Homegrown: Great Ocean Road, Vic

Stretching almost 250 kilometres along the southern ocean coast and nearby Otway ranges, Victoria’s iconic road winds its way into the hearts of locals and visitors alike.

Source: Derek Swalwell

It may have been Dad’s migrant status that sheltered us from the idea of the ‘great Australian road trip’. I recall the one vehicular adventure we endured: the interminable boredom that came with the flat and dusty summer crossing of regional Victoria to arrive at the Murray River’s murky brown shores, five of us crammed into a Holden Kingswood, its dark blue paint concentrating the car’s interior heat.

Today is different. Today, we are winding along an ocean road that follows the curves of the coast with the tenderness and intent of a lover. Perhaps it’s the history that makes this drive a journey in itself – void of that determined push to a set point or destination. The returned World War I veterans who carved and blasted this road from rock imbued it with their story, and a finesse that you can feel in the rise and fall of the turns.

It’s a romance that’s felt first and foremost by the people who live and work in the region surrounding this undulating spine, including brother and sister Matt and Sharon Bradshaw. About three hours from Melbourne (and three kilometres before the Great Ocean Road hits Apollo Bay), a side road appears that subsequently twists and turns for 30 minutes along a rainforest-lined slice of bitumen. Eventually, it opens up to Forrest, a one-street town where the siblings established Forrest Brewing Company in 2010, a cafe and microbrewery housed in the former general store.

Source: Derek Swalwell

Today, the duo produces 1800 litres of hand-bottled beer each week, from a classic pale ale with hints of apple to a gently bitter stout. “We take a very handmade approach,” Sharon enthuses, noting the use of Otway water, absence of preservatives and view of the brewery from a window in the cafe. “The product goes hand-in-hand with the town.”

We stand as we talk, delving (as the area’s food producers are want to do) into the symbiotic relationship that exists between the landscape and those who inhabit it. There is a culture of slow-yet-skilled production that permeates the region and people here value an organic approach to life, many of them having left the city behind for good. As was the case for Caroline Simmons and Tim Marwood in nearby Timboon. The couple originally moved from Melbourne to run Tim’s family’s dairy.

When it eventually ran its course, they started the now award-winning Timboon Fine Ice Cream. In 2007, they branched out again and created Timboon Railway Shed Distillery, where Tim produces their boutique amber whisky and Caroline sells their line of ice-cream.

Caroline stands next to the copper whisky still as she shares their story: one of milk sourced from neighbours down the road; of cream driven in from nearby Warrnambool; of the redelivery of a distillery to an area that was once famed for bootleg whisky; and the restoration of the town’s beautiful old railway shed, which inspired the name of the distillery and now also houses a restaurant and a store selling other boutique food products from the region.We visit a few of these artisans on the twisting road from Timboon to Twelve Apostles and Port Campbell.

Source: Derek Swalwell

We sample a selection of blue, feta, smoked and washed-rind cheeses at Apostle Whey Cheese made on the family’s farm from the milk of their Jersey and Friesian cows. At Newtons Ridge Estate Vineyard & Winery at the end of dusty Cooriemungle Road, it’s a bottle of pinot grigio. We also make a quick pit-stop for licorice sticks coated in Belgian chocolate at Gorge Chocolates – a boutique business with the chocolate-making room housed in a converted farm shed.

A 15-minute drive down Princetown Road from Gorge Chocolates and we arrive at the Twelve Apostles. Its grandeur and dramatic beauty further contextualise the words we’ve heard today from the people living and working in this extreme landscape. This is a place to mould oneself around. We also see it in the way the harbour and cliffs cradle the tiny seaside hamlet of nearby Port Campbell and in the long shadows as night descends upon the tree-house setting of Chris’s Beacon Point Restaurant and Villas in Apollo Bay – our rest stop for the night.

