Urquhart Circuit

Urquhart Circuit is a 2.8-mile (4.5 km) loop from the lower Urquhart Bluff car park, pairing a beach and rocky-shelf crossing to Sunnymead with an inland boardwalk and heathland return. Allow about 1.5 hours. The walk is easy to moderate overall, but the beach section is the part that decides whether you can complete the loop: attempt it only at low tide. The route can be walked either way; check the tide before starting. If water blocks the bluff, use the inland track in both directions instead of trying to cross the shore.

Walk about 100 metres along the beach from the car park to the bluff, then continue west past Mermaid Pool. The sand gives way to uneven rocks and a slippery platform; the next stretch follows an informal rocky shelf below the cliffs. Keep well back from the water's edge. A rock bridge crosses above the ocean beside a rock pillar, then a descent leads to Sunnymead Beach and its rock arch. Rain can make that descent slippery. This is a short walk with a surprisingly hands-on coast section, not an easy stroll on firm sand.

From Sunnymead, continue along the beach to the signed inland track. Its boardwalk crosses the dunes through Moonah and ironbark, then steps climb into coastal heath with banksia and tea-tree. Turn before private property; orchids and birds are among the things to notice in the thicker vegetation. Near the Great Ocean Road, there are glimpses through messmate and tea-tree. Around the 4 km mark, a seat looks through she-oaks toward Point Roadknight before the track drops back to the car park. The lower car park is off the Great Ocean Road, about 3.2 km west of O'Donohue Road; the toilet block is beside the inland track. Food and drink outlets were not found at the start.