Two Week Road Trip from Tourquay (Victoria) to Adelaide (South Australia) via the Great Ocean Road and Kangaroo Island
- Nov 23, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: May 10
After deciding that spring was the ideal time to tackle some of Australia's best known tourist destinations, the hard part was trying to pack a lot of amazing sights into a limited time frame.
In the end I spent 2 weeks doing the core sightseeing journey from Tourquay to Adelaide and home, but was away from New South Wales (NSW) for 3 weeks. The extra time included driving from Goulburn to Tourquay and spending a few days there before the main road trip.
I organised one excursion while staying in Tourquay to visit the Mornington Penninsula Hot Springs. If you're going to spend some time around Melbourne you could pick somewhere much more convenient to stay to do this, but it had been on my wish list for a while so despite staying in Tourquay I was still keen to go. Driving there would have been an option but catching the return ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento had a lot more appeal.
Visiting the hot springs was a long, enjoyable, day, and I would have got started earlier had I known the Queenscliff terminal had a beautiful waterfront restaurant where I could have had breakfast! They were building a new terminal on the Sorrento side as well.
Getting ready to start the Great Ocean Road was exciting. It is an iconic Australian road trip for good reason, and it was ideal that I'd allowed two full days for this part of the drive.
For more images and information read this post about the Great Ocean Road.
Leaving Warrnambool the first stop was Cape Bridgewater and I never get tired of serene coastal views, followed by a visit to the Umpherston Sinkhole, known as the sunken garden.
Mount Gambier was a great place for an overnight stay, and the Blue Lake Holiday Park is conveniently located very close to the Blue Lake lookout.
I hadn't realised that the Mount Gambier region was famous for it's volanic history and that there were more sinkholes in this region than anywhere else in Australia. This creates some really unique scenic stops like the above, and the Little Blue Lake.
This also led to me booking a very unusual tour to go snorkelling in a sinkhole - after all, why not! I'd booked it well before the trip and wasn't sure what to expect but I was getting a little nervous as the day got closer.
Afterwards I was very glad that I booked the experience, as snorkelling at Kilsby Sinkhole became one of the most memorable aspects of the trip.
After an overnight stay at Discovery Parks Robe, it was time to make our way to the ferry for Kangaroo Island. As I spent several days there and the scenery was fantastic I wrote a dedicated post featuring 10 of the best stops.
Getting off the ferry from Kangaroo Island to head to Adelaide I'd planned a few scenic stops and a lunch break as we made our way up the Fleurieu Peninsula.
At Morgan's Beach it was the first time I'd seen a wind farm from the beach.
The lunch stop at the Star of Greece was excellent, they have a restaurant that you'd need to book early to get into, and a takeaway kiosk which we visited. It's an ideal stop for great food and fantastic views.
The last stop before Adelaide was at the River Mouth Encounter Bay, just as a storm was coming in.
One of the days in Adelaide we went to the caravan expo and finally made the decision to buy a van. I was pleased and terrified at the same time and buying out of state would come with some extra challenges. It was a way of really committing to the next big road Australian road trips, including 'the lap'.
The other Adelaide outing was a visit to the Botanic Gardens, which is a lovely way to have a relaxed day out in the sunshine.
I felt it would be too rushed to attempt including them in this particular trip but I know the Adelaide region is internationally recognised for the spectacular wine regions of McClaren Vale and the Barossa, both of which I've visited briefly in the past and would happily do again another time.
Beginning the drive home the first stop was Murray Bridge and the Bridgeport Hotel is a lovely place to stay. I'd hoped to be able to book the lunch cruise on the local paddle steamer but missed out, however the hotel gave me great sunset and sunrise views over the Murray River.
The overnight stay at Lake Tyrrell Accommodation was very basic but workable, and Lake Tyrrell was worth the visit, particularly to see the sunset reflections in the salt lake. We'd done a quick visit to Lake Hardy on the way but if you are short on time Lake Tyrrell was the better of the stops.
The next day I picked Cactus Country as an unusual lunch stop. We spent some time wandering around the different gardens and it was amazing to see how many different plants they have.
The last overnight stay I chose for a bit of luxury to end the trip and thoroughly enjoyed the wine tasting and stay at De Bortoli Rutherglen Estate.
I'd expected good views and a lot of great memories from this trip, but was genuinely surprised by how many incredible things I'd seen in a couple of weeks. Having now committed to the van my excitment about the upcoming major road trips is escalating.
