Great Ocean Road Tour
We are scheduled to take this trip Dec. 2, 2019 and arrive a day early. Has anyone done the Great Ocean Road Tour to see the 12 Apostles with Simon Greenland? If so, how far is it? What about the Penguin Parade? Or are their better choices for the limited time prior to the start of the tour?
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We did the Great Ocean Road Tour but booked through Go West Tours out of Melbourne. They offered hotel pick-up/drop-off as well. It is a very long day (we got back around 9PM that night) but the views were beautiful and we felt it was worth our time. We saw the 12 Apostles from above and also walked down "Gibson's Steps" and saw two of them from the shore. Another beautiful stop on this day tour was Loch Ard Gorge which is in Port Campbell National Park. The first two pictures are of the 12 Apostles and the last one of Loch Ard Gorge. I would recommend the Great Ocean Road Tour if you are up for a long day. We talked with a couple that did the Penguin Parade and they also enjoyed their day.
We did the Great Ocean Road tour, and it was, indeed, a very, very long day. If you have access to any ocean road trips, such as in California, I wouldn’t spend time on this one. The Great Ocean Road was constructed as a tourist draw years ago, which we didn’t know, and the twelve apostles are rather reduced in number at this point. We wished we had done the fairy penguins instead.
What we very much recommend is the Echidna tour where you travel into the country to see koalas in a natural preserve and gangs of kangaroos in another preserve. You walk around the woods and the guides show you the animals. We saw quite a few koalas and an amazing gang of kangaroos, one nursing and with a baby in it’s pouch. The dominant males were enormous and very much worth seeing. They also give you billabong tea and local food. All in all, it was one of our favorite parts of the trip, especially since you don’t see any animals in the wild otherwise.
Good luck with your choice.
I did the Great Ocean Road tour that included Loch Ard Gorge, though I cannot remember which tour company I used. As I recall, a private tour would have cost over $900, so I chose a group coach tour that picked me up at the hotel early in the morning and got back to Melbourne around 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. It was fine. We made morning and afternoon rest stops, and stopped for lunch (on our own). I'm glad I did it. I would not have wanted to miss seeing the "12 Apostles," though there were only 7 of them left standing. I don't regret missing the fairy penguins -- but I'm not a big animal lover.
We used The Private Tour Guide (Simon Greenland’s company) about 2 years ago for a tour of the Great Ocean Road and we loved it. Simon was able to customize our tour with an earlier pick up from our hotel so we could return earlier for the Tauck meet and greet. In addition to the Apostles, we went to Loch Ard Gorge and to a Reserve where we saw koalas in the wild and fed the beautiful parrots. It was a great day.
Thanks mcmaj for the tip! We had ruled out the Great Ocean Road for our Nov. 4 tour start date, as we didn’t want to worry about being late for the Welcome Dinner. (Plus GOR is a l-o-n-g tour.) We are critter lovers and prefer our critters in the wild, so we booked the Echidna Walkabout tour today - we’re excited! (and we’ll be back in plenty of time for the welcome events.)
Marcia Travels - You’re very welcome! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Wait until you see how they make tea in the outback. It’s fun.
mcmaj. We're critter lovers too. Sounds like a great choice.
Marcia Travels - We are on the trip after you. Any tips would be greatly appreciated if you have time upon your return.
I can’t emphasize enough how much easier it is to arrive to this tour two days early if you can. There’s plenty to see in Melbourne without doing the Great Ocean Rd trip. If you are worried about missing out on seeing the penguins, you may see some in NZ.
Penguins (probably a smaller number) also come ashore near the St. Kilda pier in southeast Melbourne, if you don’t want to commit to the drive to/from Phillips Island. Think penguin enthusiasts could combine that with a nice dinner by the beach?
We recently returned from this trip, and it was wonderful. We arrived a day early. On the morning of arrival day, we took a 10:30 walking tour, which was a good way to familiarize ourselves with Melbourne. During the tour, we received a text from the hotel advising us that our room was ready. After cleaning up and relaxing, we had an early dinner in Chinatown.
The next day, we took an excellent small group ocean road tour (there were 5 of us), which I had read about on this forum. Unlike other tours, we had an early pick-up (5:45 a.m.) and were back to the hotel around 4:00 p.m., in plenty of time for the welcome cocktail party at 6:30 p.m. We were very pleased with our choice. The guide, Stuart, is very knowledgeable and the tour included a breakfast goodie bag and lunch. We booked the tour online about one month before the trip (www.oceanroaddaytours.com.au).