The End to End Self-Guided Trip

Our self-guided itinerary allows you to travel on your preferred dates (subject to availability), with private transfers and advice from our locally based staff. You’ll be picked up each day with a private transfer at times arranged to suit your walking pace and abilities. We’ll provide you with a briefing to get you started, the resources you’ll need to stay safe, two transfers each day and book great accommodation for you where you’ll have meals provided each day.

You will be met by our driver today in Apollo Bay who will go over your itinerary for the next 7 days. The afternoon begins with a short walk that starts from the Apollo Bay Visitor Centre and winds out through the town to the beach-side suburb of Marengo, named by a passing French explorer. Marengo is home to a colony of Australian fur seals who hang out on the rocks in the bay. The walk follows the foreshore as you leave Marengo and enters the Otway Forest, eventually coming out at Shelly Beach where you finish your walk and head back to settle in to your accommodation for the night.

Your walk today takes you away from the coast and through the towering forests of mountain ash that characterise this part of the Great Otway National Park. At up to 65m high these are some of the biggest trees in Australia and walking through the heart of the giant forest is a wonderful experience, though there are some hills to be negotiated. The trail eventually wind its way to Blanket Bay, an isolated stretch of coast that was one of the original ports for unloading supplies for the Cape Otway Lightstation.

Meals: B, L, D

Today you rejoin the coast at Blanket Bay. The track meanders along the cliff tops and through coastal forests to the quiet haven of Parker Inlet. Expect to see black wallaby, echidna, black cockatoo, rosella and other wildlife along the route. The track leads you past beautiful Crayfish Bay where you may wish to wander along its beach before continuing on to Cape Otway Lightstation which was Australia’s oldest continuously operating lighthouse. You may wish to spend some time exploring the historic grounds of the light station. Built in 1848, the lighthouse is the oldest surviving on mainland Australia an offers amazing views across the bay.

Meals: B, L, D

This morning you will set off from the Cape Otway Lightstation, passing the Cape Otway Cemetery, and travel along a coastal path overlooking Station Beach. The path winds along cliff tops and wind sculptured sand dunes before descending to the beautiful Aire River estuary and surrounding wetlands. The lookout at Castle Cove offers spectacular views, often of surfers navigating the crashing surf. You leave the track here and walk into your accommodation for the night.

Meals: B, L, D

Today’s walk traverses several vegetation zones, cliff tops, heathlands, forests and beaches. A feature of this section is the extensive xanthorrhoea (grass tree) forests on Rotten Point, between Castle Cove and Johanna Beach. Johanna Beach is one of the walk’s highlights and rates amongst Australia’s best. After leaving the beach you make your way up four wheel drive tracks through peaceful forest to Milanesia Gate.

Meals: B, L, D

Isolated, rugged and hidden, Milanesia Beach receives few visitors and is all the more special for it. From here the trail continues along the high sea cliffs to Ryan’s Den hiker’s campsite, which is an idyllic lunch stop, then over Cape Volney and on to Moonlight Head. The Twelve Apostles tempt you as you come ever closer to this iconic landmark and the route finishes at the lookout at The Gables, reputed to be the highest sea cliffs on mainland Australia.

Meals: B, L, D

Your final day on the Great Ocean Walk! From The Gables, you begin your walk towards Wreck Beach, where if the tide conditions allow, you can descend to the beach to view the anchors of the Fiji and Marie Gabrielle, two of the many shipwrecks that lie submerged along this coast. The trail gently undulates through sandy sections and coastline, until you finally reach the Twelve Apostles. You have time to savour the amazing views before your homeward journey.

Meals: B, L

Looking for more or less on your walk? We can customise and provide flexibility around your travel plans. Speak with us today to design your trip.

• 6 nights accommodation on twin share basis:  Apollo Bay, Great Otway National Park, Castle Cove, Moonlight Head or Port Campbell.
• All meals from breakfast on day 2 to lunch on day 7
• Private, return transfers each day to the trailhead
• Driver & support vehicle throughout
• Briefing with experienced local RAW Travel Guide
• Full Great Ocean Walk map at 1:25:000 scale
• Raw App with detailed route and track notes
• Entry ticket to the Cape Otway Lightstation
• Emergency satellite messenger beacon
• Complimentary parking

• • Single supplement – ask for a quote if you would like a single room
  • Solo traveller surcharge
  • Travel insurance
  • Meals not listed above as included