Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Sydney to Melbourne drive -- worth it?

I and 2 friends are thinking of ways to spend a few days before a conference in Melbourne, and were wondering if the drive from Sydney to Melbourne is interesting or not?

I know we could stop in Canberra of course, but is there other stuff to see along the way? Does one drive along the coast, or is it mostly inland?

Thanks for your comments!

If you find the drive from NY to PHL interesting then it might be interesting. The normal route is inland and not the most scenic. Going along the coast is extremely difficult but I suppose possible. However your time is much better spent driving on the Great Ocean Road (SW of MEL) or around SYD. There's a reason that SYD-MEL is one of the most traveled air routes in the world (more passengers per day than SFO-LAX, for example).

Unless you would like to visit Canberra, I would avoid it. It's really not that scenic (not like the nice drive up the coast on Highway 1 in California).

As number_6 mentioned, do the Great Ocean Road if you are looking for a scenic drive.

IMHO if you have time to stop along the way then I would drive it...but I would go via the coast..aka Princes Highway, rather than inland...aka the Hume Highway.

The Hume is boring as hell and loaded with truck drivers who have a death wish. They didn't put a truck drivers memorial on the Hume Hwy at Tarcutta for nothing. The Hume now bypasses the few interesting places there were along the way. I use to make the drive along the Hume to attend residentials at University and I dreaded it every time http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

Going along the Princes Hwy will take you through some very pretty and so far untouristy towns. Some of my favourites are Merimbula, Bermagui, Merry Beach and Ulladulla. Eden is also worth a stop and you can find some great cheese in Tilba.

However if you don't have the time to stop and enjoy the towns along the way then you might as well fly as you really need the time to do it justice.

Phoebe

Oops...forgot to add that the Hume Highway will not take you through Canberra and it's really not worth the detour you would need to take. Though it does have some interesting shops http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

To get to Canberra you have to either turn off the Hume Hwy at Yass or Goulburn. And driving around Canberra itself is a huge pain in the backside.

Phoebe

drive is about 9 hours, depending on how quickly you drive, it is pretty boring, you'll get stuck in sydney traffic on the way out, and it is dual carriage way, 2 lanes and 2 lanes for most of the way.

canberra i find very interesting and the turn off is about 2 hours after driving as mention just before Yass when heading to sydney.

canberra you can comfortably enjoy over a day or two and visit parliament house (free), war memorial (free and v. interesting), and plenty of other things. there is a fine restaurant in canberra I love called "sammy's kitchen" they serve great malaysian food (satay, char kway teow (chow fun), hot and sour soup, all superb!)

as said, canberra isn't "on the way" exactly, you need to turn off and drive for at least another 30-45 minutes before getting there, so it adds another 90 mins on a round trip from the Hume Hwy.

but i personally feel the ride backbreaking and 9-10 hours are hard slog. Be careful crossing over from Albury-Wodonga, once in Victoria the highway police are much tougher and enforce rules much more strongly than in NSW i find IMHO. And if you're caught 30km/hr over the speed limit, it means you'll automatically lose your license.

Coming into melbourne is nothing short of bland, you go through plenty of industrial suburbs.

If I was doing it, i would just fly down and hire a car, qantas and virgin blue have cheap fares down for less than A$100 each way and with QF anyway you can earn 1,000 min miles per flight and get a meal on the flight chucked in and enjoy those extra 15 hours you'll have in Sydney.

[This message has been edited by kawoh (edited 09-24-2003).]

Haven't done the direct (ie Hume Highway) route by car, but it is universally agreed to be a very tedious drive. I have done the cost road - this is not "very difficult" as quoted above, and as Feebster says does have some lovely places along its length, but overall I wouldn't rate it as a great drive either as long stretches are pretty dull. It's better than the Pacific Highway north of Sydney, but that is faint praise indeed!

I'll be looking at this issue in about a year. Anybody done it by train? How is that?

JP

if you're thinking of saving money catching the train, forget it.

it is long, boring and painful on the train. just fly it, really.

fares are dirt cheap nowadays on qantas and virgin blue, i mean you can get a fare for about US$50 each way, sometimes less and earn miles on QF and get a meal too.

http://www.qantas.com.au
http://www.virginblue.com.au

It's not a bad drive, but not great -- the great drive is west of Melbourne on the way to Adelaide. That one is fantastic.

fares right now are outrageous for december 25-28. i wonder if they will go down.....i think i am going to wait it out a bit.

It's highly unlikely that fares will go down - certainly on Virgin Blue they won't, but I suppose there is a small chance that Qantas will release some cheaper inventory but I doubt it. Over here they don't seem to use the same yield management models as in Europe or North America, so last minute deals are often hard to come by.

We spent a week in Canberra (see trip reports). Found plenty to do.

Why do you want to leave Melbourne?

People forget the distances on this "island". We spent a week in Melbourne and were busy (see trip report about 3-4 yrs ago).

If you were from somewhere else and had a comference in NJ, would you wonder if you should drive to Hilton Head? Enjoy Melbourne, it is not quite as stuffy as some suggest.

See Sydney, Canberra, etc when you have the time. The drive between cities is not that great, you (the driver) see little, and you drive on the opposite side of the road, generally in a car too small for everyone and luggage, and if not...too large to keep your lane or park!!! Sydney traffic is horrible.

Enjoy your time in Australia. Drive as little as possible. Take a tour. Ride the bus around Melbourne. Have a nice meal. Sample some wines. Talk to some people. Have a meal in a pub with a stubby.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by fly co to see the yanks:
fares right now are outrageous for december 25-28. i wonder if they will go down.....i think i am going to wait it out a bit.</font>

outrageous? i just did a search on virginblue.com.au and came up to $89 fares each way from SYD-MEL... what exactly is your budget? we're talking about US$100 or so round trip... ??

sorry. since the post i have found reasonable fares for $140 US on Virgin for the dates and times i want.

thanks!

Thank you all. I plan to arrive SYD Dec. 29, drive to the Blue Mts. Jan. 1, & fly to MEL on Jan. 3 (could be changed to Jan. 4.)

The B&B owner suggested driving onward to MEL, but you've made me happy that my OneWorld awAArd includes a J seat SYD-MEL.

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Play the travel game 3 vacations into the future!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TA:
I and 2 friends are thinking of ways to spend a few days before a conference in Melbourne, and were wondering if the drive from Sydney to Melbourne is interesting or not?

I know we could stop in Canberra of course, but is there other stuff to see along the way? Does one drive along the coast, or is it mostly inland?

Thanks for your comments! </font>

NOPE! lol its boring as hell! Please fly
www.qantas.com (http://www.qantas.com)
www.virginblue.com (http://www.virginblue.com)
www.rex.com (http://www.rex.com) (if u want to go via CBR)

Enjoy Melbourne!