranger-guided sea lion visit at Seal Bay Conservation Park: on the beach, or from the boardwalk if beach access is closed
   • Little Sahara dunes
   • Flinders Chase National Park entry: Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch
   • Sit-down lunch near Flinders Chase
   • Koala walk at a wildlife sanctuary near Hanson Bay
   • Farewell dinner in Kingscote

   Activités en option

   • Sandboard hire at Little Sahara, where operating, with the price shown at booking

   Option plus facile : Watch the sea lions from the Seal Bay boardwalk instead of walking on the sand, and stay at the top viewing points at Admirals Arch.

   Activité : Beach access at Seal Bay is with a ranger only, and it can be paused for wildlife health reasons, as it was recently. If the beach is closed, the group uses the boardwalk with the guide ranger's interpretation instead, with no change to the price. On days of extreme fire danger Flinders Chase can close, and we spend the afternoon on the north coast beaches instead.

   

7. Jour 7 : Emu Bay, the ferry and Adelaide

   Kingscote to Emu Bay and Penneshaw, the ferry to Cape Jervis, then Adelaide Airport (ADL)

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   Détail du jour 7

   A slower last morning. After breakfast we drive the short way north to Emu Bay, a long curve of white sand with calm water, for a swim or a beach walk. Back in Kingscote we stop at a local honey producer to taste honey from the island's Ligurian bees: they were brought from Italy in the 1880s, and the island was declared a sanctuary for them in 1885. Then we cross the island to Penneshaw for a sit-down lunch looking over Hog Bay before the early-afternoon ferry back to Cape Jervis. Our driver takes the road up the Fleurieu Peninsula, about 110 km and an hour and three-quarters, arriving at Adelaide Airport (ADL) at about 4 pm. Your guide checks your flight before saying goodbye. Book a flight leaving after about 6:30 pm, or stay on: we can drop you at a city hotel instead, and suggest a day in the Barossa Valley or the Adelaide Hills.

   Compris

   • Emu Bay beach
   • Honey tasting in Kingscote
   • Sit-down lunch in Penneshaw
   • Ferry from Penneshaw to Cape Jervis, with our vehicle
   • Drop-off at Adelaide Airport (ADL) or a city hotel

   Temps libre : Morning at Emu Bay at your own pace

   Activité : Book a flight leaving after about 6:30 pm.

   

Faune et météo : We run from October to April. Spring brings wildflowers in the Grampians and mild days of about 17 to 22 C; summer is warmest, often 25 to 30 C inland with hot spells, and the evenings are long, so sunset at the Twelve Apostles is around 8:45 pm; autumn is settled and quieter. The coast stays cool and windy on many days. Sea lions are at Seal Bay all year, kangaroos graze at dusk in the Grampians and on Kangaroo Island, and wild koalas are likely but never certain.

• Melbourne1 nuit
• Port Campbell1 nuit
• Halls Gap1 nuit
• Adelaide1 nuit
• Kingscote2 nuits