On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 17:20:02 -0000, "Simon DOLBY"
wrote:
|We are soon to start a 6 week holiday in Australia (hence recent posts -
|much appreciated!!).
|
|We are due to land at Melbourne on Thursday 18/8/05, and plan to pick a car
|up immediate, with the goal of getting to Adelaide in time to catch the Ghan
|on Sunday 21st.
|
|We are hoping to drive on the "great ocean road", and would really welcome
|some suggestions re where to stay, what to see & more importantly, are the
|distances too far????
|
|Thanks in anticipation,
|
|
|
|Simon Dolby
|
|
Hi Simon
Your problem is not just time but fatigue.
You're getting off the plane from the other side of the world, I
presume sometime after midnight on Thursday morning, and expecting to
be fit enough to immediately handle a car in an unknown city and
country to travel a demanding winding road.
It can be done, but consider this as the method. I presume you are
seeing Melbourne some other time.
On the day you pick up the car, limit your Thursday drive to the
Bellarine Peninsula area - somewhere between Geelong and Torquay
district. That's relatively short, a couple of hours on good roads
(multi-lane until Geelong, and a little after, use the Western Ring
Road to avoid e-tolls). In mid-August there should be plenty of
accommodation available - I don't think it's school holidays (check -
I could be wrong). Pick a seaside spot like Barwon Heads, Jan Juc,
Ocean Grove - anywhere in that arc on the coast at the start of the
GOR. Then spend all day relaxing, doing nothing by the beach but
getting over jet-lag. I doubt you'll want to go swimming on a
Victorian beach in August, but as you're from the UK, it may seem
warm:-) If you've seen "Sea Change" that was Barwon Heads and
district.
Drive the GOR on Friday. Aim to stay the night at Warrnambool - a big
town with plenty of accommodation to choose from. That's about a 200km
drive, but a slow one, so allow four or five hours for driving time
and similar for stops, sightseeing etc. Morning tea in Lorne, lunch in
the Otways district, late dinner in Warrnambool. If you make better
time, aim for Port Fairy. Not as big, but more picturesque and plenty
of accommodation. If it's not holiday time, bookings may not be
necessary. You'll have an AAA guide?
Presumably you want to reach Adelaide on Saturday night to be ready
for the Ghan (I don't know it's dep time). That makes Saturday the
"long drive" day, but by this time you should be over jet-lag and a
bit more familiar with Oz conditions. It's about 200km to Mt Gambier
for lunch via Heywood (bypass Portland) then another 440 to Adelaide.
The roads are mainly single lane each way, and you'll need patience to
wait to pass if you get behind a slow driver.
If you have time on that day, check out Tower Hill near Koroit, also
Port Fairy, and the crater lake at Mt Gambier. Don't stop, except for
a cuppa, in Millicent or the other coastal SA towns (time), but do
stop at some of the information boards in the Coorong, and do a quick
side trip into the National Park any entrance after Salt Creek if time
permits.
HTH
Cheers, Alan, Australia |