Hi all,

have just found this excellent site. I have searched the forum & found related & useful info but wondered if any of you would be able to enlighten me more?

We were planning a fact finding trip to Oz next month & thought we could fit in a little sight seeing as well!
We ideally wanted to drive from Adelaide to Melbourne in 3 days(2 nights), I know there is a lot to see along this route but that is all the time we have

This is what we want to do, Bearing in mind we have 2 kids with us & won't be able to do a lot of walking:

Drive from Adelaide to Port Fairy & stay overnight.
Drive from Port Fairy to Apollo Bay & stay overnight.
Drive from Apollo Bay to Melbourne.

Here are my questions:
1. Is this trip feasable?
2. Would it be better to stop overnight in Portland instead of Port Fairy?
2. Apart from the 'Twelve Apostles' is there any other kid friendly place/site we could see along the route?

Hope I don't sound too forward & I hope you can help
Chris Effy.

Adelaide to Port Fairy is do-able - long but okay. Port Fairy is much nicer than Portland, and much more interesting for kids. Try and stay close to the river and spend a few hours strolling around. Most of the sights along the GOR are kid friendly - although you don't say how old they are or what time of year you're going and there are quite a few steps at some of the scenic lookouts. You may like to call into Flagstaff Hill the Maritime Museum/village at Warrnambool - but don't stay in Warrnambool. Apollo Bay to melbourne is a couple of hours only.

Hi Chris - yes, eminently feasible. It's the time taken by operators offering tours on this route, which is the way I travelled it (also ex-Adelaide). We stopped at Beachport, SA and Port Fairy. Both were interesting, sleepy sorts of places. I remember Port Fairy particularly as picturesque and definitely worth an overnight.

This also breaks your journey into more equal chunks. It's a long drive from ADL to Port Fairy on day 1. An alternative to Beachport would be Robe, and to Port Fairy - Port Campbell.

The way I remember it, the stretch from Apollo Bay to Melbourne is the least interesting and wouldn't take a whole day. All of this depends of course on what sort of accommodation you require and whether it is available at the various possible overnight stops.

Otway NP is worth a detour. And we visited a spectacular cave somewhere near Mt Gambier. I don't think it was the World Heritage listed complex at Naracoorte - it may have been the
Tantanoola caves near Millicent.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Maryk & alice13 for your prompt replies.

Kids are 5 & 9 & we are going next month(May).

The Maritime Museum/village at Warrnambool sounds a good place to visit & I will try to find out about the caves, kids love caves.

If anyone else has anything to add, it would be much appreciated

Cheers, Chris Effy

If you are looking for wildlife, you could detour to Mount Eccles National Park (about 50 km inland from Port Fairy) which usually has lots of koalas.
Another short detour I'd suggest is to Tower Hill - an extinct volcano just off the road between Port Fairy and Warrnambool. You can usually see some wildlife there.
If you are anywhere near Queenscliff, you could visit the old fort on the headland - might interest the children.