We will be arriving in Melbourne (flying from Sydney) around 3 PM on Saturday, April 4. We need to be back in Melbourne by around 3 PM, April 7. I would like to rent a car and see the Great Ocean Road. How does this itinerary look?

4/4 - drive from the airport to Torquay.

4/5 - drive from Torquay to Apollo Bay

4/6 - drive from Apollo Bay to Port Fairy

4/7 - drive from Apollo Bay back to Melbourne.

Any other suggestions?

Expect the road to be very busy as it's Easter, make your accommodation bookings well in advance.

This might be a useful link http://www.visitgreatoceanroad.org.au/

Just a heads up:
We use Day/Month/Year.

Drive the road to the Otway Lighthouse if you want to see LOTS of koalas in the wild. It was AWESOME!!! And be sure to stop at the Gibson Steps (just before reaching the 12 Apostles), and at the rock formations that are a bit past the 12 Apostles.

LOVE the GOR. Have a great time!

Drive back via Colac the scenery is quite different.

If you can squeeze it in and haven't been before a trip to Ballarat's Sovereign Hill is well worth it, especially the sound and light show. The sound and light show tells of the miners rebellion. Sovereign Hill is set up to look like Ballarat in the 1860s and is very authentic.

I've looked on Amazon and the GOR Tour sites, but can't find a paper map of the route to purchase. I haven't found a good way to print the online pdf maps in a large eough format to be useful. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I'd just pick up a touring map from one of the tourist offices when you get there, list of locations here:

http://www.visitgreatoceanroad.org.a...or-information

The GOR is beautiful but you only want to drive it one way. Peter's suggestion of going back via Ballarat is a good one. You can drive Port Fairy to Ballarat , visit Sovereign Hill & get back to Melbourne in one day ( although you won't see the sound & light show unless you're prepared to stay in Ballarat till late).
Alternatively, take the inland route through Mortlake & Lismore to return to Melbourne from Port Fairy. No city traffic & a good view of the Western Plains. Drive time about 3.5 hrs.