5 of my Favourite Stops on The Great Ocean Road

We have lived on the door step of the Great Ocean Road ( Geelong incase you’re wondering) for the past 6 years, and our family will happily escape down the Great Ocean Road at any opportunity we get. You know, whenever we get one of those rare weekends that doesn’t have kids sport. We love a day trip or staying in the caravan parks and camp grounds and exploring all of the lovely coastal towns. So, I thought I’d share some of my favourite spots, that hopefully will help anyone looking to plan a trip to Victoria or if you already live locally and just need some inspiration on where to head out for a day/holiday escape.

1. Kennett River - This little slice of heaven doesn’t really have shops (apart from one Cafe so there is definitely coffee available don’t panic) but what it lacks in shopping conveniences it more than makes up for with stunning views and lots of wildlife. It was here that this WA girl spotted her first Koala in the wild. It literally was walking down the middle of the road (fun fact, did you know there isn’t any wild Koalas in Western Australia?) and extra bonus, I had my camera with me. There are also Kangaroos and amazing birdlife, like King Parrots and Kookaburras just hanging around. We have stayed a couple of nights in the caravan park, the caravan park isn’t much, but what it has it is LOCATION. All you have to do is cross the road and you are at a gorgeous quiet beach, great for the kids to swim and play, and plenty of surf on offer as well if the swell is up! I love that I could roll out of my camper bed with my camera and be on the beach photographing the sunrise within 2 minutes!

2. The 12 Apostles - Well, you can’t explore the Great Ocean road without visiting one of its most famous attractions - The 12 Apostles, which are just outside of the town of Port Campbell. My advice is to check the weather before planning your visit, because it can get so, so windy down there, and it is much more enjoyable when the weather is good. The first time I visited the 12 Apostles it was the day after Covid lockdowns ended in Regional Victoria and we were lucky enough to witness the most stunning sunset and have the place completely to ourselves. I don’t imagine that would ever happy again. But, that was in September and the angle of the Sun for sunset was just incredible.

3. Anglesea - This is one of the first stops along the Great Ocean road, and I don’t know what it is about this little town and beach, but I just love it. It feels a little bit like the South West to me, which is maybe why I feel some affinity with it. Anglesea beach has stunning massive cliff faces, and Point Roadknight is one of my kids favourite spots to swim and play, it’s also great if you have a longboard. There’s a number of shops and cafes in town, a skate park, MTB jumps and some great graded Mountain Bike Tracks a little further back into the bush. We often hit the MTB trails and then the kids convince us to head to the Chocolate factory for the biggest ice creams I have ever had!

4, Yambuk Lake Caravan Park - This quiet little caravan park about 15 mins drive from Port Fairy is a gorgeous quiet little spot. The caravan park again doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, its little and the managers are great, and it is just a short walk to the beach or to the lake for paddleboarding/fishing etc. If you walk down the beach during the right tide you can also find amazing rock pools that are lovely and calm and perfect for swimming on a Summers day (the rest of the beach is pretty rough and swimming is not recommended). And you absolutely can’t forget the giant metal Yambuk Slide that is near the beach entrance and will exhaust the kids, and give the Mums nervous breakdowns (may be talking from experience).

5. Loch Ard Gorge, The Razor Back + Tom & Eva Lookout - I’ve included the three of these spots as one because they share the same carpark. Loch Art Gorge beach is Currently closed due to unstable cliffs, but it really is a stunning Gorge to view even from the top. If you follow a path to the left of the Loch Ard Gorge entrance you will find yourself at the Razor Back. We visited Loch Art Gorge in the afternoon, but I went back early the following morning for Sunrise and the sun coming up over the ocean lit up the massive Rock structures beautifully. It’s definitely worth the early morning. We stayed in Port Campbell and so it was only a 10 minute drive to get there. I also found the history of these lookouts quite extraordinary, and spent extra time looking up Tom & Eva and their remarkable story, definitely take the time to read the plaques at each location.

The Great Ocean Road has so many amazing stops, and I could probably keep going with another 10 or more places that I love along this coastline. Like Blanket Bay, Port Fairy, Lorne, Point Addis, Marengo, Bay of Islands, London Bridge… and the list continues.

Favourite things to do in Halls Gap

View from the Sun Dial Lookout in Halls Gap.

A few years ago we visited Halls Gap, in the Grampians for the first time, and instantly fell in love and have since been going back every year. Growing up in WA I didn’t often get to experience this type of Holiday, with mountains, cold weather and hiking! It is one of our favourite places to visit as a family. So, I thought I’d share some of the things that we really enjoy doing as a family when we visit the Grampians.

1. Hiking (obviously) There are so many fun trails to do, and we haven’t even really done more than scratch the surface of what is available. But, the Pinnacle is a must do (and is popular so go early), we like some of the short easy trails like Lake View lookout and the Sun Dial which are not that steep and good for younger kids that need some encouragement. We did Shataqua this time, which was so quiet and had lovely views.

