Melbourne Travel Forum

Hi,
We are a family of 4 (all Adult) from Malaysian. We need a comment from Melbourne/Victorian or Australian people regarding my itinerary. I had made a booking on the accommodations and car rental together with GPS already. You can kindly suggest any recommended activities to us. If driving, is the parking available easily at location mentioned below? and what is the average parking rate per hour?

Day 1,July 25 (5.00am): Drive from Melbourne airport to Apollo Bay (190km). Stop by along the Great Ocean Road for sunrise (what time is the sunrise during winter?). Check-in early at Apollo Bay Backpackers' Lodge, cook for breakfast and packed lunch. Without wasting any time, straight to Twelve Apostles at Port Campbell (another 92km driving). If had enough time, stop by at Otway Fly Treetop Walk.

Day 2, July 26 (6.00am): Drive from Apollo Bay to Phillip Island (325km). Passing thru' Lorne and Torquay. Stop by at any surfing shop (if open). Estimated time to arrive at A Maze N Things Phillip Island is around noon. Visit Penguin Parade, Koala Conservation Centre and Churchill Island.

Day 3, July 27: Drive as early as we can from Phillip Island to Lake Mountain Alphine Resort (190km). Take a sStandard 90 Minute Ski Lesson with Equipment cost AUD34/person. Spend the whole day here because we never experience the snow before. Later at late evening, drive to melbourne city and check-in at Melbourne International back. (AUD24pp/night)

Day 4, July 28: Today's plan is to go to Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne River Cruise (AUD29pp), Federation Square, Melbourne Museum and St. Kilda (for sunset)

Day 5, July 29: Today's plan is to go to Melbourne Sentral, Royal Botanic Garden, Street Art : Yarra River Gallery, Royal Exhibition Building and melbourne zoo. Return car at 11.00pm at d airport

Day 5, July 30: at 00:45, fly to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. End of our journey

Hi all,

I will be travel with my 14 years son to Melbourne for holidays in Mid July. How bad is this flu affected the locals? Is it safe to bring my son for travel at this time?

I was worried that i need to cancel my trip and dissapointed my son. Please let me know the most update news from Melbourne on this outbreak.

Thanks a lot!

Irene

Hi..will be visiting melbourne soon but heard that the city was badly affected by swine flu H1N1 anybody who lives there could comment on the current situation about that...thank you

Hi everyone, If we decided to go on a Friday instead of weekend are ALL the stalls still operating? thanks.

Hi, Our family of four adult will be travelling to Australia and we intend to stop over in Melbourne for three nights. I intend to stay in the TREASURE CITY EDGE apartment in ALBERT STREET.
Appreciate can get some feed back about the place and area.
thanks

Hi, I will be visiting Melbourne in Jun 09 and am planning to go up MT buller ( 2-3 days trip)for 2 adult and a child (7 yrs old). We already have accomdation on MT Buller and now deciding on transportation to MT Buller.

I am deciding between taking a coach from Melbourne or drive a rental car to mansfield and take coach there up to Mt buller.

I check VLine coach but they only have either 8.30am coach that arrive at 1pm at MT buller (not maximising time on snow) or night coach.(costly to incur extra night stay on the mountain). Does any one know any coach that leave Melbourne early morning ( say 4-5am) and arrive MT Buller around 10am so that we can maximise the time on MT buller?

Alternative is to drive a rental car to Mansfield. Stay overnight at Yarra Valley and leave early morning 5am to reach mansfield around 8-9am. Park the car in Mansfield and take the Mansfield Mt Buller Bus to MT Buller. Is it safe to leave the rental car in Mansfield? ( MMBL website say that there is free parking available in Mansfield).

What would you suggest?

Hi ,
We are two families visiting Melbourne later this month. I've always finalised by travel plans only after taking tips from this forum, so gotta couple of queries this time too. We will be in Melbourne just for a couple of days and want to do the great ocean road drive.....

1) We have just one day for the great ocean road drive and cannot have an overnight trip. In that case, would it be better for us to take a tour or just do the drive by ourselves??

