Great Ocean Road Crusie

[wombat]

yes I know this has been posted a million times.
but the TCCA is planning to have one next year, which I have been asked to plan out.

so what I need is some good roads up that way to travel on, also the beest times to go, aiming for the summer months of course.

as a date is selected I will re post to let people know

so suggestions please.

[Classique71]

ironically i had thought of this as i did a ocean road cruise yesesterday witht eh parents

I have 2 routes to choose from , - or a 2 day cruise schedule already made including the otways hills and a few of the more sceneic bendy bits on good roads

the GOR itself is about 3/4 Ok now - all double laned , and still has roadworks about 10 KM this side of apollo bay - thaty causes delays - otherwise its all good or seems to be

theve put in more turn out lanes , but yeah 80KM's all the way along , all double lines - and i spotted one camera car - and a mobile radar uunit ... on a thursday ..helps being a local , sometimes , doesnt it ?

Anyway - the routs are there - 2 x 150 - 170 KM round dtrips to choose from , so you can get down , and back in good tme from the city

[Rinmax]

Now this does sound good hopefully some people might attend this event, cause we all had a good time on the last TCCA run. I keep hearing of this cool Toyota but not seeing many.

[Classique71]

lol - i keep hearing about this grey gt4 im meant to own .. I see loan repayments coming out - but no metal in my garage

havent seen it ina while so i dunno if its true or not ..

( hopefully ill have it back before xmas with the new brakes - otherwise its coming back regardless - sick of having no car )

[wombat]

so do you think you could e-mail me the route of the 2 cruises please?
could be good to have both options available.
plus when we do this that so called piece of metal may be able to come along!

[Yian]

Any chance of making it on a Sunday? I've been interested in a few cruises that TCCA have planned out, but they seem to fall on a Saturday and I need to sleep during the day (in between 2 graveyard shifts)...

[Classique71]

Ill post the routes in here so everyone has ain idea of what i worked out ..

both routes start at colac - its the nearest place to both start and end routes with 98 ron

route one Colac - Lavers hill - Apollo bay - link back to colac Via forrest ( no main ocean road section , mostly hills thru the otways but very sceneic and flowing - all roads VGC - 172 KM round trip approx

things to see along the way with short detours : Otway Fly treetop walk , Triplet falls ( very pretty ) Hopekins falls - slightly more major detour but still pretty )

Route two - Colac - Deans marsh - Skenes creek to Lorne Via nicest section of ocean road then back to colac

Things to see - well - lorne beaches for starters - if anynes up for a swim , though apollo bay has nicer beaches + surf IMHO

Route 3 i had last night - which ill have to work KM's on but covers everything pretty much in one day bar a really nice cruixse back up thru the otways ..

Colac - Lavers hill - Apollo bay - lorne - back to colac - its about 200 KM's but its a Really nice round trip.

On this route you can still see the beaches , otway fly , and triplet falls with a 10 minute detour - worth seeing to break up the cruise if people want to look at stuff as well

There are roadworks continuing along the ocean road on the melb side of apollo bay - which did cause delays - but the rest of the road was pretty good .. id stress using the ocean road as a cruise only - its going to be heavily policed over the new years break - and is all double lines now so you cant pass ( though theres plenty of slow vehicle turn outs - folks juyt have to use them ) - It would suck for someone to loose their licence on this

On another good note - My brother now , is also the new bar manager at the lorne pub - So i can organise lunch there pretty easily for a group - meals are top notch - range from 12 dollar bar meals - to top line 25 dollar approx restraunt meals upstairs ..

car requirements are pretty basic - good brakes are a definate - though most on here have that covered . Good tyres , ie no really worn ones - roads are usually damp thru the hills , and covered in leaf litter , and of course working windows cause youll want the windows down for the scents of the gum trees and seaspray - Adds to the fun

As for my piece of metal - ill hopefully know more tuesday .. atm i dont think ill see it before Xmas unless im lucky so this might be a good after new years cruise when all the tourists have buggered off home .
if it doesnt have its brakes on in the next 2 weeks - im bringing it home regardless as ive got a Show and shine to plan for early january ( ill post details if anyones interested in coming down this way for it )

Any other questions you have wombat - bombard me mate - ill get whatever you need

[wombat]

they sound like some good options, and considering the road works we'll probably only hit the ocean road for a little bit, but yeah, If you can give some road names that would be great. Good luck with the car dude. oh what's the show and shine you gotta enter?


