After examining the steep staircase that tumbles down the golden cliff and then disappears, our small group of hikers is faced with a dilemma. Do we dare to go down or will we follow the narrow forest path we are already on?

Our journey along the Great Ocean Walk was uncomplicated, as we set off from Blanket Bay, a campsite outside the town of Apollo Bay on Victoria’s south-west coast. We walked beneath crooked eucalyptus forests, looked for koalas napping in the canopy, listened to the flurry of scarlet rose flowers fluttering among the trees, and found shy wallabies nibbling on mushrooms. The winding road has now led to a dramatic fork in the road above Wreck Beach. Below us, centuries of tides have buried and uncovered two shipwrecks, offering a tantalizing glimpse of Victoria’s maritime past. However, seeing the debris also brings with it a gamble.

“There are 366 wooden steps leading down to Debris Beach. “When we get down there we can see the tide is very close, which means a tough climb back to where we started with nothing to show for it,” says Joe Lionnet, rubbing his beard and pepper. Despite our guide’s words of warning, the wry smile on his face and the twinkle in his bespectacled eyes suggests he hopes we’ll pick the steps.

Our group splits and only a handful of us make our way down, having no idea what lies ahead. However, our gamble pays off and we find ourselves on a wide beach as the wind whistles over the steep cliffs above us.

It normally takes a week to complete one of Australia’s best multi-day walks, the 68-mile Great Ocean Walk, which starts at Apollo Bay and runs through Victoria’s two coastal national parks until reaching the summit of the Twelve Apostles – a range of them. Jagged limestone towers line the cliffs near Port Campbell.

With only one weekend left, I joined the Australian Walking Company’s new guided walk, which offers a more intense experience and covers around 30 kilometers over three days. Our group spent time wandering quiet mushroom-filled streams and exposed cliff-top trails before retiring to the company’s lodge in Johanna near the halfway point for sunset and wild venison and grilled fare. crayfish.

The next day we do it all again, traveling to the next trailhead on the route using the company minibus. Getting to these starting points means traveling along parts of the Great Ocean Road, the more famous equivalent of walking; this road lies beside us for a long time before disappearing into the interior and returning again. Ranked as one of the most scenic drives in the world, the 151-mile road winds through sleepy seaside towns, past epic surf breaks and waterfalls, on its way to our shared destination of the Twelve Apostles.

Before it was a great hike or a great trail, this same stretch of coastline was known by a much more sinister name: Shipwreck Beach. This dangerous strip, with its hidden reefs and variable conditions, cost an estimated 660 ships in the mid-19th century, when the Victorian Gold Rush was in full swing.

It cannot be said that these waters are more dangerous than those elsewhere. Melbourne’s sudden wealth in the 1850s made it one of the richest cities in the world, and thousands of ships sailed to it in search of riches. Many met only with disaster; Stories of tragedy, survival, loss and even love that wash ashore with the survivors. As Joe bluntly puts it, standing at the edge of the rock pool where the Marie Gabrielle’s rusty anchor emerges from the water, “More ships mean more accidents.”

Marie Gabrielle was one of the lucky ones. The ship crashed on Wreck Beach in 1869 while trying to deliver tea. All the crew survived, but the ship was shattered. It’s tearing apart. Fiji, whose anchor we found just a few hundred yards away, was less fortunate when faced with conflict in 1891. Joe explains that a photographer documenting the unfolding disaster may have inadvertently caused the deaths of the Fijian crew by delaying emergency services. On the cliff above us we see a sombre monument overlooking the scene; A white tombstone honors the drowned sailors and the ‘nameless’ cook who died with them.

They have no time to dwell on their fate. The tide is fast approaching and Joe takes us on an exciting run along the beach, climbing over small rocks and timing our run between the waves to reach the towering stairs on the far side of the beach. We rejoin the rest of the group and the path which now leads down to the coastal wetlands.

Soon we’re walking along the boardwalk over the Gellibrand River, hidden shorebirds calling from the tall straw-coloured reeds. On the other side, when there is an unexpected break in the foliage, we begin climbing again through the maze-like network of coastal scrub. There, in the distance, I can make out the Twelve Apostles; like a jagged finish line covered in saltwater spray.