pshamrock

Has anyone taken their two day excursion of the Great Ocean Road Anyone know if they have a website or an e-mail address? All I have is a phone number. If we do GOR, is late March ok weather wise? Thanks!

Judy_in_Calgary

>>>>>>Has anyone taken their two day excursion of the Great Ocean Road<<<<<<

No, but I wonder about them. If I understand correctly, they charge 99 AUD per person for a 2-day trip that includes an overnight stay in a house owned by the tour company. Huh? That sounds suspiciously inexpensive to me. I wonder how many people they take at a time and what the quality of the accommodation is.

Sorry if I'm inadvertently maligning a good company. I have no experience with them. I'm just going by my instinct that tells me one gets what one pays for.

I've heard about guides that take one into rainforests and up rivers and streams in search of platypuses, etc. Although I haven't gone on one of those trips, I've heard complimentary things about them. However, they involve going in very small groups, and I suspect they are not inexpensive.

Unless you're going to be part of a very small group with an experienced bush guide, I don't really see the point of doing a guided tour of the GOR. It's very easy to drive yourself. You don't have to be a rocket scientist.

>>>>>>Anyone know if they have a website or an e-mail address?<<<<<<

I haven't been able to find one.

>>>>>>All I have is a phone number.<<<<<<

This is what I found for contact details:

Tel 03/9662 3969

Fax 03/9894 0411

The "03" is the area code for the state of Victoria. You drop the 0 when you call from overseas.

To call, you need to dial

OVERSEAS CODE + COUNTRY CODE + AREA CODE + PHONE NUMBER

In the case of this outfit, that means dialling:

011 - 61 - 3 - 9662 3969

Keep in mind, the state of Victoria normally is 10 hours ahead of GMT, but they're on daylight savings time at the moment so they're 11 hours ahead of GMT.

Here in Calgary I'm 7 hours behind GMT, so Melbourne is 18 hours ahead of me. Another way of looking at it is that Melbourne is 6 hours behind me, but on the next day.

Now it's about 4.50 p.m. on Wednesday, December 29th in Calgary. In Melbourne it's 10.50 a.m. on Thursday, December 30th. When I call Melbourne, I usually do so mid to late afternoon, and then I catch people in Melbourne during the morning in their time zone.

If I were you I might fax them if I had the facilities to do so. Then I wouldn't have to worry about the time difference. Anyway, I certainly would ask them how many people they take on their tour. If it's more than 10 people (at most!), I wouldn't call it a "bush" tour at all.

Here's one of the websites on which I found contact details for Let's Go Bush. It lists other tours as well. Quite frankly some of the others also appear to cater to the backpacker market, judging by their prices. A couple of them are more upmarket.

There's nothing wrong with backpacking, and I don't want to sound critical of backpackers. My only point is to question taking an inexpensive tour that may or may not add much value when the activity is easy to accomplish independently. Anyway, I did promise you that website, so here it is:

http://www.eztrip.com/dg_viewLocation_formId-94228.html

>>>>>>If we do GOR, is late March ok weather wise?<<<<<<

The weather around Melbourne is very changeable, and one can never give any guarantees. However, the southern hemisphere autumn (March / April) often is a time when there is glorious weather in that area. That said, you should still bring gear that will keep the wind and the rain out.

pshamrock

Thanks Judy. Frommer's highly recommends them, whatever that means. Anyway, I hear it's white knuckle driving. There's two of us, and though I don't normally do tours, I'd rather relax than have our trip punctuated by honey - look out! Maybe we can switch off going north/south.

Judy_in_Calgary

>>>>>>I hear it's white knuckle driving<<<<<<

Do I understand correctly, pshamrock, that someone has told you the GOR is white knuckle driving? Holy cow!

I am a real wuss. My mom and I were in a serious car accident when I was 7 years old, and that event has left me with an above average nervousness about driving even now, nearly 5 decades later.

I <b>promise</b> you, if a road warrants nervousness, I am nervous. Yet I found the GOR very doable. I did it every which way, as a front seat passenger, as a rear seat passenger, as a driver while my husband was videotaping the passing scenery, etc.

The road had enough twists and turns to make it interesting, but I would not have described it as a white knuckle road.

If you like the idea of taking the Let's Go Bush tour, please don't let me stop you. It's just that I find it hard not to butt in with my opinion when I feel erroneous information is being distributed.

chubby

HI Pshamrock
The Great Ocean Road it is not that bad of a drive it is a good wide road the best way to go is from Geelong to Warrnambool that way you can pull over at a stop without cossing the white line the is twisty but safe if you drive slow it will be ok. The tour seems cheap to me most motels cost that in that part of Australia I can give you 2 web sites that may help
http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au
http://www.australiaexplorer.com
March is a good month to travel the road if the weather is abit on the wild side it can be better because the waves crash up against the clifs and put on a great show take the 2 days there is alot to see .

pshamrock

Thanks very much Chubby and Judy. Sounds like driving is the way to go with an overnight.

marg

The GOR is hardly white knuckle driving - it's a good two lane bitumen road all the way with pull-off points. Take your time, stop to look and have a walk to the lookouts and you should have a good time. Definitely have a look at Loch Ard, the Twelve Apostles and Mariners Lookout, also the Otway Fly near Lavers Hill. We always recommend a two day trip overnighting in Port Fairy.
March weather should be good - usually warm days and mild nights.

rheamarie

We took a private 1-day tour of the Great Ocean Road -- it encompassed alot. We saw Kangaroos -- Koalas (the ones in the south are bigger) in the wild. The eucalyptis forest smelled heavenly -- what an outdoor spa! But there is more, we stop on the way out and took the nature trail at the Maits Rainforest Rest Stop. Beautiful ferns - and spectacular beech forest.

My husband did not want me to drive in Australia and infact, there were warning signs for drivers to remain focused on the highway. The coastline is simply spectacular and I was glad that I was able to relax and enjoy.
We went on to the 12 Apostles, seeing it in the late afternoon -- stunning and should not be missed. Since the day was a perfect sunny day -- we went on a short 15 min helicopter tour up and down the shoreline. Awesome. It was time to head home and our driver took the inland freeway home which was okay by me -- it had been a fantastic finish to our visit to Australia.

Advantage of 2 day trip -- see and photograph the Apostles with the sun facing in opposite directions, best photos with morning and evening shots.

Advantage of a smaller tour -- you can see more and move at your own pace.

We used Kalinda Tours -- found via the visitvictoria website:

http://www1.visitvictoria.com

Great Ocean Road tour has at lease 35 vendors -- so you should be able to find one that will meet your needs.

Our visit was July 28th -- we had a beautiful day -- 50 degrees but sunny.
It was our last day in Oz and a fantastic finish.