From great ocean rd website:

Travelling by car from Melbourne
The Great Ocean Road is a 2-hour drive from the heart of Melbourne with dual lane highway conditions for most of the journey and excellent signposting.

90 mins!!! Bribie is almost a suburb of north brisbane. About 60 mins from CBD.

Gold Coast is 45 mins.

Can be almost in Bryon Bay, NSW in 90mins.

To top it off you can actually swim in them all year round. Got sunburnt this winter swimming over at Stradbroke Island. Freeze your knackers off in Melbourne if you tried that in the middle of winter...sure its a great city but don't get carried away

They're both about the same distance, about 75 mins depending on how fast you drive. I'm basing this on New Farm - Bribie and South Melbourne - Torquay.

The people on the Great Ocean website must drive at a snails pace or maybe they're referring to much further along the road, closer to Lorne maybe.

Doing the legal limit Melbourne collins street to Torquay is 1 hour 20 or 80 mins (similar to your 75). Took me about the same from Charlotte street Brisbane too Bribie.

But Torquay is not the start of the GOR is it?

I agree with Buzzy on both the beaches and the time frames. Easy to distort based on off peak or very one off drive experiences.

No, it's just the beginning :esoteric:

I think it comes down to where one can get the best job with the best income and whether its beachy or not is insignificant as the beach does not put food on the table.

Would you live in Alaska for 60 000$/year instead of Melbourne for 40 000$/year?

Never been to Melbourne but this thread is full of great info

Torquay is indeed the start of the GOR according to the sign on the Surf Coast Highway!

I have no idea if the beaches down here are better than the stunning looking ones up North with the see through water but I do know beaches down here are beautiful plentiful and within easy reach of Melbourne.

It took me 1 hour on the nose to drive from Williamstown to my front door in Torquay at 2.30pm on Tuesday. Add another 20 minutes at the weekend for the Melbourne traffic coming down this way to enjoy the beach.

Its also worth pointing out the beaches at Barwon Heads / Ocean Grove which are a little closer to Melbourne and in my view even nicer than Torquays beaches. I would also agree with the swimming in the water comment its for summer only as the temp is too low at this time of year.

The beach puts food on my table when l go fishing

Hobart and Canberra are the two cities where it gets really cold in Winter Melbounre is'nt that bad.

Torquay takes no longer to get to than those. It takes me about 60 minutes to get to Torquay, although I must say I prefer Mornington to the GOR because you have a greater choice at lesser distances.

As for Melbourne being the sports capitol of the world

You don't think so? What other city is this sports mad, with this many annual sporting events and such massive attendances to sporting events.

Not saying I'm right, just wondering where else there is ?

Al

Can't see any other cities that really come close.

Golf - Australian Masters
Tennis - Australian Open
Formula 1
AFL - Massive crowds every week
Melbourne Storm NRL team.
Horse racing - Melbourne Cup
V8 Supercars - Sandhurst & Philip Island
Superbikes - Philip Island (maybe could not include because not technically in Melbourne)
A-League
etc

Loads mate, take London for example it has the most famous cricket ground in the world, the most famous and prestigious tennis tournament, Wembley the home of football, 5 premier league teams (probably the most watched competition in the world). Twickenham and the Olympics coming.

Probably loads of other world cities that could lay claim.

Sporting capital?

A bit self proclaimed that one........however it's a sports mad city with great stadiums & venues for holding all kinds of sporting events.

Golf - Australian Masters -London and surrounds has bigger tournaments
Tennis - Australian Open- Wimbledon premier tennis tournament in the world
Formula 1- same
AFL - Massive crowds every week- How can you include something as a world capitol that is only played in one country.
Melbourne Storm NRL team- fair enough
Horse racing - Melbourne Cup- Epsom the Derby
V8 Supercars - Sandhurst & Philip Island
Superbikes - Philip Island (maybe could not include because not technically in Melbourne)
A-League- 5 premier league teams and numerous others.
etc