Great Ocean Road/South Australia round trip.

[b2tf]

Thought I'd do a quick writeup of a trip Ive just taken with mrs b2tf. We're from NSW but we have wanted to do the Great Ocean Road for a while now so we left last Saturday afternoon and got home this evening. 2600kms and 3 states later a few notes for those who might be considering the same route.

Day 1 - Wagga Wagga to Melbourne

Standard trip down the Olympic Hwy to join up onto the Hume Hwy outside Albury. A nice easy trip, no real big issues along this one and it's an easy drive in both directions. We arrived in Melbourne around 7:30pm after taking our time getting there from home.

Things to consider:
Get an E-Tag or at the very least a 24hr pass and organise it before you get there. The phone system is not easy to use and I had to make about 3 phonecalls to actually speak to a person to organise a pass. If you forget it or you're unsure how many times you will use it, wait until youre finished in Melbourne and then give them a call, you have 3 days from your first trip to pay for it.

Bring a Navman or update the GPS on your phone - my Galaxy S performed perfectly. We stayed in Richmond and it was a great spot.

Things to do:

In Melbourne theres heaps to do and if youre like me and hate Sydney Melbourne is a far better option. Our time was limited so we ate at our hotel and then headed down to the DFO at South Wharf - awesome shopping and very easy to get around. Get there early to get a good car park and be prepared to lug your missus' shopping around.