Great Ocean Road: Surfside Backpackers (Hostel)

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Address: Corner great ocean road & gambier street , Apollo bay 3233, Australia

Lonely Planet review

This rambling, homely, white weatherboard hostel is the largest of Apollo Bay's backpacker joints. Hang out in the lounge with fellow nomads, play chess, shoot some pool or listen to retro records (Acker Bilk, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck et al) while out the window the surf shambles over Haley Reef.

Dating from the late 1800s, the oldest structure here is a former Christian Brothers' holiday house, one of Apollo Bay's original buildings. The rest of the hostel has arrived from somewhere else: sections of an old nursing home and a hospital matron's unit now function as dorms. Consequently, accommodation standards vary considerably from room to room, but with a fabulously eclectic lounge area and lots of open lawns, no-one seems to spend much time in the dorms anyway. During summer things get busy - if there's no room at the inn you can pitch a tent on the grass, or relocate to the overflow flats back in town. The BBQ gets a constant workout; regular bonfires on the lawn cast warm flickers across faces. It's not the cleanest, most stylish or best-run hostel you'll ever see, but it sure has soul.