Gt Ocean Road

[exkay]

Hi Guys,
I`m from the UK, living in Orpington Kent
Going down to Perth on March 3rd to my girlfriends place in Secret harbour, then flying up t Melbourne for the F1 a few days later.
We`re going to do the drive back down the G O Road at least to Adelaide, firstly, are we mad ! and also, any places that are a must vist on the way.
Oh and also, anyone any ideas on a hire company where we can hire a nice convertible in Melbourne and drop off in Adelaide.

Edited by exkay on Wednesday 22 February 16:56

Edited by exkay on Wednesday 22 February 16:56

[motomk]

http://car-rental.europcar.com.au/luxury-car-hire

http://www.hertz.com.au/rentacar/vehicleguide/inde... Collection

Could only find an Audi A5 cabrio and Mini Cabrio with the majors.

Maybe try and avoid the road on the weekend.

http://www.visitvictoria.com/Regions/Great-Ocean-R...

Beware of the tourist coaches!!

The road officially only goes to Warrnambool. It normally takes at least 5 to 6 hours to wind your way there, you can get back to Melbourne in about 3 hours travelling direct from Warrnambool inland.

If you drive from Melbourne direct to Adelaide it takes 7 or 8 hours and is 700km so going coastal would take 2 or 3 days I reckon.

Edited by motomk on Thursday 23 February 05:19

[exkay]

Thanks for that, very helpfull.

[smack]

The GOR is one lovely road, and well worth the drive if you are in Victoria, and a must if you are a PHer! You can do Melbourne to Apollo Bay return in a day, and I used to do it as morning weekend blast on bikes during summer, back in time for brunch. I did it last in 2010 when I was back on a trip, and the speed limit is lower, but they hadn't messed up the road thankfull.

The road as such ends being interesting at the 12 Apostles, but there are lovely little towns worth stopping at along the way.

[exkay]

So not worth driving betond the 12 apostles in you opinion ?

[tex200]

Oh it's well worth driving all the way to Adelaide, if for no other reason than Adelaide is well worth the visit.

[smack]

tex200 said:

Oh it's well worth driving all the way to Adelaide, if for no other reason than Adelaide is well worth the visit.

If you have the time, as Tex said, go to Adelaide.


Leading to my favourite set of corners outside Lorne when I was there in 2010. If is a road that you wish you have a sportscar or sportsbike, rather than a dull rental car - lucky I had a nice powerful sportscar



Another great bit.

[Kneetrembler]

Great Road to ride /drive,fantastic beach/sea views, one of my all time greats when on holiday in Australia.

Next trip is going to be Northern Territories,Darwin,Jabiru,Mataranku,Borroloola down through Alice Springs to Uluru,then Great Barrier Reef & the Gold Coast.

Great Country

[exkay]

Tiz a great country, my girlfriend lives in Perth, which is a fab place, looking forward to next Sat night,10pm flight, Singapore airlines...next stop Perth airport !! cant wait..oh then there`s the Melbourne F1 to take in a week and a bit later, allmost forgot about that...NOT !!

[ariddell]

Love the G.O.R. favorite bit for me is the section before you get into Lorne and then after you get out of Wye River, had a few great trips with the TVR down that way with the associated points on the license alas to go with it.

Make sure you slow down for all the towns, that's where the majority of the speed traps will tend to be.

Well worth doing the drive all the way to Adelaide, even when the road goes inland it is still pretty entertaining and scenic.

[Panayiotis]

If you are going to do it, leave EARLY...I regularly head down there as its a great drive like others have said, however I would say that it doesnt take that long to get to Lorne and beyond if you are out of Melbourne by 7am. It sounds like its way to early to be out of bed, but the road is truly worth it.

As for car companies, I would stick to the major rental companies as there have been a spate of sports car rental companies in Melbourne that have gone bust and I have never heard a good word about any of them

[ajg31]

Around the F1 time of the F1 there will be heaps of police, or there were when i went two years ago. Lots of unmarked cop bikes with flip up/out lights.

Two days from Melb to Ade via Gt Ocean is a fine amount of time but more for side trips like tree top walks etc.

I have done it a few times and leave melb early and drive all the way to Port Campbell on the first day. easy without tourist coaches to do that in a long day with plenty of stops. Then on teh second morning back to apostles and beaches to get good morning sun shots and no tourists, them back to Ade via Mt Gambier's blue lake. Long days but worth it if you have limited time.

Tried booking a Mini from Hertz this year and they did not have any available from theri FUN range.

[exkay]

Hi Folks,
Only a couple more days before i leave from Heathrow to Perth...really looking forward to it now,firstly the F1 and of course the drive down to Adelaide, someone said to me its worth getting a "Greyhound" bus from Adelaide to Perth, nice and comfortable apparantly, resonably priced with a stop every 4 hours, you can eith do 2 days and one night, or one day and two nights for the trip,better than flying back as you see more obviously ? anyone done it ?

[smack]

exkay said:

someone said to me its worth getting a "Greyhound" bus from Adelaide to Perth, nice and comfortable apparantly, resonably priced with a stop every 4 hours, you can eith do 2 days and one night, or one day and two nights for the trip,better than flying back as you see more obviously ? anyone done it ?

Not done it, but mates have drove it. If you are happy looking out the window looking at nothing but scrub for 2 days and not the most exciting food on offer along the way..... I would take a plane personally.

[exkay]

Fair comment i spose, looks like it`ll be the plane from Adelaide back to Perth then....

[smack]

exkay said:

Fair comment i spose, looks like it`ll be the plane from Adelaide back to Perth then....

There is a train, The Ghan or something like that aimed at tourists/train buffs - should have good food, you can walk about, socialise, drink etc. Better than sitting on a bus.

[motomk]

I have driven from Perth to Kalgoorlie and once east of Southern Cross it was pretty boring!
Maybe hire car in Perth and drive around the West Australian coast to Albany through Bunbury, Margaret River and Pemberton, Denmark etc. Stay the night somewhere or a few nights and drive back straight to Perth from Albany.

[ezakimak]

if your doing the GOR, make sure you allow time to go up the hill from Skenes Creek to Forrest, or even the little bit allogn to Beach Forrest. The turn of is just on the melbourne side of Appolo Bay.

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