Our first visit to Australia: HK - Melbourne - Sydney - Canberra - HK (Feburary)

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 17:57:54 GMT, "AlmostBob"
wrote:

|Otway National park, colac, Ballarat- saving time?? That road would break a
|snakes back.

Yeah - not the dirt track! The one I took (just checked the map) was OK
a couple of years back, from Skenes Creek through Forrest to Colac.
There's another from Lorne via Winchelsea. The first sections are
winding, but sealed, and I was in a motorhome at the time. I wasn't in a
hurry to get anywhere, so winding roads were preferred, not avoided:-)

According to my map there is also a sealed road from Lavers Hill via
Ferguson and Gellibrand, and also direct north from Port Campbell via
Cobden.


Cheers, Alan
--

"ET" wrote in :

ET, my two bits on top of Alan's advice.

Thanks for all the suggestions and here's our revised plan.
Must arrive & leave Sydney at dawn (5 am!).
Skipped Canberra & Yarra or Hunter Valley winneries or split group...
can't possibly please all!
Further comments welcome.

Day 1 Thur Arriving Sydney at dawn
- taxi to city centre (hotel); leave baggage at city centre hotel
- Sydney Explore Bus - whole day city tour - major attractions
- dusk - Sydney Tower
- evening - dinner - back to hotel

Do you have any ideas about which hotel in Sydney you're planning to stay
at yet? Also, you might want to check what time Sydney Tower closes. Which
month are you considering doing this? That will dictate how much sunlight
you have in each day as well.

By the way, to check out hotels and such, have a look at
www.lastminute.com.au and www.wotif.com.au - both will have specials
carried by various hotels.

Because we live in the outer suburbs of Sydney, we stay in the Corus Hotel
or the Travelodge in the city if we're planning a late night and don't want
to drive home. We've always enjoyed it, although it's more convenient than
a place to stay for great views. What is your budget for hotels?

Day 2 Fri Sydney
- morning: Darling harbour, monorail, Chinatown, etc.
- noon: Ferry to Torango Zoo (or Manly Beach only if time allows)
- evening - dinner - back to hotel

Depending on where you're staying, I'd suggest walking to Chinatown,
cathing the monorail or walking to Darling Harbour (it's a nice walk from
Chinatown) and then catching the ferry from Darling Harbour to Circular
Quay - this will take you under the bridge and give you a totall different
perspective. Well worth it. If you're going to Manly instead of the zoo, a
day trip ticket will cover you for all of your ferry rides.

If you're going to the zoo, you can buy a ticket that will get you on the
ferry to the zoo, give you a cable-car ride to the top of the hill and you
can then walk downhill all the way through the zoo back to he ferry
terminal, with different vistas of the harbour all the way. It's a lovely
trip out that I always take my overseas visitors on.

Day 3 Sat Blue Mountain
- early morning: pick up car, drive to Blue Mountains
- whole day at Blue Mountains
- lodging in Blue Mountains (any suggestion?)

Again, what's your budget? If you want to make the most of the view and you
have a car, I'd recommend Peppers Fairmont resort in Leura -
http://www.peppers.com.au/site.asp?siteid=9. Or the Hydro Majestic in
Medlow Bath, or Lillianfels in Leura for real pampering and to blow the
budget. However I advise against this - your flight is leaving too early
the next morning. See below.

Don't leave too early in the morning - try to leave a little after 9am to
miss the worst of the peak-hour traffic. As for sight-seeing, you would
want to drive down George St to Parramatta Road (remembering that this road
will be stop-start traffic, but there's really no better way yet) and then
onto the M4 to the mountains. There's really not much to see before
Wentworth Falls, so drive straight there, allowing 2 hours or so. The most
popular places to look at are Wentworth Falls in Wentworth Falls, the Three
Sisters in Katoomba and Govetts Leap in Blackheath. Stop for morning or
afternoon tea at the Hydro Majestic in Medlow Bath (between Katoomba and
Blackheath), and try dinner at a restaurant in Leura - a lovely mountain
village town.

