The seaside town of Lorne on Louttit Bay in Victoria is perfectly
positioned as a ‘weekend away’ destination for Melbourne
residents, which has a lot to do with it being one of Victoria’s
most loved holiday destinations.
Location: 140 km south-west of Melbourne
Lorne Visitor Information Centre
144 Mountjoy Parade, Lorne, Victoria 3232
Ph: (03) 5289 1152
Lorne is blessed by being sandwiched on a narrow coastal plain between
the Otway Range and Bass Strait. Its location not only places it right
on Victoria’s Surf Coast and a short drive from popular surf
beaches such as Torquay, Bells Beach, Jan Juc, Aireys Inlet and
Anglesea, but also just a few kilometres from the rainforests of the
Otway Range, whose eucalypt-clad slopes literally reach to the sea
around the town.
All these factors make Lorne the ideal destination for a holiday, a
weekend away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life or simply a
pleasant stopover on the way to the Shipwreck Coast.
Lorne also marks the beginning of one of Australia’s favourite
drives, the Great Ocean Road. The several kilometres of fine coastline
at Louttit Bay on which Lorne stands give travellers along the Great
Ocean Road a real taste of things to come.
Lorne has a resident population of around 1,000, but it swells to
around 20,000 each New Year’s Eve when the Falls Festival takes
place.
During the first weekend of January the town hosts the 1.2 km Pier to Pub swim (described in the Guinness Book of Records as “the largest organised ocean swim in the world” and currently capped at 4,000 competitors), the 8 km Mountain to Surf run, and the Lorne Surf Boat Race. Fair On The Foreshore occurs on the first weekend in November.
Things To See and Do
Lorne’s popularity in summer can mean booked-out accommodation and traffic jams although it is fairly quiet at other times. Despite the crowds at peak season, Lorne still manages to retain a certain charm, owing in part to some fine old buildings. The sidewalk cafes, eating houses and boutiques, along with the ocean setting give the town something of a Mediterranean air.
There are eight shipwrecks off the coast. The ‘WB
Godfrey’ is the most recognisable with a grave site, and
artefacts visible in the rock shelf at low tide.
Walking tracks behind Lorne follow old tram lines used by early timber
mills. The Tramway Track is a clearly marked interpretive trail mostly
follows the route of the tramway used by teams of horses to haul timber
from the St George River area to Lorne pier until the 1930s.
Surrounding Area
Angahook-Lorne State Park: excellent for bushwalking and picnics.
Containing some of the finest coastal and timbered hill country in
Victoria, the park extends from Aireys Inlet to Kennett River and
includes steep ridges, deep gullies, coastal cliffs, small coves and
sandy beaches. It has a number of excellent vantage points over the
ocean as well as opportunities to see a range of wildlife including
kangaroos and possums.
Erskine Falls: There are seven waterfalls within the bushland surrounding Lorne, with different accessibility levels – some are a quick ten minute stroll from the carpark, others are a more strenuous rainforest hike rewarded with the majestic roar of a waterfall.
