Sample Itinerary
Self-guided driving tours for a typical 3 night / 4 day stay at Bellevue Farmstay.
Day 1 - Check In | Aussie BBQ
On your way to Bellevue Farmstay, pick up some groceries at supermarkets in Colac or Cobden. Or if you prefer to come straight to the Farm and settle in, you can then drive on another 12mins to Timboon to get groceries and maybe a sweet treat from Timboon Ice Creamery. In cooler months we’ll have the fireplace already going for you, and show you how to keep it stoked. (Don’t worry there is also a split heating/cooling system). For dinner, enjoy preparing your own true-blue Aussie barbecue in our covered BBQ Hut. Or pop back into Timboon for Thai at Berry World, or head into Port Campbell (20mins) with plenty of dinner options.
Day 2 - Farm Animals + Activities | Port Campbell | Twelve Apostles
9AM - NOON - Animal Feeding Sessions and Activities at Bellevue. Walk up the hill and meet us atop the hill at 9AM sharp.
LUNCH + AFTERNOON Head to Port Campbell and pick up Fish & Chips, walk down and enjoy on the Foreshore. Walk around the village, visit the Port Campbell Visitor Information Centre for maps, pamphlets and friendly advice. Ask about the free Craters to Coast Discovery activities for kids. Meander through the Port Campbell village. Swim at Port Campbell Bay. Walk over the new Suspension Bridge that spans Campbell’s Creek to a viewing platform and a 191 step staircase that flanks the western headland of Port Campbell. The staircase connects directly to the Port Campbell Discovery Walk. Visitors can then choose to turn north away from the coast to the Port Campbell lookout or continue south along the Discovery Walk along Point Sturgess headland. (4km return). Or you can drive to Peterborough, another quaint seaside town, and along the way stop off at Two Mile Bay, The Arch, London Bridge, The Grotto and the Bay of Martyrs.
Time your visit to the Twelve Apostles as the sun sets over the Southern Ocean if you want to see them at their best. The limestone stacks and cliff faces will light up in shades of red, yellow, pink and orange. Look down to the beach below and spot Little Penguins returning from their day feeding at sea. Binoculars will help (free from the Visitor Center). Every evening between September and April, thousands of Short-tailed Shearwaters - a seabird - return to Mutton Bird Island to roost in burrows and feed their young. This is an astonishing natural event that every wildlife lover should witness. From Loch Ard Gorge carpark, walk to the end of the Living on the Edge trail to Sherbrook Beach. It's not safe to swim here, but it's a beautiful and secluded place to linger for a while.
Download a copy of the Port Campbell Map and Visitors Guide click here
Day 3 - Farm Animals + Activities | Chocolate Tasting | Shipwreck Coastline | Milking Cows
9AM - NOON - Animal Feeding Sessions and Activities at Bellevue. Walk up the hill and meet us atop the hill at 9AM sharp.
LUNCH + AFTERNOON Enjoy lunch on the front patio at Bellevue, with sweeping pastoral views. Head for Simpson (12 mins drive) and stop for coffee and a treat enroute at Dairylicious Fudge. At Simpson view the huge Ball & Chain and bulldozer that was used to clear thousands of acres of farmland in the 1950s. Then head towards the Great Ocean Road, stopping off at GORGE Chocolates . When you reach the Great Ocean Road, turn right and start soaking up our famous Shipwreck Coastline with the Gibson Steps and Loch Ard Gorge - the site of the most famous shipwreck on the aptly named Shipwreck Coast. (The Loch Ard ran aground crashing into Mutton Bird Island in 1878. The only two survivors Tom Pearce and Eva Carmichael managed to drag themselves to the safety of the beach inside Loch Ard Gorge. For a moment, these two tragic teenagers were the talk of the English-speaking world, which very much hoped they would marry (they did not). Walk along this sandy beach, dramatically closed in by towering sandstone cliffs. Explore several other short walks in this area including the cemetery where Tom and Eva’s less fortunate shipmates are buried.)
Return to Bellevue by 4PM to watch 350 cows being milked on a rotary dairy owned by The McGlade family, who founded Otway Pastures organic milk with two other local families. FUN FACT: When our camel Alana first came to us as a 6-day-old, the McGlades donated 10 litres of milk daily to keep her alive.
Day 4 - Animals (mini feeding session) | Check Out
9AM -10AM Mini Feeding Session in the Pet Paddock.
11AM - check out
DRIVING TIP: If you need to pull over on the side of the road to take photos, ensure you do not do so where there are any double white lines down the centre. To stop at any time, pull over completely off the bitumen road and past the left hand side of the single white line. All four wheels must be on the gravel/dirt portion of the road (not on the bitumen).