Great Ocean Road

Annapolis traveler

We are just back from Australia and New Zealand 20 day tour. We enjoyed it very much. I would highly recommend the Great Ocean Road as it was actually one of our favorite days. It is a long day- leaving at 8:00 in the morning and arriving back at 10:00 in the evening. If you have an extra day it is a must. The beauty of this trip is fantastic. It is an effort to do when you are somewhat jet lagged but so worth it. I am not sure why Tauck does not include it in it's itinerary but of course they can not do everything. We were so happy we did it.

KSS

Thanks so much for your post. We are doing the Great Ocean Road drive next week as the early beginning of our Tauck tour and yes we will be jet lagged, but decided we couldn't miss it. Glad to hear you had a great trip. We're looking forward to this adventure!

Wallaroo

Which company did you use for the trip?

smarks50

I am interested in the company as well.

A question for those who have taken the "Great Ocean Road' trip or those familiar with the area (jdurkin?); I plan to take the "Cruising Down Under Westbound" trip followed by the "Spotlight on Australia" tours next late January and February. I would love to add this "Great Ocean Road" trip and the evening penguins tour to my individual itinerary. With these two tours I will be repeating days in Melbourne when I can do these excursions and my question is this: one free day will be Friday and I have a free afternoon on a Saturday. Is it better to do the "Great Ocean Road" on a Friday (less traffic?) and the penguins on a late Saturday afternoon or does this matter? Any information would be appreciated.

crackers54

You need a full day for Great Ocean Road. I would not worry about traffic. Once out of Melbourne there are no major cities. I used Go West for my tour and had a great time. Turned out another from the tour took it. It is a full day and I did it the day after arriving. The jetlag was not an issue for me with one good night sleep and was up early anyway.

jdurkin

smarks50 wrote:

I am interested in the company as well.
A question for those who have taken the "Great Ocean Road' trip or those familiar with the area (jdurkin?); I plan to take the "Cruising Down Under Westbound" trip followed by the "Spotlight on Australia" tours next late January and February. I would love to add this "Great Ocean Road" trip and the evening penguins tour to my individual itinerary. With these two tours I will be repeating days in Melbourne when I can do these excursions and my question is this: one free day will be Friday and I have a free afternoon on a Saturday. Is it better to do the "Great Ocean Road" on a Friday (less traffic?) and the penguins on a late Saturday afternoon or does this matter? Any information would be appreciated.

Happy to help! It is a long day trip to the Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road … and they will be taking you the short way (the inland route which bypasses Geelong … population of just under 235,000 by 2016 … which makes it a quite large city by any accepted measure). You miss half the Road by taking the short route … but you can't see everything in just one day. Something is certainly better than nothing, so if you can take the trip you describe, please do it. It is unique and you will have traveled a long way to see what our part of the world can offer. Don't stint! Try not to think you can just sleep along the way. The journey is part of the experience. Except for some rare exceptions, jet lag is a naturally occurring thing for Earth dwelling homo sapiens. A journey across half the world's time zones will have some effects!

As for the Fairy Penguins … they are unique, too. If you appreciate wildlife, while they might be just penguins, lions are just not house cats. If you can't make time to get to Phillip Island, you might consider the secret Melbourne colony, just a short taxi ride from your hotel. Everything you need to know is here:
http://stkildapenguins.com.au/skp/

Happy to help further if needed. I do think that sometimes people just don't want to hear the answers they ask for, however! I do know that not everyone is as cavalier as the last travel party I spent hours helping! )

Cheers,

Jan

smarks50

Thank you Jan for your input. I will have my choice of several days to do the Great Ocean Road trip - do you agree it doesn't matter (from a traffic standpoint) if I do this trip on a weekday or Saturday? Where I come from (San Francisco Bay Area) the roads are especially bad on weekends! I will also plan to see the special penguins on one of my free afternoons/evenings - I have several of those. Again, thanks for your help!

jdurkin

I really don't think it makes an awful lot of difference.... But, since you have a choice, I'd aim for Mon-Thur since the south west coast (and all roads leading there) are very popular on the weekends and Fridays, to some extent, for those who can wangle that! You make an interesting comparison with the Bay Area, with which I'm fairly familiar. I think you might find some interesting similarities, too, with your City and Melbourne. It all goes back to 1849. I'm sure you know what I mean. )

Depending on your interests, there are a lot of things to do with your extra days in Melbourne. There are heaps of suggestions here in various threads on the Australian pages.

Happy to help. I hope you have a wonderful trip. I think you have chosen an excellent combination!

Cheers,

Jan