2) If a tour is better, which tour company is the best. We would like to see the apostles also in our day trip. What would be cost of the tour? Should we book online or is it better to do the booking of this tour after reaching Melbourne??

3)We will be staying at St. Kilda...any suggestions on how to spend our second day sightseeing??

Thanx a million to all of you in advance!!

Rgds,
Nazima.

Hi..I will visit melbourne soon ..heard about cheap airport transfer by jetbus..anybody used it before and is it reliable..thank you

Staying in a hotel near the Melbourne Exhibition Centre and was looking for a low cost parking garage. It would be best if it was open 24 hours but it should at least be open very late on a weekend night (until 10pm or Midnight). Anyone know of any cheap yet secure parking in this area?

I checked into some shuttles and taxi cost for going to and from the Airport. Are there any other options... buses? etc thanks

Hi,

Does anyone know of nice farmstays in Melbourne near the GOR? Tripadvisor's experts recommend Mackas' but I can't find information on other recommended farmstays other than this.

Thanks a bunch! :)

Hi there,

What does everyone think about a Cathay flight coming into T3 from Hong Kong scheduled to arrive at 4pm on a Sunday, and my chances of getting to London Liverpool St to get the 8pm train out to Harwich International?

4 hours... But I'm stressed about delays and such. Help!

Dear VT friends,

Hope you can give me advice on the following:

1) We understand that taking cab from airport to CBD area is expensive. Can you recommand a hotel which can be reach by airport express bus? We prefer a hotel with good location and not too expensive. No need to be high end but just clean with a personal bathroom will do for 2 persons.

2) Any local products that are unique/good to bring home as gifts?

3) We hope to spend 3days on the outskirts of cbd area, e.g. great ocean road, phillip island , mornington peninsular, sunnyridge farm. Any great farmstay to recommand?

4) Is it recommanded to self drive or take day tours?

5) any great factory outlets that we should go?

6) We thought of going for dinner at fifteen open by Jamier Oliver. Is it worth visiting ?what is the price range like for a meal ?

7) hows weather like?

8)any 1/2 day cruise to recomand?

many thanks in advance.

I am planning a 2 week trip to Melbourne in Jun. I am planning a few days on a ski resort + sight seeing in melbourne. I have a few questions.

1) What to do with a child in melbourne? ( i am planning the usual like penguin island, great ocean road and wonder what else to do?)
2) Mt buller seems to be the closest ski resort to melbourne. Which accomdation is cheap and friendly for child on mt buller?
3) We have never been on a ski resort before, how long do you thik is sufficient to enjoy the ski resort? I planning to spend about 5 days.
4) What do we need to prepare for a ski trip beside the usual warm winter clothing?
5) What can we do on the ski resort?


Thanks in advance.

Ok guys i scored the cheap tickets now need a safe place to stay as its two females up for an sdventure but not at all confident of our combined skills. Ive looked at easystay apartments and a double room there is $99, does anyone know of a cheap but good backpackers where we could mix with others also. We arriving 26th may and only have 3 nights.

Oh and exciting places to visit that are cheap, we are on a budget as i only just get back from KL 2 weeks previously. Yes another impulse buy!

Any information would be fantastic.

Cheers and Happy Easter Heather

Hi, any suggestions for good reasonable places to eat in Melbourne CBD , 2 adults and 2 teenagers , dont want to spend a fortune but still get good food. tks

Hi, we are coming to melb for hols in July , looking for 2 bed accom, cant decide between Paramount serviced apartments or Somerset gordon place, any suggestions. tks

Hi Everyone
We are a few mums looking for accomodation .
We are coming to watch our sons compete in a soccer tournament at Bulleen.
As we are flying in and will not have cars to get around, I was hoping someone may be able to suggest some motels to stay at that are close to transport for us to get to Bullen on Sat and Sun,17th,18th April.

