Songdoc

Well, I've booked my flight--so we're definitely going to Melbourne. FYI, we'll arrive the evening of Monday, June 1st and will fly to Sydney around 6 PM Saturday, June 5th.

Now I've got some questions ...
While we do want to see the highlights of the city of Melbourne--our main preference is seeing natural beauty and enjoying easy/moderate walks.

The plan is to spend all day Tuesday in the city. What are the "must-sees"?

Wednesday, we might spend a few additional hours in the city before heading for the Great Ocean Road. We'll overnight in Lorne.

Thursday, we'll drive to Port Campbell and overnight there.

Are there particular places we should stop along the way--or will that be obvious? Wasn't sure if the highlights are all along the GOR -- or if we should be taking detours.

We had thought we'd go to the Grampians on Friday and stay overnight -- but someone has suggested we replace the Grampians with Daylesford. She said the Grampians have not fully recovered from the fires--and that she just "knew" we would love Daylesford. Do you agree? I'm not fond of long drives and it seems like it would be too long a drive from Port Campbell to Daylesford. Should we be looking at a different order for the itinerary?

Any thoughts will be much appreciated.

DownUnder

The natural bush in Australia regenerates very quickly after fires.
The catastrophic fires of Black Saturday were in the Yarra Valley area i.e. Marysville & Kinglake and nowhere near the Grampians.
Daylesford is a wonderful country town and a favourite of most Melbournians. It is a a fair distance from Port Campbell and at least a 4-5 hour drive. The countryside around Daylesford is some of the best in Victoria and if you don't mind the driving it is worth the effort. However if you want the Aussie bush experience and also some great contryside with Kangaroos, Koalas etc. in the wild, The Grampians are for you.
There is an excellent tourist centre at Federation Square in Melbourne that should be able to provide you lots of info.
On the GOR the Kangaroos at Anglsea Golf Course, the views fron the Airey's Inlet lighthouse, the Koalas at Kennett River (between Lorne & Apollo Bay)the Loch Ard Gorge, The Otway Fly and the 12 Apostles are just some of the must sees.
http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/

Bokhara2

Hi Songdoc,

I like Daylesford too, but think you'd be missing out on a very interesting & beautiful part of Victoria and went over there on this trip, instead of exploring the Grampians when they're so much closer.

http://www.visitvictoria.com/display...D80C476A90318/

Daylesford is a very charming area too, lots of spas, an absolutely wonderful second-hand book shop on the lake; great coffee shops & a few very good restaurants. In a 'similar but not really' way, it reminds me a bit of Sag Harbor.
Nice spot for an easy access winter weekend from Melbourne.
http://www.visitdaylesford.com.au/Forms/Default.aspx
It's also a proudly gay-friendly environment; perhaps that had something to do with the recommendation.

It's a little while since I've been through The Grampians, but I remember a lovely art gallery in Hamilton, and thinking it would be a nice area to explore over a couple of days. We were on a schedule to get to Port Fairy & couldn't stay, but I would have liked to have a look at the Aboriginal caves & rock art. (Note to Self - do it!)

Just to endorse DownUnder's re-assurance that The Grampians is nowhere near the area burnt in Feb 2009, here's a map. I've used Marysville, one of the towns burnt out, & Hamilton as the two points. http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&s...5,4.916382&z=8

Songdoc

Many thanks for the info. We'll keep the itinerary "as is" -- including the Grampians. It seems that most of the accomodations for the Grampians are in Halls Gap. The Royal Mail (that was suggested) is in Dunkeld. Are there pros or cons to the different areas?

One more question ... do you think we'd need reservations in advance? We'll be in Lorne on Weds., June 2; Port Campbell on Thursday, June 3; and the Grampians on Friday night, June 4.

It would be nice to have the flexibility to stay over an extra night if we loved someplace (or had bad weather) -- but not if there's a chance of accommodations being full.

As always ... thanks!

DownUnder

Halls Gap is probably the better option and you should have no problems with accommodation in June, but I would also suggest you check out the www.wotif.com site for good deals and availability.

JohnFitz

School holidays do not start until the end of June so you miss those travellers .

Have a look at www.thatsmelbourne.com.au which is very helpful .

One easy thing to do is walk along St Kilda Road from the city and pop into the National Gallery . A quick look and a coffee .Then continue walking but cross to the other side of the road from the gallery and wander through the Kings Domain and into the Botanical Gardens. They are truly wonderful - even in Winter . At the South Yarra end near the Shrine of Remembrance / Domain Rd is the Observatory and an excellent cafe .Also one on the lake in the gardens .

The web site can help with all the other attractions.

Songdoc

Thanks so much for the great info.

FYI, I always use wotif. Great site. I've never tried the wotif "mystery hotel" but I plan to use it for accommodation in Melbourne CBD. There's a 4 star hotel listed for $115 AUD. But ... when I checked for Halls Gap I was surprised that almost all of properties require a 2-nt. minimum stay. So the choices will be very limited.

Bokhara2

Send the Halls Gap property you like an email, or call them, Songdoc - you might find they'll drop the 2 night minimum for you & hold the rate. I've sometimes done better than wotif by going direct when I had a similar issue.

olivetta

Great Ocean Road and Grampians are great. Suggestions above are all good. Daylesford is an easy day trip from Melbourne but the GOR & Grampians are further away and require accommodation near. From the GOR you travel inland to Grampians, then I suggest that you continue to Ballarat (on the way back to Melbourne), an interesting historic city which developed in the 1850s when gold was discovered there. It was one of our major goldfields and the buildings are interesting as examples of regional city architecture. For us, the area is very important historically with Eureka Stockade, an early battle between miners and police. A visit to Soveriegn Hill historic park would be worth the effort. You could then go via Daylesford if you wished.

