Driving direction on the Great Ocean Road
 

I did a quick search and did not find a discussion, so I am asking my question.

I plan to drive on the GOR for a 2-day journey. This 2-day will be the end of a 2-week vacation in Australia. The initial plan is to pick a rental car at MEL on day 1 and to drive along GOR and stay overnight at Port Campbell; On Day 2, explore further to Peterborough, maybe Warrnambool, then drive to Ballarat/Sovereign Hill and stay at MEL. On Day 3, fly back to US departing at 10 am.

The common wisdom says to get on GOR as early as possible. Since I need to pickup a rental car at MEL on day 1, I won't be on the GOR that early, and will fight with tours buses and other tourists.

To avoid the crowd, I am thinking of driving to Ballarat and to Port Campbell via the faster way on day 1; then to drive back from Port Campbell to MEL.

Does this driving direction make sense or will I miss anything? As for the pullovers for parking, are they always located on the Oceanside? I do not want to cross the traffic each time when I need to pullover.

Thanks.

If you are staying overnight in Melbourne the night before your Great Ocean Road drive, could you pick up a rental car the night before? I think most rental offices would close by 5pm but the airport offices might be open 24 hours. Worth checking because you could pick up the car, stay overnight in Melbourne, then leave early the next morning. Rental is always for 24 hour periods so you could drop it back by 5pm the day before you fly home. The next morning, just catch the bus or taxi to the airport.

You would have the additional cost of parking overnight before your 2 day drive but if you can get on the road about 6am and stop for breakfast once you clear the city traffic it might be worthwhile.

Kay

The viewing points are generally on the ocean side of the road so if you are driving Port Campbell to Melbourne, you will be crossing the road so better to do the GOR on day 1.
There is a bypass road around Geelong which saves a lot of time. Can you perhaps pick up your hire car half a day earlier and stay overnight at Torquay or Anglesea before driving through the main tourist areas.

We just drove the GOR last month -- it's beautiful. We enjoyed the less crowded eastern portion more than the area around Port Campbell. The number of tourists detracted from the beautiful rock formations. Be careful with your speed. Our rental car company sent us a notice that we got an infringement in Port Apollo. We haven't recieved anything from authorities so not sure what that's about. In general my husband does not drive fast. He thinks he may not have slowed down soon enough upon entering Port Apollo. As mentioned above, most of the turnouts are on the oceanside. Also I preferred driving on the ocean side as I thought the views better.
Our rental car company Europcar opened at 6 am at the Melbourne airport. Be aware if you pick it up at the airport there is a fee. I would do as susggested above and pick up the car the day/evening before.
We have a trip report that you can scroll through and find more thoughts on the drive. We did spend a few days there.
http://www.fodors.com/community/aust...down-under.cfm
Have fun!

Thanks everybody. In fact, I was so focused on avoiding the crowd that I never thought about picking up the car the day before.

I will stay in Melbourne for 3 days before GOR. My desired rental car company Enterprise has 2 neighborhood pickup locations in the city, which opens 8 am - 6 pm, and the airport location opens 6 am to 11:59 pm, so pickuping the car the day before is definitely a good idea. I also like the idea of staying at Torquay or Anglesea after pickup the car. Back to drawing board.

Another option: Enterprise (and others) at Avalon airport opens at 8AM, see if you can get a deal that doesn't break the bank if you have to return the car at Tullamarine airport. Stay the night near AVV and get a head start that way.

yes travel - sorry to hear you got a speeding fine - Apollo Bay ! I'd ask for a copy - it might have been a parking ticket .
The problem is getting to Avalon michelhuebell - how do you stay near it without a car?

We refused to pay the rental car fee until we get the ticket. Europcar says they aren't allowed to give any info to us or VISA who we refuted the charge with. Apparently the authorities have up to a year to get the infringement to us. We'll see.

So I canceled my original hotel booking, and booked one night stay at Torquay the night before the GOR road trip. Excited!

In fact, I will use Enterprise. With a corporate travel code, the rental price is much cheaper those found on OTA sites. It seems that Enterprise does not have a presence at Avalon. Per its website, it has 2 locations in the city and 1 at MEL. I will use the one with lower rental price. Even with a corporate code, picking up in the neighborhood location in the city is much cheaper than that at the airport. What's up with that?

@yestravel, I am surprised that Eurocar, and maybe other OZ rental companies, still has this practice. Not sure the case law in Australia. At least in US, in the early years when GPS was used for civilian purpose, a few customers files lawsuit again rental car companies and won! Maybe you want to set a precedent for the rest of us. LOL

See this:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20.../0126210.shtml

That's interesting. I didn't know that about the States. I forgot about the tracking devices. I remember reading about that awhile back.
The GOR is fabulous -- have a great time!

mike - the airports are notoriously expensive for leasees so the cost is added in.

The fine wouldn't have come via GPS readings - we have many many both hand held and set radars all along roads and highways .There are signs in many places about our radar systems . Of course many get caught by them.
I have been booked twice in our next residential street by a hand held radar in a car at the side of the road . I was doing 55 in a 50 zone.