Maybe somewhere close to a train station that will link up with a bus to Bulleen perhaps or any other suggestions.
Would be extremely grateful for any suggestions,am desperate to get it all sorted.
Many Thanks for your time!
Tracey

Hi All,

I'll be visiting Melbourne in May for a week with a bunch of friends and we're all really looking forward to it!!!
We want to make sure we make the best of our holiday so I need some help :

1. Please suggest some places where I can rent an apartment/house at an affordable rate for a week (ard AUD150-250)
2. What are the top 5 things to do in Melbourne?
3. What's the weather usually in May? Do I need to invest in a good thick coat?
4. What are the most famous food/restaurants that I need to try out there?
5. What should I buy when I'm down there?

Thank you very much for your assistance!

Hi all, My sister said she came across a shop that only sold toilet bags, all sizes and shapes, but just toilet bags which was located somewhere in the inner city. As I'm a Brissy girl and not terribly familiar with Melbourne can someone steer me in the right direction? thanks for your help.

Hi,

My friends and I planing to have a short holiday to melbourne. Is there any suggestion which nice location for side seeing. We will be going in the middle of July for a week. Hope you guys can give us ideas where should we visit. Thanks

I'll be in Melbourne next weekend for 4 nights for the F1 staying at Somerset on Elizabeth. What tram do I catch to Albert Park. I'll be in 4 different stands during the event so it will probably be a different gate each time. And what street does it travel along near Elizabeth St. I'm pretty useless with Melbourne Streets. Thanks in advance.

Three of us, adult ladies will be going to Melbourne for 2 weeks from early to mid May 09. Planning to visit Sydney for a few days as well during the 2 weeks period. Would like to know the air-fare from Melbourne to Sydney (to & fro). It would be great if any of you could also name a few budget lodgings + price for back packers in Sydney just for a couple of nights stay.

Hi,
we're a family of two adults and two young children and will be travelling to Melbourne in April. Would like to know if anyone can recommend affordable accommodation with views of the apostles on the great ocean drive?

What else can we do in Melbourne with kids? thanks

Me again, I,ve now booked an apartment in Collins street, Holiday Inn was a bit too dear. I printed off the map of inner city trams but can,t read a thing the print is minute. Does the free tram go past Southern Cross station? and where then heading into the city.
If I want to get from Souther C. to mid way up Collins st what tram can I use.?
The map looks very impressive on the computer screen but as soon as I print it
it,s only partly there and again unreadable.
Is the Immigration Museum worth visiting?

Yes, I agree with staying in the city now, it does make more sense. 2 questions: formerly Rydges, a small Hotel corner Spencer and either Little Lonsdale or Little Bourke, now has another name, would be easy access from the bus depot at Spencer station. What is it called now?
That inner city tram pass - could you tell me more about that please.

Hi, am going to Melb for 3 days of looking around, I haven,t selected accommodation yet but am considering somewhere on Queens Road. I,m not at all familiar with the public transport system, I,m always with family and just follow along blindly! Is there such a thing as a 3 day pass for trams and trains? Even just trams would be good as I will probably stick to the city area. Or any other type of day ticket that you think would be good, the first day I just want to browse in the shops.

Hi ppl,

I'm thinking of going to Melbourne last week of March.

Wonder how is the bush fire situation there?

Since I have sensitive ENT, should I still go ahead?

I will be travelling from Malaysia to Melbourne this May for 2 weeks holidays. Can I bring in my own supplements to Australia such as vitamin C tablets, Ginkgo Bilova tablets, cod liver oil in capsules, multivitamins in capsules and evening primrose oil in capsules for the purpose of my own daily intake only? I have read the rules and regulations on what not to bring in to Australia but it did not say anything on supplements. Just want to be sure about this. Can anyone advise me on this?

I will be travelling from Malaysia to Melbourne this May for 2 weeks holidays. Can I bring in my own supplements to Australia such as vitamin C tablets, Ginkgo Bilova tablets, cod liver oil in capsules, multivitamins in capsules and evening primrose oil in capsules for the purpose of my own daily intake only? I have read the rules and regulations on what not to bring in to Australia but it did not say anything on supplements. Just want to be sure about this. Can anyone advise me on this?