9 day trip-Melbourne,Yarra, Mornington Peninsula and GOR
 

My Mum and I are are coming from Scotland and plan 9 days in Victoria, 9 days in Tasmania and 6 days in Sydney/Blue Mountains. So far I have booked flight arriving in Melbourne on 14 October and leaving Sydney on 7 November so have the middle bit to fill in!

I would appreciate advice on this itinerary for Melbourne and surrounding area. We enjoy exploring cities, wine tasting, wildlife, photography, scenery, boutique type properties and want to make best use of our time.

Oct 14 Arrive Melbourne (3 nights at Clarion Gateway in 2 bed apartment)
Oct 15 Melbourne at leisure (get bearings with city tour)
Oct 16 Melbourne at leisure
Oct 17 Collect car and drive to the Dandenongs mountains and on to Yarra Valley (2 nights at Sebel Heritage)
Oct 18 Day in Yarra/Healesville and wine tasting (so would probably do day tour and leave car at hotel!)
Oct 19 Drive down to Mornington Peninsula (1 night Peppers Moonah Links). Possibly visit to penguins at Philip Island but may do that in Bicheno, Tasmania
Oct 20 Ferry from Sorrento to GOR and drive to Warrnambool (1 night Mantra Deep Blue)
Oct 21 Drive to Apollo Bay (1 night Chris's Beacon Point)
Oct 22 Drive to Lorne (1 night Mantra Erskine Beach resort)
Oct 23 Drive to Melbourne Airport for 17-00 flight to Hobart. (So need to be reasonable distance night before to drive to airport)

An alternative (to avoid too many 1 night stops) would be an extra night in Melbourne (4 nights) and do day trip (with Epicurean tour, or similar), to Yarra and Healesville and start drive to Mornington peninsula for 1 night, cross to GOR from Sorrento and then drive along GOR spending 2 nights in Warnambool and 2 nights in Apollo Bay and driving from there to airport for 17-00 hour flight.

I would apreciate comments on

1 Is itinerary achievable and which option would be best to make best use of time. Not sure if I ahve allowed too much time for GOR.
2 Any comments on quality/location of planned accommodation. If there are other recommended places then I would be grateful if you could advise. I am travelling with my mum so we need single rooms or 2 bedroom acommodation. She also has some walking difficutlies after knee replacement so we need to avoid too many steps/slopes/too much walking. Normally we like to try good friendly bed and breakfast places. We are not committed to any of properties listed in itinerary.

Many thanks

It does sound an interesting itinerary and during October you would not be needing to book ahead too much for B&B style properties and they'll abound in the areas you are visiting and so if you wish to give yourself a little more flexibility you could do it that way.

I'm not familiar with the premises you intend to stay at but boutique ones do usually offer something pretty good, and most places of quality do take into consideration access issues.

Melbourne has a free city circle tram service based on a loop about the CBD, great to get your bearings and minimise walking, there being some great gardens, The Botanical and surrounding parklands and though there are steeper paths you'll also find more level gentler sections.
Check out the visitor information centre at Federation Square on the free loop circuit but perhaps do it whilst Mum is having a rest for it is down some stairs.

The only tuning I'd suggest for your tour is from the Dandenongs [ lovely area and Sherbrooke Forest has some not too difficult trails] head out the back way to Cockatoo/Gembrook or Monbulk and on to Launching Place/Yarra Junction and a lovely drive towards Noojee if you're interested in what is known as Gippsland Gourmet Deli Trail - http://www.deadhorsecreek.com/articles/great_escape.htm and you'll reverse the direction given in that report.

You could head towards the Gippsland gateway town of Warragul and then south into South Gippsland Hills for Korumburra and onto Phillip Island for the Penguins and then after an overnight stay, drive around to Mornington Peninsula to catch the ferry to Queenscliff and the GOR.

Heading to Mornington Peninsula first and then to Phillip Island would have been a bit more of a backtrack and the way I've indicated will give you some great country touring, there having been vast bushfires throughout much of some regions of Victoria this past February and some scarring may be evident but the Deli route and across into South Gippsland should be relatively free of fire areas.

In doing the GOR, You'll find Port Fairy, just past Warrnambool a lovely quaint village with some good quality B&Bs and then rather than backtrack along the GOR, a historical experience could be had if you book into http://www.sovereignhill.com.au/ and head back towards Melbourne from Ballarat.

Looks like you've been doing some planning with uise of a map and a site like www.travelmate.com.au will further assist you re distances and times.

Itinerary looks great, but I would suggest a different approach to GOR.
Driving in a clockwise route is preferable to anti clockwise as you are on the better side of the road for the views.