Day 4 Sydney - Melbourne
- early morning: drive to Sydney Airport; return car

If you're flying out in the mornings I would advise you to make you trip to
the mountains a day trip only, because the traffic along the M4 to the city
each morning is a *nightmare*. I strongly recommend against your attempting
that. On top of that, there is a very high chance of an accident closing
the freeway down (a very regular occurence) and causing you to miss your
flight. Instead, do the mountains as a day trip (a perfectly do-able and
pleasant day, many Sydney-siders do this on the weekends), come back to
your hotel in the city in the evening and relax with breakfast before
catching your flight. It's much less stress.

- fly to Melbourne
- noon: Arriving Melbourne Airport; pick up car
- drive direct to Phillip Island
- Koala Conservation Centre & Penguin Parade, etc
- lodging in Phillip Island (any suggestion?)

I can't recommend anywhere to stay, but this is a reasonable and pleasant
plan. You'll get to San Remo aroudn 4-4.30 pm so it might be tight getting
to the Koala Centre before it closes, but you'll be there in time to relax
and enjoy the penguin parade.

Day 5 Melbourne
- morning: drive to Melbourne city centre - hotel
- City Tour by tram / walk (should we drive around or leave car at
hotel?) - evening: Italian dinner in Carlton or dinner on tram or
Crown Casino - lodging in Melbourne

Melbourne has excellent public transport, so I would leave the car at the
hotel.

Day 6 Great Ocean Road
- morning drive to Port Campbell Nat Park, 12 Apostles, etc
- afternoon - evening in Port Campbell Nat Park (helicopter tour
recommended?)
- lodging in Port Campbell Nat Park nearby hotel

The 12 Apostles are the most famous of the Great Ocean Road, and also the
most heavily visited. The other sights in the area - London Bridge, the
arch, Loch Ard Gorge and The bay of Islands are also beautiful and well
worth a visit.

Also, be aware that you will be standing on the edge of the southern ocean
and it is very likely that there will be a strong, cold wind. Bring along
warm, wind-proof jackets for this part of the trip or you are likely to be
very uncomfortable. This is true even in summer.

I'm going to recommend a variation to your trip to reduce the amount of
driving you're doing. If you're interested in Australia's gold-mining
history, then driving to Ballarat and Sovereign Hill is a good idea. If you
read up on the shipwreck history of the Great Ocean Road and find that
interesting you may like to extend your drive on this day past Port
Campbell to the larger town of Warrnambool (about 1 hour's drive further
on, stopping to see the sights) and spend that night and the next night
there. This will also get you a little off the main international tourist
track. The next day you could have a look at Flagstaff Hill Maritime
Village (which also has a light and sound show, based on the many
shipwrecks that have occurred in the area) and go 15 km to the east of
Warrnambool to Tower Hill, which is a koala preserve. This gives you a
second chance to see koalas if you weren't sucessful on Phillip Island, and
a chance to see them in the wild. If you were to stay in Warrnambool, I can
recommend Lady Bay Apartments, which give you self-catering facilities -
you might be tired of restaurant food by this point (although I can also
recommend restaurants in the area as I am familiar with the area).

From Warrnambool you can drive to Melbourne along the main freeway in less
than 3 hours.

Day 7 Ballarat / Soverign Hill
- morning drive back Great Ocean Road up to Ballarat / Soverign Hill

There are more direct routes than back along the Great Ocean Road, such as
through Colac. I think this has been mentioned.
- day tour + evening light spectacular
- lodging in Ballarat

Day 8 Melbourne - Sydney
- morning drive to Melbourne Airport; return car
- fly back to Sydney Airport; check in airport hotel
- still time to go to Bondi Beach by Bay Explorer Bus (or Manly Beach
by ferry)?

Bondi is closer, but depending on what time your flight arrives you
definitely have time to get to Bondi (or even Manly if energy permits). It
might be nice to have dinner there, by the sea.

