When we were kids and things were getting us down, my mates and I always dreamed of jumping in a camper van and hitting the road. We never got round to fulfilling this dream, and even if we had, we’d have soon been faced with the reality of living on an island. Whichever way you turn, you will eventually meet the sea.

It wasn’t until travelling around Australia many years later that I finally discovered the joys of doing the gypsy thing. Like Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, we wanted to find ourselves and expand our minds.

No matter how good the LSD Kesey and his buddies consumed, they wouldn’t have been able to imagine the surreal beauty of this piece of coastline.

Unlike Ken, we wanted to do it through adventures and new experiences  rather than mind-bending drugs. The Great Ocean Rd, connecting the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool fulfilled both these criteria. This 243 km stretch of highway hugs some the most memorable coastline in the world. And it also takes you through chilled out beach towns, mountain passes and luscious rainforest. Regardless of whether you have three weeks or three days to drive it, here are four places you must stop at along the way.

Apollo Bay

Before being settled by Europeans, this was the land of the wonderfully titled King Parrot people. Now this small town with a vast beach is more likely to host birds in bikinis than the winged variety. If you happen to be there between the 26th and 28th of March, you can enjoy the Apollo Bay Music Festival 2010. Otherwise, it’s just a beautiful place to recharge your batteries and chill out.

Lorne

Another seaside town well worth a stopover is Lorne. Even smaller than Apollo Bay with less than a 1000 residents, this figure grows to 13000 at News Year’s Eve, when they have their own music extravaganza, the Falls Festival. Lorne also hosts the pub to pier swim in the first weekend of January. This event holds the Guinness world record for the largest organised ocean swim, with massive 4000 contestants all no doubt desperate to get to the bar first.

Great Otway National Park

Yes, another national park, but a very different one. This contains some of the last temperate rain forest on the continent. It’s full of walking tracks and is popular with Koala spotters. Aire River Camp Ground is particularly good for spotting these trippy marsupials. The Merry Pranksters would have loved it!

Port Campbell National Park

No matter how good the LSD Kesey and his buddies consumed, they wouldn’t have been able to imagine the surreal beauty of this piece of coastline. I’ve seem some amazing natural beauty in my time, but limestone and sandstone rock formations that dot this part of the road are truly mindblowing. The most famous is the Twelve Apostles (now reduced to seven thanks to erosion), but the Grotto,  London Arch and Loch Ard Gorge are great examples of mother natures sculpturing skills too.