Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Where to go between Sydney and Tassie

Dear Flyertalkers,

We're going to be in Sydney the end of next month for 4 nites (I used to work there frequently). We're then planning to spend 6 days in Tassie (flying to Hobart from Melbourne and renting a car) to end our trip. That leaves 5 days in between. I've read all of the threads here, and looked at too many sites and books. We are very active and fit, and primarily enjoy outdoor activities (hence we live on Kaua'i), while appreciating culture, art and entertainment.

We are considering some version of one of the following choices:

1. 2 days in Melbourne and 3 days on GOR (give or take).
2. Drive from Adelaide to Melbourne over 3-4 days with 1 day in Melbourne and little time in Adelaide.
3. Two days in Blue Mountains, 1 day in Melbourne, and 2 days on GOR.

Any thoughts, recommendations or other suggestions would be appreciated. Mahalo.

Dear Flyertalkers,

We're going to be in Sydney the end of next month for 4 nites (I used to work there frequently). We're then planning to spend 6 days in Tassie (flying to Hobart from Melbourne and renting a car) to end our trip. That leaves 5 days in between. I've read all of the threads here, and looked at too many sites and books. We are very active and fit, and primarily enjoy outdoor activities (hence we live on Kaua'i), while appreciating culture, art and entertainment.

We are considering some version of one of the following choices:

1. 2 days in Melbourne and 3 days on GOR (give or take).
2. Drive from Adelaide to Melbourne over 3-4 days with 1 day in Melbourne and little time in Adelaide.
3. Two days in Blue Mountains, 1 day in Melbourne, and 2 days on GOR.

Any thoughts, recommendations or other suggestions would be appreciated. Mahalo.


We had the same question for a trip we are doing in February and we have gone for option 2. as we have heard and read so much about the Great Ocean Road that we thought we had to try it. If you're into wildlife and hiking you might want to include a couple of days on Kangaroo Island - it's a 35 minute flight from ADL or a short ferry ride

Enjoy your trip and if you haven't been to Tas before you are in for a treat - it's the best place on earth :)

If you could spend as much time as possible in TAS, it would be well worth it! I just spent three months traveling around TAS, and it is a mixture of awesome beauty, and a quaint 50's lifestyle. Taking the eastern ocean drive from Hobart to the northern part of TAS will give you a birds-eye view of classic mountains, lush green hills, beautiful oceans cliffs, wonderful little towns full of museums, artsy stores, delicious cafes and restaurants. It will be a good time of year to relax in TAS also, as their seasons are reversed. So, enjoy yourselves, and try to hit the smallest towns off the beaten path, where it is so very delightful, and the people go out of their way to make you comfortable.

So, enjoy yourselves, and try to hit the smallest towns off the beaten path, where it is so very delightful, and the people go out of their way to make you comfortable.

I would agree with this - the smaller communities are great - my favourite is Marawah in the NW of Tas and it's literally at the end of the road :D

It's also one of the best places to see the Devils at dinner time :eek:

I would agree with this - the smaller communities are great - my favourite is Marawah in the NW of Tas and it's literally at the end of the road :D



And a bumpy one at that! :D ;)

thanks for the good ideas. we're going to spend 2 days in melbourne, and 2 days on the GOR, and go to tas a day early. now that we've been planning, we wish we were staying in tas much longer. we're starting on the west at cradle mountains, then perhaps strahan or ?. ending up on the west coast to fly out of hobart after the salamanca market. we'll follow advice and see small towns.

Cradle Mountain National Reserve is awesome - we spent 2 days last year. Beware there is a micro climate in the crater - in one day we had gales, blizzards, driving rain and blistering sun and very cold at night. But where else will you see wallabies, wombats, platypuses, king snake, quoils, possums, etc, etc in one day? Take a very powerful torch and walk the boardwalk around midnight - wow!

There are 2 hotels that have very similar names just outside the Park - one is good and other a bit like a stalag - we choose the latter :(

There is (apparently) a great hotel / restaurant in Strahan called Franklin Manor which is run by a very good British chef - we will be there in 5 weeks :D

In conclusion, we did the GOR, one night in Apollo Bay (we liked it very much, and were glad we didn't stay in Lorne). Next night in Port Fairy (which we also liked). Hindsight being better than planning, I wish we had stayed two nights in Apollo Bay, and then only driven as far as the 12 Apostles. Warnamabool wasn't interesting and it was such a long drive to Port Fairy, and then back to Melbourne. This is a drive which is slow and where you must also stop a lot, as there is so much to see.

Tas was fantastic, and especially Cradle Mtn (and Freycinet, and Hobart and so many of the small towns). I'd suggest however when flying into Launceston (pronounced lawn CESS-ton, BTW), get right on the road to Cradle, and skip that town and the gorge.

On other posts that I read, someone said that GOR didn't compare with PCH in Calif., and that that Cradle didn't compare with Yosemite. They could not have been more wrong!

Thanks Vic and Tas for an unforgettable vacation.

Sorry you had to find out the hard way about Lonnie. I hate having to drive up there for work.