planning on going here on christmas break from work this year. ive never been and am looking forward to it. i was considering adelaide before but like i decided do i really wanna go all that way for a place i'll get bored of in about a day when the great ocean road area has so much around it (melbourne, geelong, the road itself, etc).

does anybody have some recommendations of places to check out on the way down and when im in the general area? i need recs to be reasonable though because it is a LONG drive from where i am so extreme deviations from the quickest route may not be viable.

barnaby joe wrote on Dec 7^th, 2011 at 12:15am:

planning on going here on christmas break from work this year. ive never been and am looking forward to it. i was considering adelaide before but like i decided do i really wanna go all that way for a place i'll get bored of in about a day when the great ocean road area has so much around it (melbourne, geelong, the road itself, etc). does anybody have some recommendations of places to check out on the way down and when im in the general area? i need recs to be reasonable though because it is a LONG drive from where i am so extreme deviations from the quickest route may not be viable.

Depends what you like. But it's a very beautiful drive and I'd highly recommend going on some trekking in the Otways.  Check out http://www.visitvictoria.com/Regions/Great-Ocean-Road/Activities-and-attractions/Outdoor-activities/Walking-and-hiking/Great-Ocean-Walk/Short-walks/Wreck-Beach-Walk.aspx .

Loch Ard Gorge is my favourite touristy part.

Also, for fish and chips Apollo Bay has an awesome little cafe on the main street...will try find the name for ya :) :)

I know it's too late for a timely response to the OP, but I thought I would post this anyway.

We went along the Great Ocean Road a few years ago when we were staying in Melbourne for a couple of weeks.  It was a wonderful, if rather long, drive (we shared the driving that day).  The only thing about it that wasn't nice was the number of flies when we got to where the apostles are - were we just unlucky or are there always thousands of flies there?  On the way back we went inland - I can't remember the names of any of the places we went through except for Geelong.  Here are some photos I took on the trip.  They are scanned from colour prints (I used film rather than a digital camera that time) so the colours aren't 100% accurate, but here they are anyway:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr77/franspiccys/Melbourne%20trip/greatoceanroad1.jpg

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr77/franspiccys/Melbourne%20trip/greatoceanroad2.jpg

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr77/franspiccys/Melbourne%20trip/greatoceanroad3.jpg

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr77/franspiccys/Melbourne%20trip/greatoceanroad4.jpg

I wish I had known about the fish and chip shop then.  I'll have to stop there next time....

Like a lot of Australian Tourism sites - overated.

My advice, save your pennies and hit New Zealand!

Why so negative about Australian Tourism? Well, I just think its a bit of a $$ scam like the USA Health System.

Far from being overrated, I thought it was more like one of the highlights of the week.  And it didn't cost very much either....

Hey look. There's some rocks. Hell, imagine seeing 'rocks' in Australia of all places? ;D

In Australia you have to travel 100km to see x10 things.
In New Zealand you can travel 10km and see x100 things.
In NZ you not only 'see' things, but you also get to 'do' and 'experience' a lot of things.

Uluru/Ayers Rock sums up Australian Tourism - its well known now as Rip-Off Rock.

Tourism in New Zealand is the national culture, more so than even 'sport'. This is probably why it is rated the #1 Holiday destination in the world.
Nothing like doing the Camper and hanging out with hundreds of people from around the world in Camper Parks that leave some of Australia's 'top' Hotels for dust.

I know that New Zealand is a popular tourist destination, but ranked number 1 in the world?  By who?  It doesn't even make it into the top 10 in the world tourism rankings of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

I'm not saying though that New Zealand is not worth going to.  I would like to go there - in fact we were thinking of going this year but had to call it off.  I wouldn't want to go camping though - in New Zealand or anywhere else.  I'd rather stay in more civilised surroundings.


It_is_the_Darkness wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2012 at 9:25pm:

Hey look. There's some rocks. Hell, imagine seeing 'rocks' in Australia of all places?

A bit like saying the Jenolan Caves are just a few holes in the ground....