Zishaan Hayath Ride: The Great Ocean Road

Route Map

The world's largest war memorial is a road. Three thousand returned soldiers of the First World War carved it into the cliffs with picks and shovels, and dedicated it to the ones who did not come back. Five days: out along the surf coast and under the koalas, through cool rainforest to the limestone stacks the Southern Ocean is still eating, then inland – because a loop beats retracing a coast – through the sandstone ranges the Jardwadjali called Gariwerd, and home past the goldfields.

Day	Route	Distance	Highlights	Night stay
01	Melbourne → Geelong → Torquay → Lorne	140 km 3.5 h	Bells Beach, the Memorial Arch, the surf towns	Lorne
02	Lorne → Kennett River → Apollo Bay → Cape Otway	90 km 3.5 h	Koalas in the manna gums, the mainland's oldest lighthouse	Apollo Bay
03	Apollo Bay → Lavers Hill → Twelve Apostles → Port Fairy	190 km 5 h	The Otways rainforest, Gibson Steps, the Apostles at golden hour	Port Fairy
04	Port Fairy → Dunkeld → Halls Gap	180 km 4 h	Gariwerd rising out of the wheat, the Grampians' southern gate	Halls Gap
05	Halls Gap → Ballarat → Melbourne	250 km 4.5 h	Boroka lookout, gold-rush Ballarat, home by dark	Melbourne

Notes

The January 2026 flash floods hit this coast hard – cars into the sea at Wye River, the road shut for weeks between Lorne and Apollo Bay. Most of it has reopened, but check VicTraffic for the Lorne–Wye River section before day 2; the Otways shed rock in every big rain.

An Indian licence in English with an IDP is legal here, the bikes ride on the correct side of the road, and Melbourne rents proper machines – this is the easiest paperwork of any ride on this list. Book ahead in summer; the coast towns fill.

Ride the coast road on a weekday – weekends belong to the tour buses, and the Apostles car park at noon is a united nations of selfie sticks. Dawn or the last hour of light is when the stacks go gold and the crowds go home. Kangaroos own the Grampians roads at dusk; be parked by then.