melbourne itinerary

zweton

Hi Guys,

Trying to decide on a 2-3 week itinerary for melbourne,not travelling until March 2012 but dont want to leave it until the last minute.
For anyone that has travelled to melb, what was/is the best way to get around e.g campervan,car,bus etc. Looking at travelling the east coast from melbourne,would 3 weeks be enough? Maybe waiting until I arrive there and booking last minute is the way to go also im not so sure.
Any info much appreciated:)

Trishy_Baby

I'm travelling there in March too, will be interested to hear the responses to this. best of luck

sonic.trip

I wouldn't advise travelling around Melbourne city in a campervan unless you want to get stuck in traffic everywhere and pay crazy parking charges!! Public transport is pretty good in Melbourne, if your just going to be visiting the city and suburbs then buy a metcard when you get over here. If your here for a month get a monthly $113 or just buy weekly tickets $30.20, they will get you around the city and surrounding suburbs on tram, train and bus.

I had to get to Doncaster the other day which is nearly 20km from me, I got a tram, train and 2 buses and was there in under an hour-imagine trying to do that in Ireland! bus was there at the exact time as well.

In regards itinerary, the start of the great ocean road is about a 90min drive from Melbourne, if you don't have a campervan etc I've found car hire to be pretty cheap here. Do a search for discount coupons online for the big companies, I've found some before and got money off. I got a car for 5days+ with a smaller company for under $200 before. I done the great ocean road in 3days but depends on how quick/slow you want to go I suppose.

Shoe Lover

Ditto on the campervan. We had one but just left it parked on the campsite for the week we were in Melbourne. Public transport is great.

The Great Ocean Road is very nice and well worth doing. We only did half of it and then turned around - we'll do the rest on the next trip! A trip to the Dandenongs is good, we went on the steam train - Puffing Billy, which was very enjoyable, a bit touristy but as I pointed out to the OH, we were tourists

In Melbourne itself, the Old Gaol is good, the Rialto Tower is nice to see the view. The thing that we did that we enjoyed the most was a dinner cruise on the river. It was lovely, so lovely that we are still talking about it three years later!

universe777

Shoe Lover wrote: »

the Rialto Tower is nice to see the view.

You mean the Eureka tower? never heard of the Rialto tower being open to the public..

Doc

universe777 wrote: »

You mean the Eureka tower? never heard of the Rialto tower being open to the public..

It was, I dont think it is anymore but I used to go there the odd Friday to meet a friend who works in there for drinks that they used to have up the top every Friday. Once the Eureka tower opened and was taller it took away everyone from going up the rialto so I think they are making it into a restraint or something now. Great view from it though might be even better then the Eureka as you can go outside a bit more then you can with the Eureka (this was a nearly 2 years ago).

Shoe Lover

universe777 wrote: »

You mean the Eureka tower? never heard of the Rialto tower being open to the public..

Nearly 100% sure it was the Rialto

universe777

Rialto Tower viewing deck is closed to the public now.
"The Rialto Towers featured Melbourne's first skyscraper public observation deck which operated between 1994 and 31 December 2009"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rialto_Towers

Eureka Tower seems to be popular, always bus loads of feckin' tourists going into it.

Cooperspale

zweton wrote: »

Looking at travelling the east coast from melbourne,would 3 weeks be enough?

You could easily spend 3 weeks driving around Victoria with a week of it in Melbourne.

East coast south of Melbourne to Sorrento? Or do you mean travelling further afield to Lakes Entrance?
Sorrento is a day trip.
I have driven Melbourne to Sydney on that coast road in a week, you could spend longer to do side trips in the smaller towns.

Penguin parade in Phillip island is really fun to see. Wilsons Prom is also a
good place to hike on that side of Melbourne.
Yarra Valley has some very nice vineyards if you are partial to wine.

Ballarat is nice to visit for Eureka stockade and the heritage buildings, Sovereign Hill is a bit of a tacky homage to all things gold mining and early
settler.

As said above Great Ocean Road is a fun drive to do.

March in Melbourne, the grand prix is usually weekend after St. Patricks Day but in 2012 it falls on that weekend. So it could be very busy accom wise, a lot of backpackers usually come through to Melbourne after partying after Christmas in Sydney. Unless you have mates with a spare room, book you St Kilda/Albert Park accom sooner rather than later at this time.
Also the AFL season will have started so you can check out who the locals are barracking for.

For navigating the city there's a tonne of public transport options. But for Victoria in general, you'd save more time with wheels of your own.

As mentioned Eureka tower and the yarra cruises are nice to do. An unusual city trip is to head to Studley Park and see the resident fruit bats, there are masses of them. It's located in Fairfield just north east of Fitzroy.

Shoe Lover

universe777 wrote: »

Rialto Tower viewing deck is closed to the public now.
"The Rialto Towers featured Melbourne's first skyscraper public observation deck which operated between 1994 and 31 December 2009"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rialto_Towers

That explains it - it was April 2009 when I was in Melbourne