Travelling on the Great Ocean Road won’t be as exciting and rewarding if you miss the cuddly and lovely koalas. When you’re visiting Australia, spotting a koala must definitely be on your to-do list. These lazy fluffy friends are often found in the eucalypt woodlands and coastal regions. You can easily identify a koala by its stout. It doesn’t have a tail but its head is round-shaped with fluffy ears and a black-button nose. The chocolate brown or silver grey pelage makes koalas cute and adorable!
The koala gets its name from an ancient Aboriginal word that means ‘no drink’ because these animals fulfil 90% of their water requirements from the gum tree leaves or Eucalyptus that they eat. Whenever you spot a koala in the wild, you’ll probably find him doing one of two things – sleeping or eating!
If you’re driving along the Great Ocean Road, you’re in luck as the Victoria region has the highest population of koalas. We bring you the best locations to find koalas on the Great Ocean Road.
Apollo Bay to Lorne
When driving from Apollo Bay to Lorne, be on the lookout for these wild creatures. The coastal bushland that spreads between Apollo Bay and Lorne is home to a large number of koalas. You’ll probably find them sitting and eating on a tree or just lazing around. Make sure to keep your camera handy so that you can click lots of pictures!
Cape Otway
When you’re driving along the 12-km route of the Otway Lighthouse Road, you’ll learn to spot koalas easily as there are so many of them in the Great Otway National Park. Generally, the koalas blend well into their surroundings because of their grey or brown coloured fur that merges with the grey gum tree bark or the green eucalyptus trees. As you start looking above, you’ll start noticing the koalas and you’ll be delighted to see so many of them! If you choose to stay in any of the villages near the Great Ocean Road, you’ll also get a chance to be up close and personal with these cute friends. Along the Grey River Road, you might also find them crossing the streets or greedily eating the leaves of trees.
Kennett River
The Kennett River Koala Walk has become a popular tour as there are hundreds of koala colonies here, with more thousands of koalas. You can park your vehicle at the Koala Cove Café and then follow all the tourists to spot lots of koalas on the gum trees. Usually, if you reach here by late afternoon, you’ll witness some active koalas who are either seeking new branches to climb or eating leaves in glory. Fun fact – koalas can eat nearly half a kilo leaves per day! No wonder they sleep so much and feel so lazy! They can spend almost 20 hours in a day sleeping as the eucalyptus leaves are low in nutrition and high in fibre so it takes koalas a lot of energy to digest their food.
Your trip to the Great Ocean Road will definitely become more fun when you meet these cute little koalas. Small tip - Always look between the stem and branches as that’s the favourite place of koalas to sit.