Do Great Ocean Road or head to New Zealand?
 

Fellow Fodorites,
I am planning a trip to Australia and New Zealand for next January 16-February 5th. My husband and I are currently flying to Brisbane and plan to go to Heron Island for first three days. Then we are going to Melbourne for a couple days of the Australian Open. We are trying to decide if we want to spend two more days driving the Great Ocean Road or head on to New Zealand to rent a car and explore there. Will the GOR be jammed with tourists about the 24th of January? Is the scenery less spectacular on the GOR and should we just cover more of New Zealand? I've had several people tell me to skip the GOR and just go on to NZ, saying it is that much more spectacular. Would appreciate input from those who have done both.
Thanks!

NZ is spectacular, the GOR pretty average IMO.

I'd choose NZ (South Island) over the GOR in a New York minute, but only if you have TIME and it makes logistic sense. I certainly wouldn't do it for only two days, but if you're planning to extend time already allocated to NZ, by all means do so. You absolutely cannot go wrong in NZ - the more time spent there the better.

I'm not clear on how much time you were planning to have in NZ. If it's 24 Jan - 5 Feb ( assuming you don't so the Great Ocean Road), then yes - go to NZ earlier.

If you were only planning 2 days in NZ - save your time & $.

Australia Day is 26 January & a public holiday so the weekend of 24th - 26th is likely to have quite heavy traffic & accommodation pressures along the GOR.

It's also the last days of the school holidays

By "Heron Island for first three days", do you mean 2 or 3 nights? Two nights is too few in my opinion, especially if you like snorkeling and diving. We didn't want to leave even after 5 nights.

We really enjoyed the GOR and have done it twice. But we've also been to NZ several times and would agree it is tops.

Oh...just noticed the original post was over a year ago!

Ralph - A mass spammer topped several threads last night.