Yian I am think that this will be a sunday crusie anyway. sometime next year as well. probably late jan early feb.

so hopefully we can get some more people to it.
mind you if the old forum is going then I guess we'll have to post it on there too.

[Classique71]

i will endevour to get names - but the ones off top of head are

colac - lavers hill road

great ocean road ( obviously - this encompasess the leaving point from lavers hill all the way to the other side of lorne )

colac forest road i think .. ( to get back to the princes hwy )

[Classique71]

show and shines mid january here in colac - custom rod and bike show ..

attempting to ahve the Gt4 up to scratch to show by then , if the whole brakes thing goes to plan this coming weekend

[horse]

Good luck Stu, hope all goes well, i might have something for you too

[phrostbyte]

Sounds like a plan.. I'm probably in.

[Hurricane]

so has this thing happened or is it still in the planing? if its still on ill be in whent for me first drive down it on SAT it was great, as for the 80 speed limit i was sittin on 120 most of the way and didnt get gone

[Classique71]

Give it time - you will be

[Yian]

Haha... I drive like a grandma in most cases... So I do hope this cruise is somewhat... errr... tame?

I plan on keeping all my points on my license.. which I have done for a while now.

[CLG]

There is a possibility I may be in Melbourne, mid to late January, to pick up a new project. If timing works to my favour, I'd be up for this, as part of my return journey with new project - would appreciate being kept informed of dates and times too please?!?

[Classique71]

clint either way your welocme to stop thru here mate if you need a place to crash - im about 30 mins drive from the gor - and live only one street of the princes hwy

i can take you for a sample down that way on the weekends of 22nd jan or 28 jan - with the local car clubs ..

[SeptemberSquall]

What about:

1. Meeting at Birregurra (or Winchelsea Roadhouse for those not confident to self-navigate to anywhere less major than Pincess Highway )

2. then doing the run over the mountain to Skeenes Creek to warm everyone up,

3. then back on the GOR to Lorne, stop for lunch (Stu's got teh connections@!!@!!oneone)

4. then from there I think there's a route from the GOR about five kays on the Melbourne side of Lorne which goes back over the mountain again and back to the highway at Winchelsea.

Stu, can you pm me your specific routes?

[Classique71]

thats one of the quick and easys - probably one of the more fun ones too ..

Re driving like grandma's - Yain - i wouldnt take anyone on these roads thinking that its going to be an all out race - they are dangerous - usually wet , and as of this weekend - still quite unpredictable - a 2 tonne boulder fell from the cliffs onto the GOR last weekend ... on a very blind corner known as " devils elbow "

SS-I - Ill grab the local roadmaps out and see if i can get you the road names and PM them on - but your suggestions a good one - biggergurra is a good start - i was born there or in colac for those needing a topup for fuel ( as premuim inst available on the coast ) its only 30 mins in and out from birregurra ..
Birregurra is only 1 turn off the highway - from the right intersection .. basically straight after the railway crossing on the princes hwy ( the only one between melb and colac ) you turn left - viola - follow that road - your in Birre


Winch has premuim i think - but not say shell optimax types

ive had 1 family member - 2 friends and 3 associates killed in this area - so i respect the roads ALOT - if i lead - it will be done at a fun , but not hammering pace .. anyone else that wants that can either a : go in front of me - or B - dont bother coming

[SeptemberSquall]

Yeah, Birregurra isn't a hard find if you can follow directions. Some can't.

Looking forward to that route plan.

How's that one corner coming down off the mountain towards Barramunga with like 20 degree incline, 10 deg camber, and 300 degrees total deflection?

And which corner is that where the boulder fell?