The Great Ocean Road, Geelong

This National Park has a temperate rainforest, fern gullies and a lot of forest. You can have great walks there and see trees that could fit a car into. Maits Rest Rainforest Boardwalk is a great way to see the rainforest if you haven't got a lot of time.

You should take an unforgettable journey along Victoria`s Great Ocean Road, the world`s most inspiring coastal drive. The length of the road is about 280 kilometres from Geelong to Warrnambool. The Great Ocean Road is one of Australia`s most visited attractions. It meanders along the coast of the Southern Ocean between golden beaches with rugged rock outcrops, and the Otway Ranges, and passes through the Angahook-Lorne State Park and Otway State Forest, abundant rain-forest area. The Great Ocean area is rich in attractions ranging from cheeseries and quiant restaurants, to raging surf and spectacular outcrops. Among the most popular is the Port Campbell National Park. These outcrops, include "the 12 Apostles" a spectacular collection of eroded sandstone outcropts and are the centre of the park.

Torquay is one of my favorite beaches around here. The town is a lovely place to visit, it has a small holiday resort atmosphere, and very pretty.
The famous 'Bells Beach' is in this area, so it can get quite crowded when the surfing competitions are on.

This is a pic of the "Big Tree", the highlight of the Melba Gully rainforest walk.

The tree is an Otway Messmate and is around 300 years old.
It has been ravaged by fire several times in its lifetime, yet it is still alive and growing

The Warrnambool Maritime Museum is particularly interesting for the large amount of intact artefacts on display which were salvaged by diving the Shipwrecks of the area. One such item is a 2 1/2 foot figurine of a peacock, perfectly intact.

There are some beautiful forest walks which can be taken in the hills above Apollo Bay , some taking you through huge forests where tree ferns can be found over 10 feet tall and some trees are hundreds of years old.

Maits Rest is approx. 15 minutes of boardwalk trail through a tree fern rainforest above Apollo Bay. The walk is nice enough in the daytime, but it's the night walk that I really love.
Clinging to the underside of the tree fern canopies
you can see tiny glow worms, if you look very very carefully. They look like tiny winking stars and make me feel like I'm in an enchanted wood. Some times of the year there are more than others - you can check with the great Visitor Information Centre in Apollo Bay which is right on the beach foreshore opposite the town shops.
There is another walk in the hills called Paradise where one can also see the glow worms, but you almost need a 4WD to access the rough gravel road, then walk across country, cross a creek, then tread a narrow earthen pathway over tree roots and obstacles in the dark, so I wouldn't recommend that one at night. A beautiful walk in daylight hours though if you can get there.

Famous for the Twelve Apostles and historic shipwrecks.

Getting there: The 250 km drive from Melbourne via the Princes Highway takes about three hours. A more scenic but longer and winding route, the famous Great Ocean Road takes about five hours.