Nice videos!!
Good idea for a thread. This is a
quick video of Galston Gorge I shot ages ago which I always think is a good bit of fun. Another good drive is down to Berowra Waters, quiet, heaps of parking and only about 20 minutes from my place. A few of us head down there every so often for a feed and a blast in the cars on weekened mornings.
Here's a post of mine on another forum from earlier in the year of my thoughts on the Great Ocean Road when I went down to VIC. I've got video of it, but haven't been bothered to edit it all together (shot the in car on a manfrotto camera mount and used another camera for scenic shots)
Well, we went down the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne earlier in the month on a Sunday afternoon (didn't contact anyone from the VIC crew as I was at a wedding that weekend and we spent a few days driving it).
We (the Mrs and myself) headed off from Melbourne about 1 pm on the first Sunday in Feb and hit the GOR in the late afternoon with the first stop being Bells Beach.
It was a pretty good day as you can judge by the photos. After a quick geeze at Bells we headed back to the GOR and towards Apollo Bay which was our stopping point for the night. We stayed at a place called
Chris's which is set in the Otways up above the GOR and overlooking Bass Strait. The main attraction is the resturant, which is the star of the place, along with the view which was great. We stayed in one of the two studio's on the property which overlooked the ocean. Anyone looking for a cheap, private, fun spot within easy driving distance from Melbourne I would highly recommend it to. The rooms are all new (as a fire went through the place about 3 years ago) and the staff were friendly and professional. Our room also came with a DVD player, fridge and fully functional kitchen so you could easily stay for a week or a month if it tickled your fancy.
View from bed.
The balcony
The second day we ventured down to the 12 apostles or what was left of them. This was a fun stretch of road and the speed limit was pretty much 100 all of the way. Being as though we went on a Monday the Sunday drivers had left and it was a quick trip down. No caravans or 4WD's sitting 25 below the limit and I enjoyed the rainforest/bush scenery a little more than the endless coast line. But that's just me coming from Sydney where the Harbour is on our back door step.
I liked this stretch of road a lot more personally, it was very flowing and you could keep a good pace up without breaking the law. The weather was also pretty blessed for us at this point as it was sunny all the way down and back.
From here we headed back to Apollo Bay and to Chris's again for another night. Not having mapped plans out ahead we decided to play it by ear as to how far we'd drive.
From Apollo Bay we headed back to Melbourne for the day where we did some shopping and I checked out a car for a mate, we then headed to dinner at Donovan's at St Kilda and to coffee my mate's place back in the City who'd just got married (He'd been up to Sydney with his Mrs for 2 days and nights at their place up here and it rained torrential rain the entire time unfortunantely!)
The next day was the drive back to Sydney.
General thoughts from one of those bloody interstate drivers.
Your governing body for the roads down there is shit. The speed camera's are unbelievebale, especially for people interstate from NSW who are used to having 3 speed camera ahead signs warning of them approaching, not having them mounted behind signs and hidden on overpasses. I'm also still getting over all the ones in the CBD.
The first part of the GOR I found quite good, some tight, twisty sections and a good view of the scenery. It didn't really blow me away, mainly because I felt a bit crook at this point and there was quite a few Sunday drivers out and about slowing everyone up. Although not as many as were heading back to Melbourne! I also noticed this stretch to Lourne is quite popular with the motorcycle crew as well.
I enjoyed the section to the Apostles from Apollo Bay, we didn't venture any further west from here so I can't comment on it. My absolute favourite section however was the cut up from Apollo Bay back to Gelong through the rainforest. It had for me just the right blend of tight sweeping bends and back and forth twisty sections with a high enough speed limit to make it fun and enjoyable, especially with a passenger who had spent 2 days in a car.
The scenery was magnificent and the sun shining through the canopy above made it all the more enjoyable. I wasn't sure what to expect with this section until we started heading up the road, but it was the perfect way to finish off what was a great drive.
The car held up fine the entire trip, the coilovers really made it all the more enjoyable as it just glided from corner to corner with 0 body roll. Not expensive noises or problems which is always good. And it had enough room to cart all our gear and bags comfortably which was great. Although it needed a good was 3 times within 5 days! And is in desperate need of another one now.