Does anyone know of private drivers available to tour the coast drive between adelaide and melbourne? We are looking to do it at a leisurly pace,perhaps staying out for one or two nights before reaching Melbourne.

We just drove it the other way from Melbourne to Port Fairy.If you rent a car and take your time, it is a fabulous drive!

we are really trying to avoid the self drive, but looks like that might be our only choice. Did you do an overnite or two, or did you do the drive in one day?

While you technically (and with lots of coffee...) could do it in one day, you'd be foolish to attempt that. Maybe on the faster inland route, but that's no fun. From Warrnambool onwards you want to be on the GOR - it doesn't always hug the coast, either, and isn't very fast in places, so don't count on rushing.

After a long first day of driving, stay a night in quaint Port Fairy. Take your time to pull over in places other than the Apostles and the London Bridge where everybody pulls over and counts how many Apostles are left standing...

Read up on the Great Otway National Park, you may appreciate its rain forest and waterfalls as photo ops.

Spend another night near Apollo Bay or Lorne (check out the Erskine Falls). Make it count or don't bother, zipping through won't reward you.

We left from the Melbourne airport after flying in from Cairns so it was already a long day for us. We drove the first night to Geelong and from there spent more nights on the road staying at Apollo Bay, Port Campbell and Warrnambool before heading back to Melbourne. The freedom to stop when you want,take pics of the koalas in the trees or kangaroos off the road was so worth it!
We loved driving on the Great Ocean Road so much that we added days down there and dropped them off of Melbourne and are so glad we did. The scenery,animals,history (Otway lighthouse) and people really made the trip for us!

If you really don't want to drive, I'm sure there would be someone willing to drive you. Start with the Melb tourist office (http://www.melbournecitytourist.com/...st-office.html). Also try this company http://southerncrosscars.com/index.php?p=1_5_Tours I have used them for local transport in Melbourne and recommend them. They will not be cheap for that type of service.

You could also consider dropping the car in Geelong and taking the train from Geelong to Melbourne if you want to avoid the city driving. This is not a very exciting part of the journey anyway. Train services provided by Vline.