Great Ocean Road

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Great Ocean Road
Also known as the Surfcoast Highway between Geelong and Torquay

B100
Length 263 kilometres
General direction: West-East
From: Allansford, Victoria
To: Belmont, Geelong
Towns along road: Port Campbell, Lavers Hill, Apollo Bay, Lorne, Torquay

The Great Ocean Road (known as the Surfcoast Highway between Geelong and Torquay) which stretches along the South Eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Geelong and Warrnambool is the world's biggest war memorial. It was built between World War I and World War II by returned servicemen in honour of their fallen comrades. The road took 16 years to build and it was all done by hand using picks, shovels and dynamite.

The main gate, an arch, has been rebuilt a number of times. The first gate was demolished and rebuilt when the road was widened, another was knocked over by a truck and a third arch was razed during the Ash Wednesday fires. The gate is not actually located at the beginning of the road.

Hugging tightly to the coast, the road offers outstanding views of Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean. The section near Port Campbell covers some of the most scenic coastline in the world, because of its striking and dramatic natural rock formations. These formations include Loch Ard Gorge, the Grotto, London Bridge (renamed to London Arch in recent years after the 'bridge' partially collapsed), and most famously The Twelve Apostles.

Previously assigned State Route 100, it was later designated as B100 and is the VicRoads' definition of a B-rated road.

Contents

[edit] Speed limits

The road's speed limit fluctuates from 80km/h (50mph) to 100km/h (62mph). However, its sharp curves make it impossible to reach those speeds in most places. It is a two lane roadway (one lane in each direction) and, as always in Australia, vehicles must drive on the left hand side of the roadway.

There are safety and speed-monitoring cameras at intervals along the road.

[edit] Gallery of sights and tourist landmarks

[edit] See also

[edit] External links