Travel: Victoria state, Australia

Each summit was more breath-taking than the last. I don’t just mean the aaaahh-inspiring views over miles and miles of sandstone cliffs, towers and arches pounded by breakers and surf. Rather, it was trying to beat cycling guide Simon Williams to every crest on the rollercoastering Great Ocean Road, that really left me gasping.

“Why would a fella want to see all this from behind glass?” mused Simon as I came panting up behind him. He was referring to the fact that “heaps of holiday types from overseas ... Europe, America, Asia, you name it ...” experience Australia’s totemic touring route from behind the windows of their hired cars or camper vans. True, this is one of the world’s classic drives; however – and this is what had drawn me here – the route is also packed with opportunities for making the most of the great Aussie outdoors.

Cycling a stretch of the Great Ocean Road, in Victoria state, was only the start of a string of escapades that was to have me slicing through the surf followed by kayak-chasing seals and zinging through a forest canopy on a zip-line. I would also come face to face with wallabies and platypuses, and pay my respects along the way to the aboriginal cultures that have thrived here for thousands of years.

Soldiers returned from fighting in the First World War were first recruited in 1919 to start hewing a 151-mile road out of the coast between Torquay, west of Melbourne, and the old whaling station of Warrnambool, the route along which – nearly a century later – local lad Cadel Evans, the 2011 Tour de France winner, took his first ever training sessions.

It is hard to imagine early-morning starts being overly punishing for either the soldiers or the cycling champion. Not if the background was sunlight sparkling on a sapphire sea and powerful scents of eucalyptus on the rushing wind. My other first impressions were of the smoothness of the Tarmac beneath my wheels, and the sense that at every twist and turn was a fresh view that seemed to be trying to outdo the one before. However, any such contest comes abruptly to an end when you reach the headland overlooking the Twelve Apostles. Anyone who has ever been sent a postcard of the Great Ocean Road will probably recognise these astonishing stacks, eroded towers and tall, surf-fringed islands that splinter the coastline as the sea munches into the Australian continent.

I could only feel a wee bit sorry for the busloads of tourists who had come down from Melbourne for the day, but missed out on the invigorating journey I was enjoying. At Apollo Bay, for instance, we had veered inland to Lake Elizabeth, in search of platypuses. We swapped bikes for canoes and set off paddling through low mist between protruding dead tree trunks. It felt as if we had stumbled onto the set of a horror film. Bruce, our guide, has been tracking these creatures for 20 years.

Patience finally paid off when, just before dusk, we glimpsed our first flash of silky fur and duck bill, as a platypus came out to play. Elated, we headed back to Apollo Bay for a well-earned roo burger and a bottle of local micro-brewed Mountain Goat pale ale.

My next wildlife encounter was more extreme. I joined a ‘seal kayaking’ expedition into the Marengo marine park, braving some unexpectedly wild waves in pursuit of the Australian fur seals that were once nearly wiped out by colonists with shotguns. Nowadays they are protected and abundant, and appeared unfazed by humans when we found them slobbing on some spume-flecked skerries. They ducked, dived and even sniffed us, while a sea eagle wheeled overhead. We also met a lone lost penguin, bobbing on the swell, perhaps pining for its Antarctic habitat, a couple of thousand miles due south. The return to shore involved surfing the kayaks on some pretty brutal breakers, and in my case gulping a few mouthfuls of Indian Ocean in a spectacular capsize.

The Otway Flyer provided a more land-lubberly form of excitement. This is a series of steel cables and other contraptions slung between treetops to create a walkway through the canopy of Victoria’s temperate rainforest. I started with a bizarre stroll through the foliage, passing high branches of towering mountain ashes. Then (and this bit was optional) I risked the newly installed zip line tour, taking a sequence of white-knuckle, freewheeling leaps into the unknown, swinging and traversing from one treetop ‘cloud station’ platform to the next while the forest floor flew by below.

My final stop was Brambuk Cultural Centre, which serves as a reminder that – until very recently in the sweep of human history – these territories were the preserves of aboriginal cultures. As if to emphasise their closeness to their environment, the exhibitions are housed in a building shaped like a native white-tailed black cockatoo.

The guided tour wove mystery into the history as it traced the origins of ancient civilisations that were so violently repressed, and in some cases wiped out, by colonisers. I was intrigued by the re-emergence of traditional cultural activities among today’s young indigenous population. I learnt the art of flinging a boomerang (unsuccessfully); blowing down a didgeridoo to try to conjure up ghostly noises (even less successfully); and eating a bush tucker lunch of crocodile and emu sausage (success at last, bonza!).

Back in Melbourne, I kept meeting people who were astonished that my cycling trip along the Great Ocean Road had taken in such a rich assortment of activities and sights. Evidently it is not only fellas from overseas who experience this phenomenal stretch of coast ‘from behind glass’.

FACT FILE

Etihad (0800 731 9384, www.etihad.com ) flies to Melbourne from £869 return, from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness, via Manchester and Abu Dhabi.

Great Ocean Road Adventure Tours www.gorats.com.au

Otway Eco Tours www.platypustours.net.au

Apollo Bay Surf and Kayak www.apollobaysurfkayak.com.au

The Otway Flyer www.otwayfly.com

Melbourne culture walk www.walktoart.com.au

For hotels, budget hostels and B&B accommodation, as well as more activities, see the tourist office websites for Melbourne www.visitmelbourne.com

and the state of Victoria www.visitvictoria.com