Advice please: Great Ocean Road

**curlywurly**

I am planning a family holiday to Australia. We will fly to Sydney, stay there for four days, fly to Sunshine Coast, stay there for 11 days, then fly to Melbourne.

We have been to Sydney and Sunshine Coast before, so that's all sorted.

When we arrive in Melbourne, we would like to drive the Great Ocean Road, then visit Phillip Island, then fly home from Melbourne (so it's a bit of a loop).

If anyone has any advice about the Great Ocean Road, or visiting Phillip Island, including how many days we would need, where to stay, etc I would be v grateful.

tiamaria

No advice to offer but we are planning a very similar trip, I started a post not too long ago on the same subject, we just wanted to avoid driving in Melbourne itself as it has a bad rep. for driving,(though it's probably just me)! Still thinking about how to get around that one..

The GOR - We are planning to go over 4 nights, staying in Apollo Bay, Port Fairy, then inland to the Grampians, staying in Dunkeld and finally a night in Ballarat then back to Melbourne.

Also want to go to Philip Island.

what time of year are you going?

**curlywurly**

Hello Tia. On currently itinerary (nothing booked yet) we will arrive in Melbourne on about 18 April, and then fly home on 24 April. I am finding it difficult to visualise how many nights we need, and whether to do a chunk of driving then stay in one play for 2/3 days, or do a little bit every day. I have found this a lot more tricky than (eg) planning the drive from Brisbane to Sydney which we did this year.

tiamaria

I've just spent the weekend trying to work it all out, so much to think about. We also did Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns a few years back and yes, it was much simpler.

Normally I book things myself but with such a big trip I asked a TA in town who gave us a good price for our whole trip (which includes Hong Kong, Sydney, Hawaii and San Francisco as well). Were initially looking for just stopovers but it's panned out as an around the world trip! We found the journey to Oz too long last time as we did it without stopovers.

In the TA's Gold Medal brochure there is a reasonably priced trip of the GOR, which includes all the accommodation on the way around and car hire. It can be done quicker but it's too nice to rush I'd say;)

tiamaria

I Found this site very useful and interesting
http://www.visitmelbourne.com/

merlinormartin

In the TA's Gold Medal brochure there is a reasonably priced trip

What is the TA's Gold Medal brochure?

tiamaria

The brochure in the travel agent produced by Gold Medal Travel Company:)

merlinormartin

Ah .. i need to go into a "real" travel agents .. i was trying to find it online.

Many Thanks!

MKS

I've copied a previous post below, if it's any help for car hire. etc. We drove the GOR in 2007 and are going back in 2 weeks 6 days (whose counting!). By flying to Melbourne Avalon airport, you completely cut out Melbourne and it's only about 1.5 hrs drive to the start of GOR. Last time we stayed at the Best Western in Port Campbell for 2 nights then drove onto Adelaide. PC is close to the Twelve Apostles. On the drive we kept stopping off, Belles Beach etc (loads of advice on Tripadvisor) to take photos. The Best Western is more or less in the town of Port Campbell, so it's easy to walk to, albeit's only a small place. BW had kitchenette etc so it was easy to do breakfast etc. Supermarket in the town was a tad expensive. If you like fish and chips YOU must try them here. We had Flake (shark) and chips from the garage (difficult to get your head round, but it was the takeaway fish and chip shop!) - it was excellent. Remember the restaurannts seem to finish derving by 8.30-9pm. If you go the the Twelve Apostles for the sunset, wait about 30 mins. We wondered why everyone waited after the sun had gone down, so we stayed. Small penguins then came up the beach, went back into the sea, again and again before all (over a hundred) stayed up on the beach. It was an absolutely amazing sight - natural and non connived and totally free. On our second day we travelled along the GOR taking photos etc. It took us 2.5 hours to drive 12 kilometres! It is so beautiful. Next day we headed for Adelaide. This year, we are again flying from Sydney to Melbourne Avalon. (Check out Qantas, Jetstar etc if you haven't already booked and join their frequent flyer programmes - that's what is payning for our internal flights this time! Subscribe to their emails and you'll be notified of sales etc - usually inexpensive) We will be stopping at Lorne the first evening then driving onto the Best Western in Port Campbell for our second evening. We found it cheaper to book the BW through wotif.com and have generally found them cheaper for most accommodation. After that it's on to Adelaide, followed by Perth and the Indian Ocean Drive to Shark Bay, on the Coral Coast before heading back to Sydney. Hotels, car hire etc are more expensive this time as the exchange rate is only about 1.55 to the £ compared to 2.4 the last time. Have a fantastic time.


Sorry I don't know how to do the link so have copied a my post from Jan 2008 in answer to another posters question. Hope it may be of interest to you. On that trip we had three weeks and did the following
Sydney
Melbourne (only one night to have dinner with old school friend)
Melbourne to Adelaide - Great Ocean Road
Adelaide - to see nephew and surrounding area (Vineyards are very good here if you like wine!)
Alice Springs with day trip (VERY long day!) to Ayers Rock (We could have three days at AS and day trip for much less then one night at AR!) Tour thro Emu tours - good company and great BBQ at sunset at AR. They also keep you supplied throughout the tour with water, fruit and snacks - other operators charged extra for these items.
Cairns
Back to Sydney for last night.

We found the cheapest one way car rental price was from DriveNow.com.au. We paid Aus$198 (approx £90) for a weeks hire for a Corolla automatic last November, picking it up at Melbourne and dropping it off at Adelaide after driving the Great Ocean Road. They gave us a free upgrade when we picked it up. I booked it a few months before we went for approx £20 more and when I re-checked later saw it had come down in price, so just cancelled and re-booked! They have a no cancellation fee policy. If you have one, take your own SatNav as they were expensive if you wanted to hire one. They are great when you just want to drive and explore.

