Great Ocean Road: Wildlife Wonders Walk & Conservation Guide

4.88

(145 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I didn’t expect to feel so quiet inside walking that path above the Great Ocean Road. There was this soft crunch under my shoes and a smell—sort of eucalyptus but earthier, almost smoky. Our guide, Jess (she grew up nearby), handed out binoculars and just grinned when someone asked about snakes. “You’ll see more kangaroos than snakes,” she promised. I believed her, but still watched my step anyway.

The walk itself isn’t long—1.4km, maybe 75 minutes—but it’s packed. We moved through grasslands where wallabies froze mid-chew, then into these cool fern gullies that felt like another planet. Jess pointed out a koala wedged in a forked tree (“He’s been there all morning,” she whispered), and for a minute everyone just stood listening to the wind. I tried to take a photo but honestly, it didn’t capture how blue the sky looked behind those leaves.

We stopped at the Conservation Ecology Centre halfway through. There was this table covered in maps and tracking collars—real science stuff—and one of the researchers showed us how they monitor endangered species here along the Great Ocean Road. I liked that part more than I thought I would; it made me feel like what we were doing actually mattered. Afterward, some folks grabbed lunch at the café (I just had a flat white), and I wandered the gift shop thinking about that silent koala. Still do sometimes.