The Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road is such an iconic part of Victoria and guess what, it’s got really great Op Shops. You can do Aireys Inlet and Anglesea in a day or take as many as you want as you slowly make your way along this famous route.

There are two fabulous Op Shops on the drive down that you simply must stop in at before you hit Anglesea. The pick of the bunch was the Bellbrae Book Room & Bric-a-Brac Op Shop, if not the best Op Shop you’ve been in then definitely the best in name. It’s a cute wooden chapel standing alone on the side of the road, hidden in a small forest. There are 2 rooms to explore, one being the most impressive book room I’ve come across, so book lovers take note. The next stop on the way to Anglesea is the Anglesea Recycle Centre in the Anglesea Waste Depot, where you’ll find affordable larger pieces for the home.

In Anglesea, there’s the wonderful Seasides Seconds Op Shop. It’s a good size and has a true community feel to it, it’s always buzzing with people and there’s many a good chat to be had. After exploring these, we continued on down to Aireys Inlet to the rustic log cabin that we had booked with friends.

The cabin is called Yikla and has 3 beautiful bedrooms, some kids toys, a well equipped kitchen & a big open fire place in the lounge room. We spent 2 nights here and then a few more down at the Cumberland River Holiday Park, which is a beautiful campground nestled in a deep gorge about 10 minutes south of Lorne. The Cumberland River winds down under the cliffs and cuts deep swimmable channels, with ample grass beside it all to pitch your tent on. We cooked all our meals on the open fire and spent our days floating in the river. There are walks back up along the river to swimming holes in the mountains behind and a beach out the front, so plenty to keep you busy. Plus there’s a kids playground and heaps of little ones running around, so children will have a ball.

We drove back to Melbourne on the Sunday, which was perfect because the Belmont Market was open. It’s chock-full of bric-a-brac so make sure you have space in the car.