comet555

Do you have to book the helicopters far in advance? Or can you just sort of show up and manage to get one within an hour or so?

Just wondering because we don't really have a set schedule for the trip so it's hard to know where we'll be at any given time. Although I guess if we made an appointment we'd make sure we were there.

Petals

Just looking at photos the other day and have a photo of my children on London Bridge before it fell down.

We stay at Apollo Bay love Port Fairy go and have a look at the extinct volcanoes very interesting.

Accommodation can be a problem as its a popular area.

Also the notices that say keep to the left for all our right driving visitors.

slipshot

Big tip - go slow.

Not too bad on the winding roads where you can have a lot of fun overtaking on bends that winds some of the drivers up enormously but is perfectly safe and great fun. But the long straight sections that are perfectly safe are where the cops hide. I got nicked along there 'trying' the car out - fortunately got nabbed by a nice copper who wanted to talk about the car and did not put down the actual speed I was doing, but let's just say it began with a 2!

Rossi

The latest money grabbing opportunity used by Vic's finest has been to use the radar/laser in the bushes (pc on foot)on the bends and stop you farther along on the straights where it's safe to pull you over with their car (2nd cop).............
If they do that, do not admit to speeding but politely ask to see the reading as you cannot believe you were speeding . They will not often bother bringing the gun to you and you'll get a stern telling off

savanna454

Would second this - as we have done the same!

Watch the speed the route has its fair share of cameras (fixed & mobile) and unmarked cop cars and beware the often IMO stupid speed limit changes designed to catch the unwary

Otherwise enjoy - it ranks as one of the worlds greatest drives.

Sunbed

Done both.

Booked in advanced when there was six of us doing it. We gave a rough estimate of when we thought we'd be there. we were actually about an hour late, but they still put us to the front of the queue.

Have also just walked up and done it when there was just two of us. Think we had to wait about 20 minutes so not too bad.

comet555

Good to know. We'll probably try to do a helicopter tour then, hopefully there will be spots. Not a big deal otherwise, we've done helicopter tours on the reef so we've been in them before. I won't bother to book since i have no idea where we'll be and when.

Any idea how long it takes to drive from Melbourne to the Twelve Apostles? I'm just trying to get a rough idea.

Also, I'd prefer not to really book any hotels or anything. It's just my husband and I so we have no problem driving around looking for a hotel. I imagine we'll probably figure things out later in the afternoon and then arrange for a hotel before dinner, that way we can still tour around a bit and not have to worry about finding a place later on. So hopefully that's not a big problem.

comet555

Has anyone stayed at the Hotel Formule 1 hotel by the Melbourne airport?

I don't care what it's like, I just need a cheap place to sleep for the night that's close to the airport. The only part that concerns me is the check in desk closes at 10pm, and we won't be checking in until about 10:30-11pm. It seems like there's a kiosk for late checkins and you're given a code to enter. I have no problem with this but I don't totaly trust kiosks.... and I don't really want to be stuck outside the building with no one to help, so has anyone done the after hours check in?

MartinLuther

Melbourne Airport to 12 Apostles would be about 4.5 hours drive time. You can knock an hour off if you take short cuts rather than the GOR.

comet555

Ok, that's good. Not to bad for a day's trip then. I don't think we'll be taking any short cuts, we're sort of going for the scenic route!

Although possibly on the way back if we're in a hurry. Thanks for that.

AussieDiva

Apollo Bay - buy some crayfish at the local pier, it's probably my desert island food.

Loch Ard Gorge is stunning. The whole shipwreck coast thing very atmospheric - there is a museum called Flagstaff Hill which has an amazing gold and lapis lazule peacock which was salvaged from the wreck. Stunning. And there is a real Titanic love story thing going on with 2 survivors from the ship...

Warnambool has fantastic surf beaches and a brilliant adventure playground if you have kids.

Sorry not particularly helpful with details, it's been 13 years since I was home but my family went to Warnambool every year for the Christmas holidays when I was 8 - 14 years old!!! great memories...