melbourne
 

have a week in melbourne over new years with kids(13,11,7)-any advice on what would be good to do? also keen on doing a few days on the ocean road-
any tips appreciated!

thanks

Mornington Peninsula is great but New Year's period will be very, very crowded.

Great Ocean Road is very crowded at that time of the year too, accommodation won't be cheap either.

Plenty of beaches and things to enjoy for your kids. I'd avoid the crowded ones at Sorrento, Portsea, Rye and Dromana though. Westernport (eastern side of the Peninsula) is quieter.

Tripadvisor might have a lot of suggestions on their "things to do" section for melbourne.

Have to admit I've learned about a few more thing via FT that I wouldn't even have known to look up on tripadvisor.

Accommodation in Melbourne itself isn't bad over New Year and there's generally a good fireworks display , best viewed from South Bank or the Yarra bridges.

GOR will be crowded and expensive, even campsites but you can stay inland and take day trips to the beach

MrsMSP and I just returned from a Great Ocean Road bus tour booked via viator dot com that I can only describe as a "can't miss" ^^^ - the tour company was called AATKings. Great information, history etc was provided and I'm sure you're kids will marvel at the scenery. Both my wife and I concluded it was one of our top 5 travel experiences ever, and we've have traveled extensively.

You could look into staying at Port Campbell. Its torward the "end" of the great ocean road near the London Bridge - very cute little town that has everything you need for a relaxing holiday. I do imagine they book up well in advance.

Cheers!

thanks-how long was the bus tour??

you mentioned the yarra bridge viewing-would the crowne plaza be a better place to stay than the intercontinental to view fireworks etc?(we have free ihg nights)

These are a (long) day trip from Melbourne

If your kids like animals, Healesville Sanctuary is a great place to visit:

http://www.zoo.org.au/healesville


Seeing the penguin parade at Phillip Island is also great:

http://www.penguins.org.au/attractions/penguin-parade/


Great Ocean Road day trips are LONG days....usually setting off from Melbourne CBD around 7-7.30am and not getting back until 9pm. Doing it over 2-3 days would be better if you can afford the accommodation costs and self-drive.

Ours last week was a little under 12 hours door-to-door. If you happen to book through Viator or AATKings as we did, you can ask which day "Richard" is driving as he was an outstanding, very interesting guide and driver. I would never have wanted to rent a car and drive as I would have missed all the great scenery. Yes I suppose its a longer day, but it certainly went by quickly for us. On the return drive from Port Cambell to Melbourne its roughly a 3-3.5 hour drive depending on traffic. They showed a movie on the bus, some people slept and they had free wifi so many like myself were online catching up on email, etc. It was a terrific experience! LOTS of kids too!

The route back is via a faster inland road.

confirmed... all of australia is on holiday then, so the GOR & peninsula will be very busy. Planning and bookings are required for any movements in these areas.

When family visited last xmas, I discouraged travel during this period, unless they had firm ideas/to dos - penguins & healesville sanctuary. Instead we enjoyed the city as it was relatively empty (but alot of restaurants closed during this period).

We jetted off to a resort in queensland instead of travelling around. Still had to fight the crowds, and it was expensive, but at least i was able to enjoy the holiday will my family as i was not driving!

Good suggestion about Phillip Island and the penguins. My girlfriend student taught in Melbourne and they did a field trip there. A lot of fun for kids.

Another suggestion is a day trip to Wilson's Promontory.

I am hoping to make to Melbourne next year as well.

I would suggest if you guys do the penguin parade that you upgrade at least to the penguin plus ticket as the platform is much closer to where the come in and you can see them as they go up/under the dunes to their nests from the walkways.

For in the city things, I really like the National Sport Museum at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. It's fairly small considering they cover a lot of Olympic sports and of course Aussie sports. What I like is they have fully interactive exhibits so you and the kids can attempt to play some of the sports or measure your skill against Olympic athletes.

I also liked the Melbourne Museum - it has dinosaur bones and an indoor rainforest (not as good as the one at SF's Academy of Sciences but still pretty cool) amongst a bunch of other things.

If you enjoy driving, don't take a bus for the Great Ocean Road, rent a car. It is one of the best coastal roads around (much better than PCH in CA...)