geordie mandy

I'm hoping to have 5 days in Melbourne in October and I'm after ideas for places for me and hubby to visit.
We have decided to visit Philip Island and see the penguins and koala's.
Wondered if any one can offer some suggestions. We are hoping to have a hire car but dont know whether to tour around and stay at a different place every night or have one base and do day tours from there.
i want to make sure i cram as much into my time avaliable as possible.
We are also going to be staying in Albury with relatives and going to attempt travelling from Albury to the Blue Mountains and then on to Melbourne.
Hope you can come up with some ideas to help me.
Mandy

KayC

Hi Mandy,

The penguins are fab!!! I would also recommend catching the ferry from sorrento to queenscliff and doing the great ocean road after seeing the penguins - it's amazing!

KayC

geordie mandy

thanks Kay that does sound good . i shall look into that
Mandy

KayC

Last time we went, we stayed in 'Best Westerns' all the way down and they were about $100 per night.
KayC

geordie mandy

Ive just been looking at hotels and stuff so that info is very handy.
How long did it take to do the Great ocean road From sorrento?
Mandy

KayC

We went as far as warnambool and then north, As I remember it only took about 4 days. We had 2 nights in Torquay, 1 in Port Campbell (which is lovely) and then we headed up to the Grampians and stayed in Horsham, it took us a day to get back to Melbourne.
KayC

geordie mandy

Thanks that helps us to work out what we can fit into out time frame.
Mandy

Big Bird

A couple of websites that might help with a few ideas:

http://www.visitmelbourne.com/

http://www.melbourne.com.au/



Big Bird

Hels

Bendigo, Ballarat and/or Echuca are all lovely!!

At Ballarat you have Sovereign Hill. At Bendigo you have lots of gorgeous buildings, parks and.....me!! Echuca is on the Murray River and there is LOADS to see and do up around there....

Just thought I would add these as an option other than the Coast....

Johnsyweb

This thread started by Pootle has some top tips of things to see and do in Melbourne. Five days just isn't enough, particluarly if you go down to Philip Island and drive The Great Ocean Road.

Have a fabulous time whatever you do!

Sass73

Depending on stamina and the use of an automatic car, you can get to Warrnambool in a day from Sorento - its about 300km of windy roads and lots of things to see. If you come back along the land route, it takes 4 hours from Warrnambool to Melbourne with a coffee stop in Colac.

geordie mandy

Thank you everyone for other ideas to help us enjoy as much of Melbourne and areas around when we visit.
I totally agree 5 days is not enough to fully appreciate all that will be on offer . But my thinking is if we are lucky enough to live in Melbourne then we will have so many places to explore that there will be no way my family will ever say they are bored again.
Mandy

paulb

Mandy, I dont want to sound a killjoy, but if you are planning on living in Melbourne, shouldnt you be checking out houses, schools, work etc. The touristy things you can do once you're here

Paul

geordie mandy

Hopefully we are coming via the army route so no 100% garentee that we will get Melbourne, also the army will provide housing , so we are lucky enough not to have to worry about that side of things. Hubby is getting a visit to a barracks. Plus we wont be here till 2009 at the earliest, so we can treat this trip as a holiday. we are intending trying to get out once a year till he finds out where we will be going.
In any other circumstance then we would be looking at more practical ways of spending our time in Melbourne.
Mandy

Lord Pom Percy

The Grampian mountains ( Halls Gap) The Puffing billy steam train through the Dandelong ranges, Queenscliffe and the great ocean road.