2. Halls Gap Lakeside Caravan Park. I’m a massive fan of this caravan park. The facilities are great, the sites are big, they have 2 wood fired heated swimming pools (bonus), and they will drop off fire drums at your site so you can keep yourself warm and roast marshmallows!

3. Photography! Of course, this really should be my number one. But, whether you are interested in Bird photography, incredible landscape, kangaroos and emus it really is a fantastic place to take your camera. If you are heading to Halls Gap make sure to go from the Dunkeld direction so that you can get a photo of the incredible Mt Abrupt towering over the road.

4. Paper, Scissors, Rock Brewery. Do I really need an explanation for this one. Lovely beer, and good food. A great place to end up after a morning of Hiking.

6. Spirit of Punjab Indian Restaurant. Actually really delicious Indian food and good service (from a Japanese robot delivery service ha)

There are plenty more things to do in Halls Gap, and lots of little stores, wineries and artisans to visit and support. And, on our way to and from Halls Gap from Geelong, we take the longer way through Dunkeld so that we can have lunch at our favourites, the Old Dunkeld Bakery.

One of my prints - Halls Gap Views (landscape) available HERE

New Print Collection : Across The Nullarbor

Over the Christmas/Summer holidays our family (2 adults, 3 kids & one teenage Cattle Dog), drove from Geelong to Perth to spend Christmas with my extended family. And then we spent the January school holidays hanging out, and I got to show my kids some of my favourite places in Western Australia. Of course I bought my camera along on this family adventure. And it really was amazing, I’ve never driven across the Nullarbor before, and it really wasn’t nearly as daunting as I thought it would be. It is an experience that I think every Australia should try once in their life, it really gives you an amazing perspective of how big and barren Australia is. Plus there are lots of quirky things to see along the way.

From this trip I’ve added a new Collection of fine art photography wall prints aptly titled ‘Across The Nullarbor’. The Below image ‘Hills Hoist on the Nullarbor’ I took in Eucla as we had just pulled in after a massive day of driving, crossed the WA border and pulled into this gravel ‘caravan park’. These hills hoists were right behind we were parked up for the night, I got dinner going for the kids, noticed the stunning sunset, and pulled my camera out and managed to captured some of possible my favourite photos ever. And yes the sun glare is actually once of my favourite parts of this image.

As with all of my other prints. These are printed on 310gsm fine art 100% smooth cotton rag paper. This means wonderful colour accuracy and longevity of your prints. It’s not your ordinary photo paper! There is the option to order print only or purchase a framed image that will be delivered to your door ready to hang, taking all of the leg work of framing away. Custom sizes and trade discounts are also available so feel free to get in touch if you have any questions!

Karen x

Galah Gang Fine Art Print.

Marengo Camping

Since getting our Opus camper trailer (two years ago), we have visited a lot of caravan parks and camp grounds around Victoria. And I often find myself recommending or telling people the pro’s and cons about the places we have stayed! I always like to find out the details about where friends have been as well. Sometimes WikiCamps reviews just don’t cut it. And, so many of the prints in my print store come from when my family is out and about camping, so I figured it was a good fit to start this website blog with some simple reviews of some of the places we have stayed recently. We have only just scratched the surface for camping in Victoria, there are so many lovely little towns and so many places to camp I feel this could end up being a very long blog!

Marengo… this weekend we ducked down the Great Ocean Road (well actually we went the inland road through Forrest and down through Skenes Creek for time reasons) to Marengo Caravan Park. We have had our sights on this little park for a while because it is dog friendly, right on the beach, and a great location just outside of Apollo Bay.

It’s a cute little caravan park, with a number of retro looking annuals! Which I quite liked the vibe of. There are newer cabins too! There’s only one toilet block, the ladies had 3 toilets and 3 showers, it was fine when we were there but I can imagine it would be pretty hectic in peak season when the park is full. Although so many people have their own ensuites in their vans these days!

The sites aren’t massive, but we fit in our powered spot just fine with our Opus, and it backed on to quite a nice new playground (which the kids were pumped about), and a lovely fully enclosed camp kitchen. The unpowered sites have the best views in the park, overlooking the ocean, but some of them are a bit sloped so if you don’t have good levelling ability maybe worth asking about when you book. It’s just a nice, neat and tidy caravan park! Without a whole lot of frills, but everything that we needed for a weekend away.

This is the Marengo Rocks Print found in my print store

The best thing about this park is how close it is to the lovely Marengo Beach, literally right outside the gates. This is an off-leash dog beach, which is perfect for us! BUT.. from the 24th Dec-30th April you can only have dogs on the beach before 9am and after 7pm.So, it would be a bit of a pain having a dog with you during those dates as you cannot leave your dog alone at the caravan park.

Apollo Bay town is definitely within walking distance along the beach (around 2.8km each way I believe)!. The Great Ocean Road Walk also goes directly through the Caravan park, and on the back side of the park there is a walking trail that you can follow for as long as you like continuing south really!

I would absolutely stay there again, it was quiet and relaxing, despite that almost everyone had dogs! People are pretty good about keeping them contained and quiet! The trick to camping with our Cattle Dog, is just to absolutely wear her out, and ourselves in the process.