- evening return to airport hotel

Day 9 Sydney - Hong Kong
- dawn: fly back to HK

Geodyne

In article , Peter Webb
says...
Actually, it's freeway every inch of the distance now, or at least a
tollway to Liverpool and freeway after. Take the trip in the morning and
you can laugh at the commuters going the other way. I've done the trip
city centre to city centre in just over two and a half hours, but
admittedly that was early in the morning. Three hours is a reasonable
time so long as you aren't mixing it up with commuters.

297 kms / 2.5 hrs = average speed of 119 Kms per hour.

Naughty, naughty, naughty

286.92 km according to Whereis.com

http://tinyurl.com/62pqu

At 110km/hr that's 2 hours 36 minutes 31 seconds, which is just over two
and a half hours.

Actually, most of that road is probably good for 150 km/hr or more apart
from the twisty bits northbound past Goulburn and southbound on the
Federal Highway north of Lake George.

I certainly have no difficulty setting the cruise control at 120 km/hr.
The police don't jump out and give chase or send me rude letters at that
speed.

Pete

In article , Alan says...

How long ago was that? I still remember being on duty at Fairbairn (RAAF
Canberra) the night your lot burnt all the Skyhawks down there in the
late '70s.

Actually, we sold the Skyhawks to the Kiwis. It was the Trackers that
were burnt.

I used to do that run to JB from Canberra through Kangaroo Valley when
my wife did the cork and fork course at Creswell. Some great scenery,
but not what I'd call a good fast road.

On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 21:46:28 +1100, Peter wrote:

|In article , Alan says...
|
| How long ago was that? I still remember being on duty at Fairbairn (RAAF
| Canberra) the night your lot burnt all the Skyhawks down there in the
| late '70s.
|
|Actually, we sold the Skyhawks to the Kiwis. It was the Trackers that
|were burnt.
|
|I used to do that run to JB from Canberra through Kangaroo Valley when
|my wife did the cork and fork course at Creswell. Some great scenery,
|but not what I'd call a good fast road.

I stand corrected - they were trackers. I was with the VIP (34) Sqn at
the time - the Minister (Jim Killen) was not a happy passenger from
Canberra to Jervis bay that day:-)

I travelled a few of the rougher roads around that area over Christmas;
interesting dirt stretches included Tumbarumba-Holbrook, and later
Bombala-Candelo. Left a hub-cap back there somewhere, but some
wonderful stretches of high-country bush.

Anyway, rambling OT - cyu.


Cheers, Alan
--

in article , Geodyne at
it wrote on 18/1/05 12:52 PM:


Day 3 Sat Blue Mountain
- early morning: pick up car, drive to Blue Mountains
- whole day at Blue Mountains
- lodging in Blue Mountains (any suggestion?)

Again, what's your budget? If you want to make the most of the view and you
have a car, I'd recommend Peppers Fairmont resort in Leura -
http://www.peppers.com.au/site.asp?siteid=9. Or the Hydro Majestic in
Medlow Bath, or Lillianfels in Leura for real pampering and to blow the
budget. However I advise against this - your flight is leaving too early
the next morning. See below.

Don't leave too early in the morning - try to leave a little after 9am to
miss the worst of the peak-hour traffic. As for sight-seeing, you would
want to drive down George St to Parramatta Road (remembering that this road
will be stop-start traffic, but there's really no better way yet) and then
onto the M4 to the mountains. There's really not much to see before
Wentworth Falls, so drive straight there, allowing 2 hours or so.

If you have a car I'd suggest you do the scenic circle anticlockwise,
instead of taking the M4. IMO the Bells Line of Road is much more scenic
than the M4. Go over the Harbour bridge (heading north) and turn of onto
the M2. You'll be going against the traffic most of the way. It should
take an hour to Windsor/Richmond & you can pick up a map from the VIC
opposite the RAAF base & then you hit the rural scenery. It is a full day
but I've done it heaps of times with o/s visitors and they always found it
worthwhile. There are some tour companies that do this route. From memory
Dal myles was one??

Vicki