Great Ocean Road, Lorne,Skenes Creek & Apollo Bay

It needed the fighting Anzac spirit to blast out the Great Ocean Road route, ending decades of isolation for Lorne and other coastal communities. Work began in 1918 and was finally completed in 1932.
Before the road, travel was far from pleasant. In the 1870s, a trip from Lorne to Geelong was long and arduous via a rough coach track through dense bush to the railway at Winchelsea. Previously, the ocean supplied the link to the outside world.
It's not surprising plans for an ocean road were widely acclaimed. But it took a world war to bring them to fruition. Key mover for a coastal link between Barwon Heads and Warrnambool was Geelong businessman and mayor, Alderman Howard Hitchcock. He saw it as a way of employing returned soldiers, creating a lasting monument to those who died in the war and providing a tourist route. He moved to form the Great Ocean Road Trust and set about raising the money needed to finance the gigantic project.
Survey work began in August, 1918, and thousands of returned soldiers descended on the area to start work. It was back-breaking toil using picks and shovels - helped along with the odd stick of explosive - and horses and drays.
Stage 1 - Lorne to Eastern View - was completed in 1922, but it was another 10 years before Lorne was linked to Anglesea and Cape Patton. The Country Roads Board built the section from Cape Patton to Apollo Bay.The full route was officially opened on November 26, 1932, as a tollway. Drivers paid two shillings and sixpence (25 cents) and passengers one shilling and sixpence (15 cents).

Signs along the Great ocean Road reminding oversea tourists we drive on the left hand side.

Lorne's beauty has been drawing visitors for more than a century. the beachfront boulevard of Mountjoy parade has a Mediterranean look with its many cafes and fine eating houses. Hot chocolates taste even better after a bushwalk past spectacular waterfalls in the Great Otway National Park.
The town's unique charms were recognised early, with Lorne the first Victorian place to be declared an area of Special Significance and Natural Beauty - more than 100 years ago.
We gave Lorne a miss because we have been there many times.






Skenes Creek is 6 kilometer away from Apollo bay. We broke our journey for the night here at Budget Motel. It cost $103 per night and if you want the sea view it set you back another $30.
After a quick washup, we drove to Apollo Bay to look for food. A few years ago, Apollo bay was a cowboy town with a main street. The only food available was fish & chip and shops closed at 6pm.
Today it has many shops, hotels, motels and new homes. They are many eating places and they open till 9pm.
We walked the town and checking out the eating places and decided to give fast food a miss. One restaurant, Great Ocean Hotel, caught our fancy was the reasonable price and good atmosphere.

Sister in law and I have Linguine Pasta with seafood in olive oil. It was very good. The pasta was the most expensive, going at $28 each. The seafood was very fresh and it is worth every cent. Maureen had Reef and Beef which is good too, going at $24. My BIL had eye fillet and that was also at $24. Yes, we all enjoyed our food.
The restaurant also had band music which begins at 9pm but we decide to call it an early night after a long day.