0nick0

Hi was wondering if anyone has driven from Melbourne to Adelaide (or other way round) and wanted to enquire how long it really takes and what's the best over night places en route? We're planning our reccie to Melbourne for 3 weeks in Oct/Nov and its 1st time for kids to view Aus so wanted to make a good impression and not spend day after day in the car if we can help it but want to visit family in Adelaide if possible; and also spend a few days on Kangaroo Island. (We're thinking of taking motor-rail one way to reduce time in car).

Many thanks
Nick

Deutschmaster

I've gone as far as the Vic/SA border from Melbourne. It would take about a day or so doing the inland road going through Horsham and Ballarat without sightseeing. If you wanted to stop off and explore the Grampians and Ballarat on the way then it would take longer.

The other route would be along the coast. The great ocean road between Warnambool and Torquay is really nice. You could easily spend a couple of days by the time you've stopped at the twelve apostles, Apollo Bay, Lorne etc.

SamSi

Hi,

We did it via the Great Ocean Road and took us 3 days but you could probably do it in 2 long days. Lorne or Apollo Bay are both nice places to stay for the 1st night, can't remember the 2nd night but think we stayed at Victor Harbour on our 3rd night. A friend of mine regularly has to drive to Adelaide and he can do it in one (long) day - not sure what highway it is but it's inland via Ballarat. Having said all that - my honest recommendation would be to fly, takes an hour and costs about $75. If you've got kids it's a long drive whichever way you look at it, the Gt Ocean Rd is also really really bendy so it's a hard drive.

mohogony

Drive to the Grampians, stay in Halls gap then drive to Pt fairy stay there then drive through warrnambool along the great ocean raod.

Smartinis

[We're thinking of taking motor-rail one way to reduce time in car ]

What Motor Rail? Its news to me, anyone else heard of this?

Vash the Stampede

If you're not interested in sightseeing along the way, Melbourne to Adelaide is an easy 9 hour drive via Horsham and Ballarat. Done it a few times. The highway is excellent and you get some lovely views of the Grampions.

mohogony

Theres a train called the overland that goes from Adelaide to Melbourne and you can put your car on a cargo carriage at the back, maybe thats waht they mean.

Deutschmaster

I found the overland motor rail thing between Adelaide and Melbourne. I'm surprised that there isn't one between Melbourne and Sydney - now that would be handy!

pinoybill

Drove from Melbourne to Adelaide last October during our validation trip.
We were desperate to see as many of the big Cities as possible in order to visit various family members and friends scattered all over Oz. I had coached it around Oz 20 years ago and this was last big stretch I hadn't done then.

Our itinerary had to be revised constantly because of underestimating the time required to drive some of the stretches - our worst estimate was the Melbourne to Adelaide stretch.

We had been staying in the middle of the city(Quest appmts in Bourke Street-appmt overlooking the street and would give it a big thumbs up for location, better price thru flight centre than direct with Quest)

Took an age to clear the city and find the right road despite leaving early.
The concierge reccomended to head to Mornington Peninsula as supposed to be worth a look but we decided against this as we figured this must add a good few hours to the trip.

Got a bit confused leaving city outskirts so would seek out a bloody good map.The traffic was quite horrendous too around the industrialised area near to the port/bridge.

It was about midnight before we gave up trying to hit Adelaide in a day as I was alsmost hallucinating at this point.Cannot remember the name of the motel we pitched up in- wouldnt have recommended it anyway as a bit below basic.

At this point we were still about 150 miles away from Adelaide.
So I would go with the 2-3 days advice as above if you dont want to ruin yourself and to ensure that you dont feel rushed when you are taking in the must see's like the 12 apostles.

Cape Otway was interesting but spooky.


Given the time would also liked to have seen more of the hills above Adealaide as they looked very pretty.

We tried to pick up the coast ASAP as possible but i think you can take several routes from Melbourne that take you through some country areas of note before hitting the coast that might reduce the driving time.

Its a great drive just dont put yourself under too much pressure.

mohogony

Yes take your time , take a few days, if you going to rush it and not see any of the attractions along the way your better off catching the plane or train,

0nick0

hey this is great feedback, thank you all.

We've looked at flying and not ruled this out yet as $65 each way seems very reasonable, so total $438 for 6 (with $8 luggage charge). Overland train is coming in at $590 one way and takes around 9 hours. Was just trying to avoid higher car rental charges by picking up different cars in different locations - will check out the cost difference in more detail now.

We were looking at spending a few days at Lorne on the way back as we'd heard this is a great place to chill; great to hear everyone positively commenting about it too. Definitely gonna do the drive one way and stop off to see the sites so now planning 3 days to give time to enjoy and not feel rushed - great advice.

Now just gotta sort out accommodation for each leg of the trip! Any recommendations for a family of 6, especially in Melbourne or Adelaide?

Thanks again to the great responses.
Nick

Lucky Lucan

Try to get up to the Adelaide Hills, It's fabulous, one of my favourite places in Australia

sally07

We drove from Melbourne to Adelaide in March this year. We spent 6 days (Sun-Fri) getting to Adelaide, travelling along the great ocean road and then up the coast to Adelaide via Robe and and victor harbour.
Our favourite stop off on our whole trip was Robe which is just lovely and a very popular holiday destination. However, we found getting to Robe to be a long drive (to Robe from Port fairy and also from Robe to Victor Harbour 5/6hrs).

IMO the GOR (btwn Torquay & Port Fairy) s lovely to drive along and there are lots of tourist spots and things going on along the route and I imagine it would be great for children (we were 4 x adults).

Coming back from Adelaide we drove inland from Adelaide to Halls Gap along the highway (took around 6 / 7 hours). The drive was very tiring but more direct than the route along the coast, but pretty dull and really just a means to getting back to Victoria.

I would do the trip again, but i would only drive one way as you are suggesting! The route is great to drive though as you get some lovely and contrasting scenery on route (definately recommend passing through Hahndorff, close to Adelaide)

We used Budget car hire (we always use them when we need a hire car) who we consider to be professional and competitively priced.

Good luck with your travels!!
S.

ozzieeagle

Yehp drove over for the Adelaide v MV game during the last finals series.... Left on Friday morning for the Saturday game, was back on Sunday Night.... Bloody Knackered I was LOL !!!

Dont Think I'll be doing that again, without an extra day in there somewhere.

Oh and we had our 10 year old and 15 year old in the car with us.... now that was fun !