The Great Ocean Road - Britz

Four nights and 690 kilometres in a loop from Melbourne in a campervan, along the Great Ocean Road and back inland through Ballarat.

Torquay and Bells Beach come first, where the Easter surfing contest has run since the 1970s and the point break is the best known in the country, then Lorne, Kennett River, where koalas sit in the manna gums beside the road, and Apollo Bay.

The Otways follow inland, rainforest and tree ferns a few minutes from the coast, then the Twelve Apostles, limestone stacks left standing as the cliffs behind them retreated, and Loch Ard Gorge, named after a clipper wrecked there in 1878 with two survivors out of fifty-four aboard. Warrnambool and Port Fairy come next, then Hamilton and Ballarat, where Sovereign Hill reconstructs the 1850s goldfields.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. The road itself was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932 as both a memorial and a job scheme, and it is slow going in a long vehicle with a great many places worth pulling over. Five days for 690 kilometres is comfortable, and the Apostles car park fills by mid-morning. Autumn and spring avoid both the summer traffic and the winter weather. Kennett River is the reliable koala stop on the whole route, and the inland return through Ballarat means the coast road is not driven twice.