Great Ocean Road

[replicant]

Great Ocean Road... gogo gave a good summary - drove it two years ago before the F1 AGP. Went and did the Yarra Valley last year (ate a lot of cheese and tasted wine for a change) and avoided GP this year due to the bad timing of event.

Watch for the odd radar equipped police car... Vic Police don't seem to have much of a sense of humour.

The Treetops Walk is worth it.

If it's wet/misty... watch those gum tree leaves on the blacktop thru Otway National Park - they can get really slippery...esp with a high powered RWD with early throttle out of corners (ie a T)... alternatively it's not fun to find out with a rental car that you assumed would have had ABS and hasn't... (maybe they should have warning stickers on the dash for cars WITHOUT it because you assume nearly every new car does). No harm done in my case but not a good thing to find out when you have planted the middle pedal and then have to react as the bows are understeering off the roads into the mulga.

Been to Cape Otway - it's nice interlude and a place to have a quick break from driving and a good breeze to refresh straight off Bass Strait.

Twelve Apostles is a highlight scenic wise. Worth a trip in the whirly-gig and a few snapshots.

I went early in the morning before the tourist buses as they are a pain to be behind. OTOH they do stop and pull over regularly - the real pains in the arse are the folk who don't drive quick enough thru the twisty bits and then floor WOT on any straight.

It's probably easier as gogo suggests as a there and back with an overnighter somewhere. Meant I had the dawnbreaker run back - prefer that to driving back in the evening and night to Melbourne.

[tab]

We're doing the trip from Adelaide to Melbourne so that's not a problem.

Thanks for your input guys....keep an eye out for a couple of maniacs in a black ute with Qld plates

[TUFXRT6]

Hi & hope this helps,

I try to go to Port Campbell four times a year as its a great place to stay.

Pm me if you want the place I stay, its cheapish & a great place to sleap.

The good thing about Port Campbell is; most of the bus tours go through port Campbell for lunch as its a great place to eat, because the town hasnt cheapened it self with dirty take away shops.

The key is to get there after lunch when all the bus tours have left as you will have the towns restaurants pritty much to your self!!!!!

I normally drive to Colac, then cut through the Otway ranges (about 25-30minutes of good 2nd-3rd gear drive). then continue down the great Ocean road.

[Mr Turbo]

Enjoy the cruise Chicky ... one of the best drives in the world!

Rob...

[Skooby]

Great road to play around on, especially with the gears.

If you're driving through from Adelaide I'd suggest perhaps staying in Port Fairy or Warnambool overnight so that you have a full day to checkout the scenery the next day. You'd struggle for time (and daylight) doing it all in the one day.

Word of warning: If you plan on driving between Torquay and Geelong at night beware of the roos. There's thousands of the buggers committing hari-kari along that stretch..

Most of all - Have fun

[phantomchic]

aaawww

what a good bunch of blokes you are

all your advice has been added to "trip planner"

Port Campbell was one of those places jumping out at me several times so pm is on its way TUFXRT6

I think the Tree Top thing would be great,,, but but but its so high up

after the GOR the next important locale to see is none other than

"Fountaingate Shopping Centre"

LOOK AT MOI !! LOOK AT MOI!!

Shazzy

[phantomchic]

Enjoy the cruise Chicky ... one of the best drives in the world!

Rob...

←

I will .. I am sooooooooooooo looking forward to it. After this road trip the only place in Oz I havn't visited is Tassie.

BUT BLAST AND BOTHER

I forgot to ask ??????

I wanna see the whales and tabitha wants to see the Fairy penguins?

any thoughts there

and I am definately heading to Bells Beach .. couldn't miss that

shazzy

EDIT

are you blokes gonna take your wives out for din din and attend this

dinner in melbourne

[teeg]

As others said, you gotta check out the Tree Top walk in the Otways, pretty awesome.

[Skooby]

Enjoy the cruise Chicky ... one of the best drives in the world!

Rob...

←

I will .. I am sooooooooooooo looking forward to it. After this road trip the only place in Oz I havn't visited is Tassie.

BUT BLAST AND BOTHER

I forgot to ask ??????

I wanna see the whales and tabitha wants to see the Fairy penguins?

any thoughts there

and I am definately heading to Bells Beach .. couldn't miss that

shazzy

EDIT

are you blokes gonna take your wives out for din din and attend this

dinner in melbourne

←

The whale watching season is pretty much over. They all disappeared early October.

Not sure where else in Vic the Fairy Penguins are but here on Phillip Island there are thousands. You can go to the Penguin Parade (not sure of the cost) or wander on down to the beaches surrounding the parade area (Flynns, Smiths etc) and you can see them in their burrows. Just don't go touching them though; they have a hook on their beak that they use to crush shellfish and they will bite and hang on.

There's also seal colonies around the same area and the pups should be out and playing as well. Dolphins are becoming active around Red Rocks beach too.

And of course you can't bypass PI without stopping in at the GP Track for a bite to eat . You pass it to go out to the penguin parade and seal rock.

PS: Living in Phillip Island I can't make it to dinner. It's just too far on a weeknight (approx 170klms to the city) but I'm sure you'll have a ball.

PS: What dates are you heading this way? Any chance you'll be around for the V8's on the 5th December?

http://www.phillipisland.net.au/penguinparade.html

http://www.warrnamboolcam.com/whales.htm

Edited 06/11/06 08:09 AM by Skooby

[phantomchic]

Thanks Skooby

we leave adelaide Sunday 12th

arrive Melbourne 15th Nov

Canberra 17th november

snowies cruise

and I have to be back in Noosa 22 November

shazzy