Having trouble with 17 day itinerary in Australia especially Melbourne area
 

Arrive Melbourne dec 27 Thinking if Melbourne area for 8 nights, cairns (Port Douglas?) for 5 nights and Sydney for 5 nights. I can change all except arrival in Melbourne and departure from Sydney. Is that too much moving around?
Would like to be settled somewhere (Melbourne?) for New Years so at least 3 / 4 days. New Year's Eve in middle seems to mess up the flow.... :)
Trying to do great ocean road and possibly Phillips island. Is Phillips a day trip from Melbourne or go there directly from airport and stay 2 nights? What's a reasonable pace for the great ocean road. Is it a must see?
We want to be be somewhat close to airport ( an hour?) on evening prior to Cairns flight. We like nature activities and although these are all cities it appears like there are lots of green spaces / harbours we can do.
Thoughts?

You ask "Is that too much moving around? "- It's a big continent, so if those are three locations you want to see, you have no choice but to cover the distances that separate these three locations.

You have time to stay in the Melbourne area til Jan. 2 or 3, after the NYE hubbub has died down, it will take you a couple of days just to find your bearings after the long flight and the resultant disorientation called jetlag.

On arrival take it easy, go out and stay out, keep moving until nightfall so that you don't sleep during the day and get "turned around".

The GOR can be slow going and should be taken at a leisurely pace, it's not a freeway but a country road where campers and road work can hold you up. It is best done in three days - two going out, one coming back. Read up on it and prepare to stay the night in Lorne where you can hike and enjoy the surroundings, then go to the Cape Otway Lighthouse and Apollo Bay and other points along the way. Stay the night in that region, then eventually double back on the A1 for faster travel.

If you've come off a long flight then I would hesitate to drive to Philip Island on your arrival. I'm guessing it's about 2 hours drive from central Melbourne. Traffic will be busy because lots of people with have Christmas at home with family and then head down the beach.

You are arriving in peak holiday season so I recommend booking accommodation ahead of arrival.

A visit to the GOR needs at least a couple of days and more if you want to really enjoy it (e.g. do some walking, swimming, lazing around). It is an extremely busy time there. Whether it's a must see - can't say but certainly I think it's beautiful.

There is a bus from Melbourne to the airport every 10 mins. check skybus

Have fun!

If nature is your interest, in Sydney do a day trip to the Blue Mountains. The period when you are coming, however, is bush fire season so you would need to keep an eye on that when you are here.

There are also national parks on the outskirts of Sydney, Ku-ring-gai National Park is one of my favourites, good for wallaby and goanna sightings.

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/Na....aspx?id=N0019

Sydney is a better spectacular for NYE than in Melbourne in my opinion. I was a Melbournite, now I live in Sydney.

Agree, if you can find a spot to watch the fireworks off the bridge on NYE in Sydney, you've seen it all. But OP wants to spend a week in VIC, not sure what there is for NYE. Anyone?

While based in Sydney, try to not only see Katoomba and all that in the Blue Mountains, but while going up there, see also the Jenolan Caves (google them) - awesome, and you can pick one to suit your time frame and fitness level etc.

This might be too late for OP but I found this list online: venuemob.com.au/new-years-eve-melbourne - there seem to be a lot of events in Melbourne for New Years Eve!