Take the ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff and head towards Lorne. Stop on the way to see Kangaroos at Anglesea Golf Course and great views from Airey's Inlet Light house. By all means stop at Lorne ( our favourite holiday destination), but Chris's at Beacon Point is such a great location that you may want to spend 2 nights there and skip the night at Lorne. You can explore all the Otway forest area including Cape Otway and enjoy some great scenery and heaps of Kangaroos & Koalas from Chris's.
Drive on from there and stay overnight at Port Campbell as I don't think it is worth driving on to Warnambool especially as you have to make a flight. The best of the GOR is Torquay to Pt. Campbell. It is then a 4-5 hour drive from Pt. Campbell via Colac to Tullamarine so leave early and you can easily make your flight.

Accomodation: Peppers Moonah Links is a golf course and while the accommodation is good there are also many charming B&B's on the peninsular. Similarly with Sebel Heritage. www.visitvictoria.com.au http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/

Thanks for the helpful comments. The plan now is to arrive in Melbourne on 14 October for 3 nights in 2 bedroom riverview apartment at Clarion Gateway, then collect car and drive to Yarra Valley for 2 nights (rather than Sebel now looking at Susan's in the Valley which I saw on one of the websites and which seems to have suitable facilities for my mum who is not good on steps/slopes) via Belgrave, Olinda (for Gardens), Montrose, Yering Station and then, based on Bushranger's advice, after 2 nights in Yarra vissiting Healesville and wineries on to Sorrento via Yering junction, Piedmont, Neemin South and Warragul for 1 night in Sorrento area (or somewhere in Mornington Peninsula) finishing on GOR for 2 or 3 nights in Apollo Bay and/or Port Campbell before flying to Tasmania. In Apollo Bay, as well as Chris's Beacon point, also now lookng at Apollo Bay Colonial cottages.

Any further comment/suggestions on improving planned itinerary/driving route and stopping off places welcome, particularly also on accomodation and any other recommended bed and breakfast type accommodation. Updated itinerary cuts the 1 night stops to just one in Mornington but realistically too far a drive to Apollo Bay from Yarra if we want to stop at the odd place along the way and I think 3 nights on GOR is going to be sufficient. In fact may spend 3 nights at Apollo Bay and use that as base for day tripping rather than spending 2 nights there and 1 at Port Campbell.

Many thanks

Your itinerary sounds good. I am glad that you have opted to have two nights at Apollo Bay. Given that it is such a short distance between Apollo Bay and Lorne it is not worth making it two one night stops. Chris' at Beacon Point has a good reputation and personally I prefer Apollo Bay to Lorne, but both are good.

I'm not familiar with the Colonial Cottages but Chocolate Gannets is very popular. See www.chocolategannets.com.au.

If you are still going to stay at Pepper Moonah Links you might want to check out the hot thermal springs which are very close by and something a bit different. I happened to go there yesterday and we had a wonderful relaxing time. The spa treatments were great. See www.peninsulahotsprings.com.

I would agree that Port Fairy has more atmosphere than Warrnambool but either will be fine.

Your best chance to see kangaroos at the Anglesea golf course is late afternoon/dusk which may not fit in with your timing but it is worth going up to have a look regardless of the time of day. It will take only a few minutes. We have a house which backs onto the golf course and I literally counted over 90 kangaroos bounding past our house in the space of 5 minutes a couple of weeks ago. However, they are wild so they come and go as they please.

We loved the Apollo Bay Colonial Cottages. They're actually located in Marengo, 2 km past Apollo Bay. I highly recommend them.

I have been to Anglesea Golf Course to show visitors the Kangaroos both morning and afternoon and they are ALWAYS there so I don't think it matters what time of day. You do need a stop on the Mornington Peninsular, as YV to AB is too far in one day. I like the idea of using AB as a 3 night base as you can then do day trips to the 12 Apostles, Lorne, Otway Fly, Cape Otway etc. http://www.visitmorningtonpeninsula.org/default.asp

Hi Jogger-1
Sounds fabulous. I know you don't have a great deal of time on the Mornington Peninsula, but I thought I'd let you know about this fabulous website that I found really useful when I travelled there. Enjoy your trip. See http://www.discovermorningtonpeninsula.com.au

Ooops, almost forgot. There is an awesome B&B / Self Contained cottage at Mornington that is in a really handy location. The lovely lady that owns it used to work in the travel industry (for the Mornington Peninsula) and is a goldmine of information. Great Balinese style setting - plus nice big spa. Gorgeous (and quirky) gardens. http://www.aggapanthascottage.com.au