Adelaide to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road: Wineries, Pubs & the Coast

Adelaide to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road: Wineries, Pubs & the Coast

5 nights, roughly 950km, one of the great coastal drives in the country

There's a direct inland route between Adelaide and Melbourne that takes about eight hours. This isn't that route either. This one tracks south through Coonawarra's terra rossa vineyards, across the Victorian border into whaling and timber towns with some of the oldest pubs in the state, then picks up the Great Ocean Road proper for the run past the Twelve Apostles and into Melbourne. Budget five nights if you want to actually stop the car.

The route: Adelaide → Coonawarra → Mount Gambier → Portland → Port Fairy → Great Ocean Road → Geelong → Melbourne.

The Route at a Glance

Day 1: Adelaide to Mount Gambier, via Coonawarra

Leave Adelaide early — it's a long first day, but the wine detour is worth the extra hour.

Just north of Penola sits Coonawarra, home to Australia's most famous strip of dirt: a narrow band of terra rossa soil — red clay over limestone — that produces some of the country's best cabernet sauvignon. Wynns Coonawarra Estate is the region's pre-eminent producer and the obvious first stop, with tastings of current and back-vintage wines and cheese platters to go with them. A few minutes down the road, Rymill Coonawarra greets visitors with a striking Stallions Rampant statue and a wine room overlooking water and rose gardens. If you've got time for a third, Brand's Laira has been growing grapes on this strip since 1893 and pairs a light lunch of local cheeses and meats with a one-hour tasting.

From Coonawarra it's a short run down to Mount Gambier, sitting almost exactly halfway between Adelaide and Melbourne. Take the loop road around the volcanic crater lake known as the Blue Lake — it turns a startling turquoise over summer — and walk down into the Umpherston Sinkhole, a sunken garden built into a collapsed limestone cave, best visited at dusk when the resident possums come out to feed.

Stay: the Golden Chain Tower Motor Inn, on Jubilee Highway West, is a comfortable, recently refurbished base close to the Blue Lake and Coonawarra, with tea/coffee facilities and cooked breakfast available in-room — a solid landing point after a long first day.

Day 2: Mount Gambier to Portland

Cross the border into Victoria and head for Portland — the state's first permanent European settlement, founded by the Henty brothers in 1834, a year before Melbourne. It's a working port town with genuine history: wander Bentinck Street and you'll spot the old London Inn building, still bearing its original signage over the top windows.

For dinner, Mac's Hotel is the pick — an historic pub with local photos lining the walls and a menu built around fresh, locally caught seafood like grilled blue grenadier. The Richmond Henty Hotel, Portland's other grand old pub, is worth a look too, especially if you want a room with harbour views to go with your counter meal.

Stay: the Victoria Lodge Motor Inn & Apartments, a Golden Chain Platinum property on Percy Street, offers spacious four-star rooms or self-contained apartments — a genuine step up if you want a proper rest before the next leg.

Day 3: Portland to Port Fairy

It's a short drive to Port Fairy, so take the coastal detour through Cape Bridgewater and the Great South West Walk cliffs if the weather's playing along, or head inland briefly to Nelson on the Glenelg River.

Port Fairy itself is one of the best-preserved 19th-century towns in Australia — limestone and bluestone buildings dating back to the 1840s, many National Trust classified. And it's home to the pub that gives every other stop on this trip a run for its money: the Stump, housed in the old Caledonian Inn, which has held a continuous liquor licence since 1844 and is generally regarded as the oldest operating pub in Victoria. Expect a proper public bar, a well-stoked fire, and pub classics with a few upgrades — the seafood spaghetti has a strong local following. If you'd rather a second option, the Victoria Hotel, on the site of a pub licensed back in 1859, pours regional beer and wine with an extensive lunch and dinner menu.

Stay: the Central Motel Port Fairy, on Sackville Street, sits in a quiet, rose-gardened cul-de-sac just off the main street — close enough to walk to dinner, far enough to sleep properly afterwards.

Day 4: Port Fairy to Geelong — the Great Ocean Road

This is the big one. Get an early start: today covers Warrnambool, the Twelve Apostles, the Otways, and the full run of the Great Ocean Road into Geelong wine country.

Stop at the Twelve Apostles viewing platforms — non-negotiable — then wind through the Great Otway National Park, detouring to waterfalls like Hopetoun Falls or Beauchamp Falls if you've got the legs for a short walk. Roll into Apollo Bay for a late lunch at the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse, originally built in 1887 as the Ballarat Hotel and now the oldest pub on this stretch of coast, pouring over 100 Australian craft beers and ciders (and, famously, a beer for dogs). The Apollo Bay Hotel itself, established in 1885, is the other option — nautical-themed bistro, front deck, ocean views.

Push on through Lorne, where the Lorne Hotel has been standing since 1876 with uninterrupted views over Louttit Bay, before the road straightens out toward Torquay and Geelong wine country.

As you close in on Geelong, detour into the Bellarine Peninsula and Moorabool Valley wine region — over 60 wineries and close to 50 cellar doors, most family-run. Scotchmans Hill, right on the Great Ocean Road at Bellbrae, was the first cellar door on the Bellarine and has held a five-star Halliday rating for two decades running. If you've got room for one more, Oakdene Vineyards on the Bellarine has an entire cellar door built inside an "upside-down house" — playful, but the wine's serious.

Stay: the Aristocrat Waurnvale Motel, set on five landscaped acres near Waurn Ponds, is a Golden Chain property just minutes from Mt Duneed Estate Winery and around 15 minutes from Geelong and Torquay Beach — a genuinely well-placed base for the wine leg of the trip.

Day 5: Geelong to Melbourne

A short final run — about an hour without stops. If you've still got an appetite for cellar doors, spend the morning at one more Bellarine winery (Leura Park Estate in Curlewis does wood-fired pizza and live music on weekends, a good lazy final lunch) before making the run into the city.

Stay: the Footscray Motor Inn & Serviced Apartments, on Droop Street, is the Golden Chain option closest to central Melbourne — about 6km out, with easy access into the CBD to properly end the trip.

Practical Notes

• Total driving time is around 12.5 hours non-stop via the coastal route — this itinerary spreads it over five days so the wineries and pubs actually get their due, not just a drive-by.
• Book the Twelve Apostles car parks and lookouts for early morning or late afternoon if you can — midday gets crowded with tour buses in peak season.
• Coonawarra cellar doors mostly close by 4–5pm, so hit them on the way through rather than saving them for the end of the day.
• Fuel and food stops get sparser between Mount Gambier and Portland — top up before you leave Mount Gambier.
• Cash/card: most pubs and cellar doors take card, but small-town servos and some cellar doors still prefer cash for smaller purchases.

Pace yourself, book the good pubs ahead on weekends, and let the coast set the schedule.