The great ocean road

[Guest cainesmadhouse]

Hi , Has anybody on here done adelaide to melbourne . We are coming out to adelaide in december to visit my 15 year old daughter. Want to go to melbourne for the new year leaving adl on the 29 dec. A good place to stay en route ?. I am thinking of staying in torquay for my stay in melbourne. I know its a bit of a drive from melbourne, but want to be by the coast. We are staying at brighton caravan park from 22nd till the 29th dec. Any thought or info would be good............cheers

[Guest TC for short]

Forget staying in Torquay if you want to be in Melbourne - it's at least a couple of hours drive & that's in light traffic. Stay at the Docklands, St Kilda or Brighton instead - all on the Port Phillip Bay coastline, especially St Kilda. You'll also be on the tram routes to get into town. If you want to be further away from town look further down the bay that way.

The GOR will take 15-20hrs solid driving, so best to allow 3 days. There are plenty of B&Bs along the way but book very early - it'll be summer and they'll be packed.

[mickpell]

We drove from Melbourne to Adelaide earlier this year and split it up over 4 days going along the coast and the great ocean road

you can check out where we stayed by going to http://mickpell.blogspot.com

look down the left and you can click on the sections - melbourne to apollo bay, apollo bay to portland, portland to robe and robe to adelaide

The great ocean road is truly spectacular and wish we had a bit more time when we did it

 

hoe that helps

mick

[tina&steve]

We went to melbourne for our honeymoon last month we only done aday coach trip to the GOR and it was stunning so if you didnt want to be days traveling thats always an option.

[Diane]

If you want to come back the quicker route having gone there via the GOR, I can highly recommend the place we stayed at this weekend just gone near Halls Gap in the Grampians - absolutely fantastic. I've written all about it on my blog but it's called Emu Park and if you're very lucky you may even get to bottle feed an orphaned wallaby or kangaroo while you're there! Wartook - where it's situated - has the most 'roos and emus in the fields that I've ever seen!

[Guest GIPSY]

Hi there

 

I am getting a little concerned reading this thread... as I think I have got myself mixed up...

 

We are coming over early June and had planned to drive from Adelaide to Melbourne to collect our dogs from quarantine - we were going to do the Ocean Rd. on the way out and then the faster way back as we will have the dogs in tow.

 

We will also have uor 3 yr old daughter in the car.

 

We had hoped to set off on day 1, get to Melbourne that evening and stop over before picking the dogs up the following morning and driving back home. Obviously with little stops for daughter and dogs.

 

How long do you think it will take to do the drive?

 

Cheers

Hayley

[Diane]

You can do the fast route in about 8 hours - the Great Ocean Road will take at least two days, preferably three or more. Leave a couple of days earlier and take your time to enjoy the sights. You wouldn't want to drive the GOR when you were tired anyway, it's very twisty turny in parts.

[johnnynic6]

We done Melbourne to Adelaide in January over three days via the ocean road. Don't rush it as its a stunning drive and a great three days. We had our 4 year old son with us and yes it is a fairly long drive but he was as good as gold plus there is some great places to pull in and see!! Well worth it and can't wait to get back!!

[Guest familygood]

We did this in a camper van over about a week or so and it was truly stunning and one of the reasons we want to live in Adelaide!!! Stay in Qeenscliff if you can as its beautiful. The campsite backs onto the cricket pitch which was great. Geelong, Lorne and Apollo Bay are lovely as is Robe and Mount Gambier. Definitely go to a place called Tower Hill near Warrnambool which is the most stunning natural volcano crater packed with wildlife - emus, koalas, echidnas kangaroos etc etc. Its lovely around dusk and all free!!

Also the Otway range was gorgeous as well just off the main road.

Cant wait to get back, get us a camper van and head off there myself....

[Guest Lulujim]

Just wondering if anyone has been to these places? I have read a lot about them and think we should incorporate them in to our Great Ocean Rd trip - but not sure whether they're appropriate for a 1 and 3 yr old in tow???

Any help/opinions are appreciated! Tahnk you in advance!