January is high season, summer and long school holiday season, no doubt that'swhy you are having trouble finding 1 nights accom. Families stay there for weeks, if not the whole season.

I am not a big fan of the penguins, but during summer its a lot better than freezing during the winter.

As mentioned if you do decide to drive back to Melbourne, the traffic heading back will help you to follow the leader

They are predicting a hot hot dry summer forVictoria again , whether we have the severity and tragedy of last bushfire season remains to be seen, you should probably keep that in the back of your mind