On March-April 2002 I am planning a 16 day car tour of South Eastern Australia. I plan to drive from Melbourne and stop at Bendigo, Mildura,Broken Hill - Dubbo, Lightning Ridge, Blue Mountains near Sidney, Canberra, Albury, Geelong, Portland, Adelaide, Barrosa Valey, and return to Melbourne. If you have driven on any parts of this route, I would gratefully welcome your experience and comments.

LOTS of driving!! Constantly one night here, one night there. <BR> <BR>Instead of Bendigo, I'd go to Ballarat and see Sovereign Hill (gold town re-creation). Miss Sydney?? I wouldn't. I'd drive through Albury, Geelong too and stay at Lorne. I'd forget Portland and think about staying at Port Fairy &/or Robe,SA. Is the figure 8 loop really necessary? Why not fly into Brisbane and head south via Lightning Ridge, Blue Mts, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, coast rd, and depart from Adelaide? Just my two bob's worth.

<BR>Here's another vote for Port Fairy -- and the entire Great Ocean Road.

Thank you for your comments, Rhonda and scurry. I just wanted to clarify that the car trip is just a portion of my trip. I will cover some of the major cities using Air connections and spend another 3 weeks in them. Yes, Sidney is on my list. Any other comments would be welcome, particularly on Broken Hill and Lightning Ridge.

hi - I was told about a place south of ulladulla called pebbly beach - abotu a 20minute dirt rd from the main highway and incredible - native wallabies hopping around the most beautiful beach! it is directly nth of a place called North Dorras I think, you can camp there but book in advance I have heard as there is a big queue for it! also - southern highlands is beautiful (1.5hrs southwest of sydney), there is a place called wombeyan caves which is a bit of a hike west of bowral (sthn highlands) but great for a cave tour and camp, campervans welcome but watch those cliffside roads on the way there and there's heaps of wild kangaroos there as well. don't miss sydney - palm beach, a sydney harbour beach called camp cove and also nielsen park is fantastic and they have great views of the harbour.