The next morning, we open the curtains of our resident villa accommodation to be greeted with 180-degree ocean views. At breakfast, manager Taki Talihmanidis smiles in appreciation of our enthusiasm for the rosewater fruit salad with Greek yoghurt. Taki’s father Chris, something of a legend in these parts, began this family-run business back in 1979. Chris was born in Greece and began cooking in the city of Salonika at age 13. In the 60s, he moved to Melbourne, where he won numerous accolades. His style marries Greek and other European flavours with local produce; think chargrilled fresh octopus with a zingy white bean salad, or a modern take on kouneli stifado – traditionally a rabbit stew, Chris’s version consists of boned rabbit stuffed with chicken and bacon mousseline.

As we chat, Taki, who now runs the family operation part-time, admits how a short stint working in finance in Melbourne’s CBD a few years back just about killed him. Having spent a lifetime working at restaurants between Lorne and Apollo Bay, Taki has become bound to the Great Ocean Road and its environs. At their own restaurant, Taki and his father have ridden the wave of busy summers and quiet winters, and even bounced back from a kitchen fire that burned the restaurant to the ground in 2003.

“I was about eight or nine when I started wiping down tables,” Taki laughs, noting that back in the early days his dad not only cooked the fish, but caught it all as well. Things may have changed a little (Chris still mans the kitchen when not enjoying his annual break in Greece – though his enthusiasm for fishing has waned), but the ethos is the same. “People don’t come here because they’re starving; they come here for the romance and to enjoy the view,” says Taki. “This is a place that breathes the history of the Great Ocean Road.”

It’s food for thought as we wind our way home, pausing for coffee at Wye General Store. Located between Lorne and Apollo Bay, it’s perfectly positioned on the long drive back to Melbourne, offering great food (it was started by a couple of Melbourne hospitality veterans three years ago), as well as a chance to stretch legs and take a quick dip at the beach opposite. Here, the salt air is sweet and the coffee is strong. Toby Waite, who migrated from the city to work the cafe’s front-of-house keeps me company as I savour every last drop. “You can’t be here and not be in touch with the seasons,” he muses. “This place is about a group of people from the city who wanted something different.”

To take a drive and find these people on it; to remove the destination from the journey; and to be along for the ride are all what’s so consuming about travelling the Great Ocean Road – and this iconic Australian road trip.

“There is a culture of slow-yet-skilled production that permeates the region and people here value an organic approach to life, many of them having left the city behind for good.”

 

The Hit List

Eat
Wye General Store
Beautifully executed haute cafe-style food and boutique wines and beers with views across to the beach. 35 Great Ocean Rd, Wye River, [phone].

Forrest Brewing Company
A working microbrewery serving regional produce-driven food, locally roasted coffee and local wines. Apollo Bay Rd, Forrest, [phone].

Timboon Railway Shed Distillery
Local cheese plates, ice-creams and made-on-site whisky. The Railway Yard, Bailey St, Timboon, [phone].

Chris’s Beacon Point Restaurant
Fine dining meets Greek in a treetop setting. 280 Skenes Creek Rd, Apollo Bay, [phone].

 

 

Stay
Chris’s Beacon Point Villas

Simple elegance and comfort with stunning ocean views perched on the hills overlooking Apollo Bay. 280 Skenes Creek Rd, Apollo Bay, [phone].

Kennett River Holiday Park

Cabins and both powered and unpowered camping sites with rainforest or beach views and Great Otway National Park access. 1-13 Great Ocean Road, Kennett River, [phone].

 

 

Do
Otway Fly Treetop Adventures

Treetop walks, zip-line tours, bushwalking and abseiling. 360 Phillips Track, Weeaproinah, [phone].

Paddle with the Platypus Tour
Take a dusk or dawn canoe tour searching for platypus in the wild. Otway Eco Tours, 0419 670 985.

Otway Harvest Trail
Self-guided regional tour of wineries, breweries, pick-your-own berry farms, cheese, whisky- and chocolate-makers.

 

 

Photography Derek Swalwell.

 

As seen in Feast magazine, April 2014, Issue 30.