June is cool here (winter) and not the peak season for travel. Consequently, you should not have a problem with hotel bookings, except for Queen's Birthday Weekend 12th - 14th June.

Melbourne --- you could spend many weeks but not see everything! If you are interested in nature, I suggest that you do not miss Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary (Zoo - $24 approx entry) which is about a 1-hour drive east of the city. There are organised bus tours too. Secondly, the penguins at Phillip Is are fantastic but that is about a two and a half-hour drive south-east of Melbourne. Penguins toddle up the beach at sunset so if you can stay at Cowes, on Phillip Is, it will save a long journey home in the dark. Plenty of places to stay in Cowes or nearby.


City itself --- Federation Square in centre of city has National Gallery of Victoria Australian Art collection, including aboriginal and islander art. Guided tours operate. Closed one day per week so check before you go. Building itself is very interesting as it was constructed above the old railway tracks. Other NGV in St Kilda Rd has "fish shop' window of cascading water and a wonderful stained glass ceiling by Leonard French. Ancient art collection and classics.

Botanic Gardens - off St Kilda Rd.
Docklands - Melbourne's new waterfront re-development
Melbourne Museum
Casino area beside Yarra River is interesting (Southbank) - lots of restaurants
Lygon St, Carlton --- Street full of restaurants
Melbourne Zoo
All of the above are easy to access by tram. Suggest that you don't try to go by car in the mid-city area. It is too congested and parking is hard to find and expensive.

Hope that the above helps.

Songdoc

Thanks so much to all for the great info. Wotif ran a 3-day sale and I jumped on the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Melbourne for $118/nt -- including breakfast. Also booked the Cumberland in Lorne for $135. I'm thinking we'll leave accomodations open in Port Campbell and the Grampians so we have a little flexibility.

Wotif also was running a sale on flights. I was able to get a much lower cost flight than by going directly to the airline. And ... it gave me a $10 voucher that I applied to the hotel booking in Melbourne.

I'm getting excited. The trip starts in 13 days -- in New Zealand. AGGHHH! So much work to do ....

Bokhara2

Hi Songdoc,
This might interest you - The Royal Mail Hotel at Dunkeld in the Grampians. http://www.royalmail.com.au/Pages/Fo...ine.aspx?id=55

Just saw this write-up in a magazine & thought of you.

"Famed for its superb restaurant and dramatic location at tthe foot of the Grampians, the Royal Mail Hotel is an uber-stylish, architect-designed retreat that delivers all the good thingsneeded for a weekend away, without the pretence that sometimes comes with a place that knows it's special. What started as a small sone-and-stucco pub in the 19th century morphed into a 70's style motel, before emerging as a top notch getaway following an exquisitely detailed refurbishment in 1997.

Dunkeld sells itself as the "Southern Gateway" to the Grampians, and the Royal mail makes the most of this. The dramatically looming peaks of Mount Sturgeon and Mount Abrupt, with the gentler Picanniny hill between, fill the frames of floor-to-ceiling windows in the hotel'sMountain View rooms. While the outlook from their lovely private decks is spectacular, the rooms are an exercise in restrained, contemporary taste.

But the Royal Mail's biggest draw-card remains its award-winning restaurant, which attracts gourmands from far &O wide. Make sure to book."

mobilemc

Songdoc, we just returned from 7 weeks in AU. We spent the final 7 days of our trip in/around Melbourne - 2 on the GOR and 5 in Melbourne. We loved Melbourne but I won't add comments about Melbourne - you've already received a lot of good ideas. I'll comment only on the GOR.

Generally I'm suspicious when something is called "The Great Whatever" - I normally end up being underwhelmed. Not this time ... the GOR is more magnificent than I imagined!

We arrived at the airport ~ 5 pm on a flight from Cairns, picked up a rental car, and drove directly to the Crown Plaza in Torquay (~1 1/2 hours). We left the hotel the next morning ~ 9 am, had breakfast in town and started our drive.

We spent the entire day driving from Torquay to Port Campbell, arriving ~5 pm. We stopped in Lorne for 20 minutes - looked very nice. Driving west, you'll be on the ocean side of the road with lots of easy pullouts for pix. We reached the 12 Apostles late in the afternoon and the sun was at the wrong angle for pix, so we decided to drive straight to Port Campbell (~10 minutes further) and return to the 12 Apostles Visitor Center for our visit and pix the next morning ... great decision! The sun angles were perfect the next morning and the views are simply amazing! We continued on to Peterborough, visiting the many beautiful rock formations along the way. We turned north at Peterborough to the Princes Hwy (A1), returning our car to the Melbourne airport ~ 4 pm.

BTW, we also stopped on the golf course and river and never saw either koalas or kangaroos. That said, we took a side trip out to the Cape Otway Lighthouse (interesting sight, beautiful views) and literally saw 100 koalas in the Eucalyps trees along the road. Amazing! If we'd wanted to drive slower we probably could've seen 200 but we needed to be on our way to reach Port Campbell.

Bottom line, it's a gorgeous drive. Make sure you cxamera batteries are fully charged!

Songdoc

mobilemc -- Wow! Thank you so much for the report. I'm getting excited!!!

Bokhara2 -- the Royal Mail looks fantastic -- even though I'm whatever the opposite is of a foodie. Because of health considerations I tend to eat boring, plain, healthy meals. Haven't used alcohol or sugar in 27 years -- but life is still worth living ;-)

In someone's post it seemed they felt Halls Gap would be a better location for the Grampians. Any thoughts?