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Region:

GOR 

Length:

50 km 

Duration:

40 mins 

Submitted By:

Motorcycle Rides 

Ride Summary

The length of this ride is 53 kilometres, with a corner ratio of 80% and corner speeds varying from fast to very fast. Traffic is light, with cars seen less than every ten minutes. The road is smooth, bump-free, and has excellent bitumen grip.

Ride Description

Running in a more inland manner despite being part of the Great Ocean Road, the ride from Apollo Bay to Lavers Hill has generally excellent surface and even more excellent series of curves and bends. The curves on this road are variable enough to give you plenty of interest – including everything from medium-speed bends to wide, sweeping curves, flowing freely into each other. You will have a lot of fun on this road – many of the corners range from fast to very fast as well.

The scenery is very good as well – as is most of this region, in part thanks to how varied the terrain is. Everything from rolling hills and fern-grown gullies to ridges that provide vistas overlooking fertile valleys and the Tasman Sea are to be found along this ride. The lack of traffic also increases your enjoyment of the route, although logging trucks have begun to infest the road more recently as well.

Lavers Hill, at the end of the ride, is a good place to obtain both food and fuel, thanks to its two gas stations and two general stores. Both food and gas are expensive, with 10% markups over the Victoria average, but you can get some good pumpkin soup at the store located near the Colac Road intersection.

Directions

Apollo Bay is found 155 kilometres southwest of Melbourne, and can be reached by following the roads described in the first article about this road to Torquay, then driving along the Great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay. From there, proceed onwards through Marengo in the direction of Lavers Hill.


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Best Thing About This Ride

The dynamic, smooth curves along the route are very interesting and pleasant to negotiate, while the views from the road are frequently spectacular – their variety only adds to the enjoyment.

What Else To Look Out For

Stringy bark blown onto the road during storms tends to accumulate towards the road center, and the forested conditions make the road damp, with water running across it here and there after a rain. Logging trucks are gradually ruining the road’s surface as well. The damage is most noticeable at Lavers Hill vicinity. We have also encountered the odd herd of cows being driven along the road with little advance warning.

Furthermore, there is a frequently-used intersection on the coast, leading to Cape Otway Lighthouse (via a twisty, narrow, good-surfaced road, in case you are interested in riding this as well) – a site where tourist’s cars and buses are often turning back onto the Great Ocean Road. There are plenty of signs to warn you of its approach however.