For internal flights, register with Virginblue, Jetstar and Quantas. They all have regular sales. We paid Aus$29 each for flights fron Sydney to Melbourne.

Hotel-wise, we used Travelodge (much better standard than here), Best Western, Majestic, Radisson and Novotel. Do a hotelscomparison.com or hotelscombined.com search for the best price. Book the accommodation, if it's a good price - I always try to use hotels which operate a 'no cancellation fee' policy than can cancel and re-book if I can get it cheaper. Think about self catering. We stayed at The Lakes Resort (http://www.thelakescairns.com.au) just outside of Cairns - it was superb. Last year we stayed at the Rockford Novotel Resort ( http://www.novotel-pcr.com.au/) in Palm Cove (between Cairns and Port Douglas)- again superb accommodation. This has the added advantage of having a washing machine etc. When booking hotels etc try and go through Quidco for extra savings.

In Sydney, we went to the Blue Mountains by train and Explorer ticket - allows you to hop on, hop off at different places. ( http://www.cityrail.info/fares/link_tickets.jsp) That was much cheaper than the excursion price and allowed us to see what we wanted to rather than be whisked round on a coach and not seeing so much.

A restaurant that we visited at Kings Wharf was James Squire. The food was fantastic and not expensive by city standards, portions were good as well. (http://www.jamessquirebrewhouse.net/) See the menu page. It's a brewers and they have an enormous range of beers.

Ditto in Cairns. We drove to Cape Tribulation/Daintree ourselves and had so much more time than on an organized tour. We also went to Kuranda by ourselves. If you want to go up by the train, it only goes up a couple of times in the morning. If you go on this, ask for window seats for the best views. The Skyrail operates all day. Most of the shops in Kuranda close early afternoon. In our opinion, a must-do is The Rainforest Habitat just outside of Port Douglas. (http://www.rainforesthabitat.com.au/about/prices.htm) We got the 4 park pass which we felt was good value. The Butterfly Sanctuary is actually in Kuranda and the Rainforestation is near there as well. The all parks pass includes everything at the Rainforestation, even the Duck Tour. Morning is the best time to go as all the coaches descend in the afternoon and it gets mobbed, We also visited a coffee plantation - Coffee Works,(http://www.arabicas.com.au/) I think it was about Aus$9 but that included a tour, loads of coffe and tea tasting as well as chocolates (milk, plain and white). I am not fussed with chocolate but the Lemon Myrtle and Lime and Black Pepper were fantastic. We drove into the Highlands and the Tableland and saw totally different sides of North Queensland. We came across the 'Out of the whey' cafe ( http://www.cairnsdining.com/review_52.html) ( http://www.mungallicreekdairy.com.au/) It really was as the review reads - totally different to Cairns and very cool - when we was there it was 17c as opposed to Cairns 28c.

We did the Green Island trip to the Barrier Reef and were a bit disappointed. It was very commercialised and the coral was not the same varied colours that we had seen the previous year when we took a trip that took us to two different locations on the reef. IMHO one of the best BR locations is Lady Elliot Island which is at the other end of the BR. It is situated between Brisbane and Rockhampton. We splashed out and had a day trip by air when we stayed nearby in Bundaberg. It cost Aus$160 each and it was worth every penny. Flying in to the Island was a view I will never forget. It is an eco conservation island and not commercialised at all. (http://www.ladyelliotislandresort.net/) It's a small island that you can walk around, paddle in the sea amongst the coral, snorkling etc. Lunch is usually included. The coral that we saw here were brilliant colours - just as I had always thought it would be. Excellent day out.

I found that the Australian forums on Tripadvisor were a good place for info.
HTH. I am sure you'll have a fantastic time.

isplumm

**curlywurly** wrote: »

I am planning a family holiday to Australia. We will fly to Sydney, stay there for four days, fly to Sunshine Coast, stay there for 11 days, then fly to Melbourne.

We have been to Sydney and Sunshine Coast before, so that's all sorted.

When we arrive in Melbourne, we would like to drive the Great Ocean Road, then visit Phillip Island, then fly home from Melbourne (so it's a bit of a loop).

If anyone has any advice about the Great Ocean Road, or visiting Phillip Island, including how many days we would need, where to stay, etc I would be v grateful.

Hi,

We went to Melbourne a few years ago - remember that driving down the ocean road can take a long time .... it is very twisty & busy, so give yourself time. I would drive about half way along - maybe base yourself somewhere in the middle for a night or two.

Now if Philip island is the penguin one - remember to book in advance if you want to see the penguins ... cause they only allow so many people in each night.

We caught a ferry across which cut out some of the driving from Ocean road to Melbourne - I will dig the details out if interested.

Mark

**curlywurly**

MKS - thank you so much for all that information ! Particurly re Lady Elliot Island, which I have never heard of. There are direct flights from Marooochy where we will be staying, so I shall add that on to my list of things to do. Every year we go, I pick a "big ticket" event, and then sell stuff on Ebay to fund it. Last year it was Quiksilver GBR, this year it was swimming with dolphins at the Pet Porpoise Pool. Next year it looks like Lady Elliot Island could well be it!

Isplumm - thanks v much. I would appreciate details of the ferry. I have tried googling but only seem to be able to find passenger ferries. If it's not too much of a bother, I'd be v grateful to have the inside info on this.

Curly xxx