How to Travel the Great Ocean Road With Your Cat

March 5, 2019 Hasara Lay

Noxie on the beach on the Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road is probably the most famous road in Australia. Amazing views of ocean, beaches and cliffs on one side and then beautiful rain forests on the other side.

It is one of those roads that make you catch your breath as you drive on it.

The landscape is so picturesque partly due to numerous National Parks along the way.

However, National Parks are usually not pet friendly and are definitely not cat friendly in Australia.

But we still wanted to see the beauty of the Great Ocean Road. We just needed to find a way to keep our kitties entertained when they couldn’t come with us.

Accommodation

I was impressed with the number of pet friendly accommodation options available on the Great Ocean Road. Of course, some of these were only dog friendly or insisted that your pets have to stay outside, which honestly does not work when you are travelling with cats!

As we were concerned that our cats would not be able to go anywhere with us, we wanted to find accommodation with a garden they could explore. In an ideal world, we would have stayed on a farm. However, we really wanted to stay by the water and found that most cat friendly farm style accommodation was at least a 20 minute drive from the ocean.

Lumos loving the garden at Stephanie’s

We settled on staying at Stephanie’s at Onion Bay, a lovely BnB run by, you guessed it, Stephanie. The BnB has several rooms with access to a beautiful garden and there is a path just across the road that takes you straight to the beach.

Stephanie was very kind, introduced herself and even allowed our cats, Lumos & Noxie, to explore her backyard (on leash). Stephanie has a kitty too so we rostered Lumos & Noxie’s exploring time around her cat’s backyard time. However, Stephanie did offer to vary her cat’s exploring roster, which we did appreciate.

It is about 15 minutes from Apollo Bay, which has many options for food, drinks, coffee and more. Stephanie provided us with breakfast, which meant that we didn’t have to go searching for breakfast most days.

Travelling from Melbourne to Apollo Bay with our Cats

Technically the drive from Melbourne to Apollo Bay should only take 2 – 3 hours, but what is the point of driving through some of the most beautiful places in Australia (or the world) if you aren’t going to stop along the way?

We also made the decision to take the costal route so it did take us a little longer.

Sticks and Stones Café

We initially stopped in Torquay, to have lunch. Typically this is easy, find a café & sit down right?

But we had our 2 kitties, so we needed a pet friendly café.

Luckily we knew that Sticks and Stones Café was pet friendly. It is tucked away on the side of a outdoor shopping mall, and was relatively quiet when were there. This allowed Lumos & Noxie to stretch their legs and go for a walk as we waited for our food.

Point Addis Boardwalk

Next up was a walk on the Point Addis Boardwalk.

I won’t lie, I was a little nervous about Point Addis Boardwalk. Everything I read indicated that it was pet friendly, but it was also very close to a National Park. Luckily there were signs that stated it was pet friendly.

Lumos checking out the Point Addis Boardwalk from his backpack

Ideally I would have liked to allow Lumos & Noxie to walk along the boardwalk, but it was rather windy and they preferred to stay in their backpacks.

The view is phenomenal and they did get to see some of it.

Teddy’s Lookout

We also stopped by Teddy’s Lookout, another cat friendly spot. The walk is relatively short, but not short enough to keep your kitties in the car.

Timboon

If you’re looking for an area that is on the Great Ocean Road that is pet friendly, foodie and has a little bit of walking, Timboon is your answer.

But a warning, the drive there from Apollo Bay is a little windy, which may bother some cats. In fact, the whole Great Ocean Road can be a bit windy, which is why we made regular breaks.

Timboon Railway Shed Distillery

Most commonly known as a whisky distillery, Timboon Railway Shed Distillery, also has vodka, snaps & other alcoholic beverages. Not only do they do tastings, they also serve a delicious lunch.

AND, they are pet friendly. They have an outdoor deck area where your pets can sit.

Lumos hanging out during a tasting

However, during food service, cats are not allowed to walk around the inside area. In saying this, they were very welcoming of Lumos and Noxie, which we appreciated.

If you enjoy your whisky we recommend the Single Malt Whisky Port Expression. The coffee milkshake with their Coffee Cream is pretty good too!

They are also a stop on the Great Ocean Road Gourmet Trail, which has some great food destinations!

Camperdown Timboon Railway Trail

This is a great pet friendly trail that starts at the Timboon Railway Shed Distillery.

While it is 34km, there is no need to complete the whole trail and it is extremely pet friendly and pretty easy to walk on.

Noxie hiking on the Timboon Trail

Noxie enjoyed the trail so much that she hiked for 5 km of it.

Timboon Fine Ice Cream

While not necessarily pet friendly, we also enjoyed Timboon Fine Ice Cream. There is a large outdoor seating area with grass, where you can sit with your pets.

Our favourite ice creams were definitely the Aperol Spritz flavour & the Honeycomb flavour.

Johanna Beach

One of the struggles with the Great Ocean Road and travelling with cats, it that majority of the pet friendly beaches also happen to be off leash dog beaches – not ideal for cats.

Johanna Beach was one exception. It is also off the beaten path so was relatively quiet. This allowed Lumos and Noxie to explore to their hearts content.

Lumos going for a walk on the beach

However, it is important to remember that some birds may be nesting in the vegetated area, so keep your kitties away from there!

Apollo Bay

Apollo Bay is probably one of the most well known towns on the Great Ocean Road. It is the ideal spot to stay as it sits in the ‘middle’ and acts as a great base to explore this beautiful part of Australia. It also has many options for eating and drinking.

We found ourselves having many meals in Apollo Bay. A plus was that most establishments had outdoor seating, which meant that we could sit there with our cats.

Great Ocean Road Brewhouse – Tastes of the Region

You know those places, where your cat is welcomed with open arms? Where they stop work to talk to you and pat your cat? Where they make your cat feel special? Where you go back to again and again because they were so nice (even if your cat is not with you)?

That is exactly what the tasting room at the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse felt like to us.

They market themselves as dog friendly inside, but when we asked if the kitties could come in, they pretty much begged us to bring them in!

They even have a dog wall of fame, but created a “special meowtions” section for Lumos and Noxie.

They helped keep Lumos and Noxie so at ease that Lumos even did his first ever fist bump out of home!

Noxie helping out with a wine tasting. Don’t fret, she tasted none!

The tasting room has several tasting platters, ranging from local beers, ciders and wines. We highly recommend it.

And the beer garden is also pet friendly and they have a great deal for happy hour. In fact, we returned back when we didn’t have the kitties too.

Other Pet Friendly Places on the Great Ocean Road

We didn’t have a chance to take Lumos & Noxie to all the pet friendly places on the Great Ocean Road, so here are the ones we did not travel to.

Port Fairy is often described as being very pet friendly and having some beautiful cafes and scenery.
Serpentine Boardwalk (Princetown)
Otway Estate (Otway)
Swing Bridge Café & Boathouse (Lorne)
Café Moby (Torquay)