I didn’t think much of a little place called Apollo Bay when I was reading about the Great Ocean Road. Aside from the road going through it, there isn’t actually much to see or do there. People flock there in the summer because of the long gorgeous beach right across the street from the town but doesn’t seem to be overly popular since there isn’t exactly a lack of nice beaches in Australia.When I rolled into town it was raining sheets. After turning off onto a gravel parking space for the beach, and going through a lake of a puddle in the process, I tried to find the hostel in my GPS. Often the place names in the GPS won’t have hostel in the name and it doesn’t have a category in lodging for them so it can take a bit of searching. I’m not sure if I forgot to add the maps for that section of Australia or there were just no streets in the map I had loaded for Apollo bay but none except the highway were showing up. Checking out the Visitor Centre pointed me in the right direction and I was off to the races, or, well, hostel.The Melbourne Central hostel was nice but it was big and felt a bit like a hotel. After being there the hostel in Apollo Bay felt like a nice eco-friendly retreat.The hostel was cozy and had a nice feel to it. There was one room that was simply 3 couches, 2 tables in between and a fireplace at one end. It was very relaxing to have the rain pounding outside and to sit down with a book on the couch and be kept very warm by the wood fire.Attractions and things to do were low in number in Apollo Bay but there was a nice lookout and waterfalls that kept me busy for one of the days.Marriners Falls is a short drive out of town along a narrow twisty road through a place called Paradise. The drive was beautiful going through jungle-like forest. The road was hardly one lane for the last bit though which made for some interesting driving situations. I assumed there would only be a gravel patch at the end of the road to launch the walk from but it was an actual carpark.The trail itself made the trip worth it.
The waterfall at the end definitely did.
Marriners Lookout is a nice view of the whole city and the long beach that it sits on. There is a road half way up the hill and the rest is an easy wide path on some private property that has been donated. I was told it was a steep hill to the top and a pretty nice walk so I parked at the bottom and ran up to the trail and the top. It was definitely steep!