Great Ocean Road · Easy · There and back

Loch Ard Gorge, the Razorback and Broken Head

Along the limestone cliffs of Port Campbell National Park from Loch Ard Gorge past Mutton Bird Island and Thunder Cave to Broken Head.

Distance
5.6 km (3.5 mi)
Ascent
64 m
Time
About 1 h 30 min
High point
28 m
Grade
Easy

Line © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), checked by Global Adventurer.

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Loch Ard Gorge, the Razorback and Broken Head
Jorge Láscar from Melbourne, Australia · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The walk

From the Loch Ard Gorge car park, take the short path to the Razorback, a narrow fin of limestone carved by the sea, and Tom and Eva Lookout over two stacks left when an arch collapsed in 2009, then come back. Pass the top of Loch Ard Gorge, where the only two survivors of the wreck sheltered in 1878, and follow the path to the wreck lookout and the small cemetery of the ship's victims. The clifftop path then heads west past Mutton Bird Island, the blowhole and Thunder Cave to Broken Head. Return the same way.

It is 5.6 km there and back with 64 m of ascent; allow about 1½ hours. The grade is Easy: level, well-made paths with a few steps.

The cliffs are soft limestone and crumbling: keep to the paths and behind the fences. Short-tailed shearwaters nest on Mutton Bird Island from about September to April and fly in at dusk. Signs along the paths tell the story of the wreck and of the rocks.

Loch Ard Gorge is on the Great Ocean Road, a few minutes' drive west of the Twelve Apostles.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.

Good to know

  • The clipper Loch Ard was wrecked on Mutton Bird Island in 1878; two of the 54 people aboard survived
  • Tom Pearce, a survivor, rescued Eva Carmichael from the sea and the two sheltered in the gorge that now bears the ship's name
  • Short-tailed shearwaters nest on Mutton Bird Island and return at dusk from spring to autumn
  • The gorge is in Port Campbell National Park, a few minutes' drive west of the Twelve Apostles

Getting there

Start: Loch Ard Gorge car park. -38.64634, 143.07201

Directions to the start

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Places to stay nearby

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Paths change, and the weather decides the day. The line and figures come from OpenStreetMap and our own checks; take a map, check the forecast, and turn back if it isn't right.