richee

Family (wife and 2 daughters, ages 6 and 8) are burning up United miles & upgrades and Hyatt points this Summer (late July/early August). We're flying into MEL and returning from SYD. Have 12 nights all together at destination.

Our current plans are 3 nights at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne followed by a night near or around Phillips Island. We'll end our trip with 4 nights at the Park Hyatt Sydney preceeded by a night in Blue Mountains. In between that (3 nights remaining), we plan on driving from Melbourne area to Sydney area along the coastal route.

Looking for "absolute must visits" and other suggestions on the drive from Melbourne to Sydney. Also welcome any comments on our plans. Wife and I have been to Australia before (though only spent one night in Melbourne and 2 in Sydney on that trip sandwiching a week at a Great Barrier Reef Island). First time there for girls, but they are very experienced international travelers - enjoy visiting new places.

It seems doing the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne would be a nice drive to make, though unfortunately, that's in the opposite direction to Sydney.

DI542

The drive from Melbourne to Sydney is not especially interesting - even the "coastal" route. Much of it is actually quite a long way from the coast.

IMO the coastline of Victoria on either side of Melbourne has much more to offer and then you could then fly from Melb to Sydney - plenty of flights, a bit like a bus service.

On the west coast you have the GOR - my favourites include the drive itself, the Apostles of course and the towns along the way. If you go on past Warrnambool (where the GOR notionally ends), Port Fairy and Tower Hill are worth a visit.

The east coast is also great - you can catch a vehicular ferry from Queenscliff to Portsea to get there. The Mornington Peninsula has many attractive sites and then you could go on to Phillip Island for the Penguins followed by Wilsons Promontory which is a beautiful area. Returning to Melbourne from here will take you 3 or 4 hours.

bensyd

I would take a day out to go and see the GOR it's certainly well worth it.

My personal option is that at that time of year I would take the inland road. The coast will be too cold for swimming and there isn't that much else to see. Spend a day in Canberra visiting the War Memorial. Your daughters will really love Cockington Green Garden it's like a village of dolls houses. There's also Questacon, which is science museum, I guess a scaled back Smithsonian Institute??? If you want something that gives you a bit of Australiana then the National Museum of Australia is a good place to check out.

After Canberra my preference would be to head up the highway to Mittagong then turn off the highway and drive through the Southern Highlands. There are a lot of very nice small towns, Bowral, Kangaroo Valley and Berry would be my top three (there's also a great pie shop on the Northern approach into Kangaroo Valley at this old school general store right on the highway. That will take you back down to the coast eventually and from there you can take the highway upto Shellharbour then stick to the Princess Hwy (Route 60) and you will get some great views as you wind along the cliffs over Sea-Cliff bridge (which actually goes out over the water) and then back through the Royal National Park and into Sydney.

QF Lad

This is actually a really good itinery, certainly far better than driving the coastal road between Melbourne and Sydney (although there are nice spots along the way). I would limit the amount of time that you spend in Melbourne as there really isn't a lot to see there as a tourist, although of course you will probably want to recover from jetlag. Be aware that it will be winter at this time of year in Australia. Canberra will be very cold, Melbourne will be cool and overcast. Sydney will generally be mild and pleasant. Canberra is relatively close to Thredbo, a premier ski resort which may be in action at this time of year.

If you are coming all the way from the US, other potential places to consider are Tasmania (Frecinet National Park/ Cradle Mountain). I find WA to be stunningly beautiful (Margaret River/ Rottnest Island). Internal airfares in Australia are generally not expensive if booked in advance. If you go to Canberra, you may wish to consider flying between Melbourne and Canberra and then renting a car at Canberra to drive to Sydney, rather than spending a day of your 12 day trip driving up the Hume Highway - there is very little to see on this sector.

bensyd

I mapped that route out leaving from Canberra here

IMHO some of the most spectacular country is down through the Southern Highlands. But it never seems to figure in most people's itins sadly.

CPMaverick

I would take the Great Ocean Road and fly from ADL-SYD on your return.

richee

Thanks for all the helpful ideas so far! Too busy to say much right now, but will make some comments later. (Though one quick one - hadn't previously given much thought of stopping in Canberra. But if we did, that's another Hyatt we can stay at for this trip).

richee

Thanks to your comments, we're seriously thinking about driving GOR from Melbourne to Adelaide and then flying ADL-SYD (as susggested by CP Maverick).

A couple questions... what will be like in late July? And thoughts on going out to Kangaroo Island?

bensyd

That's almost as far as driving Melbourne- Sydney the GOR is 250km out of that total journey of 1000km and tbh after the GOR there is zero to see along the road to Adelaide. Re Kangaroo Island the wettest month is July.

DI542

Mostly agree with bensyd. As previously stated Port Fairy is worth a look but it's only a few km past Warrnambool. After that it's pretty bland. If you're keen on a road trip you'd be better off cutting inland through Dunkeld up to the Grampians (beautiful) and then back to Melbourne via Ballarat where you can visit Sovereign Hill. You'll even be on the correct side of Melbourne to go straight to the airport to hop on your flight to Sydney.

tkey75

I didn't stop Port Fairy, but really liked Portland, and the next day it was a quick trip to SA to see the blue lakes. I then took the inland route through the Grampians back to Geelong. There was a whole lot of nothing for many hours. I still enjoyed it.

CPMaverick

I went to Kangaroo Island on November and it was amazing. I highly recommend it (at some point), however, I don't know what it will be like in July. It was pretty chilly at times in November, July might be a bit uncomfortable.

The GOR is a bit less great as you continue west, but if you don't expect much, it's still interesting.

Another option is the train. It's not spectacular but nice, I took it from MEL-ADL and I liked the trip. It's not ocean scenic, alnmost completely inland, but if you are worried about the stress of driving it's a nice change. This was 3 years ago- I can try and dig up my details if you like.