Melbourne to Adelaide, the Long Way Round
The Great Ocean Road past the point where the day tours turn around, across the border at Mount Gambier, and on to Adelaide. Around 1,100 kilometres, seven to nine days.
Seven hundred and thirty kilometres, or eleven hundred
Driven directly, Melbourne to Adelaide is about 730 kilometres inland and deeply forgettable. Driven along the coast — the Great Ocean Road, across the border at Mount Gambier, up through the Coorong — it is around 1,100 kilometres and one of the best drives in the country.
We plan it as seven to nine days. Five is enough one way if you skip Kangaroo Island. Adding Kangaroo Island adds two days.
Stops along the way
This is where the day tour turns around and we keep going. The road is 240 kilometres from Torquay to Allansford and it is slow — narrow, winding, cut into the cliff. That is the point of it, and it is also why trying to do it quickly is a mistake.
Apollo Bay and the Otways
HalfwayThe right place to stop rather than push through. Behind the town the Otway Ranges are cool-temperate rainforest — tree ferns, waterfalls, a completely different landscape from the coast twenty minutes away.
The Twelve Apostles
Port Campbell
Limestone stacks standing off the cliff. The viewing platforms are busiest in the middle of the day and quietest at dawn; with your own driver you can be there for sunrise, which is when the light actually does what the photographs promise.
Mount Gambier
Crossing into South AustraliaBuilt on a volcanic complex. The Blue Lake sits in one of the craters, and it does something genuinely strange: from roughly December to March it turns an intense cobalt blue, then fades back to steel grey for the rest of the year. The change happens over a few days in November. If the blue matters to you, it decides when you travel.
Adelaide and the Barossa Valley
South Australia
Adelaide is compact and easy, and the Central Market is the best food market in the country by most accounts. The Barossa is about an hour north-east — Shiraz country, with cellar doors that have been in the same families for generations. This is the part of the journey where having a driver stops being a convenience and becomes the reason the day is possible at all.
Kangaroo Island
Two extra daysReached by vehicle ferry from Cape Jervis, south of Adelaide. Sea lions at Seal Bay, Flinders Chase at the western end, and a scale that needs two days to make sense of. The ferry crossing and island driving are built into the plan.
Who this journey suits
Couples and small groups who care about food and wine, and who do not want to choose between drinking at a cellar door and getting to the next one. Photographers, for the coast. Anyone who has already done a Great Ocean Road day tour and felt it end too early.
For winding roads and long days
Mercedes-Benz V-Class
Up to 7 passengersThe usual choice.
Toyota Alphard
Up to 6 passengersReclining individual seats. Well suited to the winding sections.
Kia Carnival
Up to 7 passengersPractical, with room for a week of luggage.
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
Up to 11 passengersFor larger groups.
Practical notes
The road cannot be hurried
- The Great Ocean Road is a winding cliff road with slow sections, roadworks and, in places, no overtaking for long stretches.
- A day that looks short on the map is not.
Winter has its own case
- June to August means wild seas at the Apostles, empty viewing platforms and low, dramatic light.
- It is cold and some days are wet. Several guests have preferred it.
The Blue Lake is seasonal: cobalt blue roughly December to March, grey the rest of the year. Both are worth seeing; only one is what you saw in the photograph. Kangaroos are on the road at dawn and dusk through the Otways and on the inland stretches in South Australia, which is a real reason to have a driver used to it and a reason we avoid long night drives on this route. Entry tickets, cellar door fees, the Kangaroo Island ferry and meals are not included. See how a multi-day journey works.
If you would rather do the Great Ocean Road as a single day instead, see our Great Ocean Road day tour.
Tell us where you want to go
Send us your dates, how many are travelling and whether you want Kangaroo Island in the plan.
Or call or message +61 437 384 719, or email Enquiry@mpjaustralia.com.au. Deposit and cancellation terms are set out on the multi-day journeys page.