The town of Jan Juc is located just 100 kilometres south west from Melbourne and 26 kilometres south of Geelong. It is situated on a stretch of highway called the Great Ocean Road that follows the coastline from Torquay and extends west to Warrnambool. The region known as Great Ocean Road encompasses Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula that is east of Torquay.
Jan Juc lies between Torquay and Bells Beach and the main road through Jan Juc is Sunset strip which diverts you to the township from the Great Ocean Road. You can drive to Bells Beach without reconnecting with the Great Ocean Road.
The closest city to Jan Juc is Anglesea which is 16 kilometres away and the closest airport is Avalon that is just 37 kilometres away.
The scenery along this road, apart from Australia's best surfing beaches, includes some of the most spectacular cliffs and rock formations that have been weathered and carved by the southern ocean and the winds that cross Bass Strait.
Located on Victoria's southern coastline, Jan Juc is just south of Torquay and is slightly more exposed than Torquay beach. Stretching for 1.2 kilometeres between Bird Point and Rocky Point, the waves reach approximately 1.4 metres. It is patrolled by a surf life saving club that monitors conditions and erects flags to show swimmers the safest place to swim.
Limestone cliffs reaching 20 metres high back the narrower southern half of the beach while the rest is backed by low bluffs that are partially covered by sand dunes.
The combination of fine sand and waves has produced a single sand bar that is cut by 3 to 4 rips. Each end of the beach, close to the rocks has a permanent rip.
The conditions here are suitable for experienced surf swimmers and surfers. Just stay between the flags where the conditions are better for beach goers.
Many people come to Jan Juc to escape the summer crowds that converge on Torquay beach. There is a sealed parking area for 100 cars, toilets and showers and power for those who need it. There is also mobile phone reception at the beach.
The beach is classified as a hazardous 7 due to its constant rips, sharks, as in all southern beaches, shallow sand bars strong wind, beach erosion and underwater rocks.
The town of Jan Juc has a population of around 3160 and has been immortalised in the name of a fossil found there at the end of the 1990s. A young surfer, Staumn Hunder, found the fossil in a boulder that he and his father then transported to Monash University. The fossil was studied by Erich Fitzgerald and found to be that of a baleen whale that was the size of a dolphin and smaller than any baleen whales alive today. The fossil is named Janjucetus hunderi after the location and the surfer. So far it has been the only remains found and comprises a skull that is almost complete, ribs, vertebrae, radius and scapula.