Paraparap & Great Otway National Park

There’s not much to say about Paraparap other than it’s a fun thing to say. There’s literally nothing there, although it’s still a very beautiful place to start a sweet gravel ride.

For the first 10km, you’ll find yourself cruising along some quiet asphalt country roads with limited traffic passing before you hit some pretty smooth gravel with the odd corrugation leading you into The Great Otway National Park.

The Great Otway National Park is really the main event of this ride and the sections covered I’ve been through in a few of my other rides here in the region, mainly Torquay / Anglesea Heath Gravel Loop which is another amazing ride.
The Great Otway National Park is a pretty amazing and unique place. You’ll see plenty of campers at a number of the campsites and theres good reason why. You get deep hinterland vibes and at times, poke your nose out on the top of a climb and sense your proximity to the ocean via the breeze.
The roads are sandy (one small section un-rideable sandy) and at times heavily corrugated, but for the most part, you’ll find yourself losing track of time in awe of your surroundings.

The rides takes you for a 10km dip on the border of The Great Otway National Park before looping back around on a short asphalt section and diving a bit deeper (into the National Park) and on the outskirts of The Anglesea Heath on one of my favourite stretches (Gum Flats Rd) looking out over to the obelisk of the Anglesea Power Station.

Some quiet country back roads of mainly gravel will take you back to the Paraparap and the end of the ride.