Guest post by lantz
Map tips: each color represents a different day. Click a marker to learn more about the spot, and click the star in the map header to save the entire map under Your Places in Google Maps.
We rented a car and were stayed with family in Ashburton, which is about 20 minutes outside of central Melbourne. Even though we didn’t use it every day, we rented a car because we really wanted to drive the Great Ocean Road.
Day 1: Melbourne to Apollo Bay
The Great Ocean Drive is kind of like Big Sur in California and was the best part of our trip. It goes west from Melbourne along the coast and we broke it up into 2 days. We stopped in Lorne for lunch and spent the night in Apollo Bay. There are tons of picturesque places to pull over and stop, so it took us awhile.
Day 2: Lorne to The Twelve Apostles
The next day we continued on the Great Ocean Road to see The Twelve Apostles, one of Australia’s most famous sites. It’s about 4 hours from Melbourne if driving straight there, but no way you would want to do that – there are too many neat places to stop. It was very crowded but worth seeing, only a 15 minute walk from the parking lot. The road continues westward but we headed back to Melbourne. We stopped at multiple places like the Cape Otway Lighthouse and a sequoia grove in a rainforest-like area (Beech Forest).
Day 3: Melbourne
Spent a lot of time walking around Melbourne. Went to the Art Museum and State Library of Victoria – both pretty cool.
Day 4: Australian Open
Spent the day watching tennis at Melbourne Park.
Day 5: Phillip Island
We took a bus tour (2 hours each way) to see the famous penguins. Glad we went but probably wouldn’t do it again. Very expensive, lots of loud, pushy tourists. FYI: the trains might be done running when you get back, so make sure you’re prepared to Uber or take a taxi when the bus gets you back to Melbourne.
Day 6: Jindivick
One day we drove to Jindivick (1.5 hours east of Melbourne) with our family to see the rural, farming part of Australia.
Traveled in January 2018
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