Victoria Discovery Self-Drive

8 Day Self-Drive Package

^$715*

Great Ocean Road, Goldfields, Yarra Valley, Lakes Entrance, Surf beaches, ship wrecks, Werribee Open Range Zoo, Bells Beach, Apollo Bay, Cape Otway Lighthouse, The Twelve Apostles, Gibson Steps, Loch Ard Gorge, Port Fairy. Ballarat, Sovereign Hill, Grampians National Park, Avenue of Honour, Kryal Castle Yarra Glen, Healesville Sanctuary, Boutique Vineyards, Princes Highway, Ninety Mile Beach, Sale, Gippsland Lakes, Lake Wellington. Self-Drive Tour with Hotels Car Hire (unlimited kms) Bonus Vouchers. Departs from Melbourne. Themes include: Victoria, Departs from Melbourne, Fly-Drive Car, Returns from Melbourne. + Show more

Package Includes

8 days Car Hire, "no worries" unlimited kms, comprehensive insurance
2 nights good standard Warrnambool hotel (luxury upgrades available)
2 nights good standard Yarra Valley hotel (luxury upgrades available)
2 nights good standard Lakes Entrance hotel (luxury upgrades available)
2 nights good standard Ballarat hotel (luxury upgrades available)
Victoria Bonus Voucher Book ($500 value discounts at shops, restaurants & attractions)
Relax all the hard work has been taken out of your Self-Drive Holiday. Enjoy the freedom of the open road and the security of this popular DISCOVER AUSTRALIA Itinerary.

Highlights

Lakes Entrance Apollo Bay Great Ocean Road Loch Ard Gorge Ballarat Healesville Sanctuary Yarra Valley Werribee Open Range Zoo Bells Beach Otway National Park Grampians National Park Sovereign Hill Avenue of Honour Ninety Mile Beach

Quick Jump

Prices

Departure Dates

Book Now

Ask A Consultant

Descriptions

Overview

See nature’s sculpture along the Great Ocean Road and classic surf beaches, ancient shipwrecks, volcanic lakes and rainforests, take a tree top walk, see cascading waterfalls and villages in fertile countryside. See gold panning at Sovereign Hill and the golden heritage of Bendigo and Ballarat architecture in the goldfields; try produce fresh from friendly farm gates and welcoming cellar doors in the Yarra Valley Wine Area before meandering the bucolic hills and dales on your Self-Drive holiday, en-route to the splendid Lakes Entrance area and the spectacular wild coastline washed by the Tasman Sea.

Self-Drive Tour from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

DAY 1 Melbourne - Great Ocean Road

Take one of the world’s most scenic and diverse drives. See exotic animals in an open savannah zoo, classic surf beaches, historic towns, National Parks, shipwreck coasts and amazing iconic vistas.

Today you could see Laverton, Werribee Open Range Zoo (225 hectares of wine open savannah, gorillas, monkeys, lions, cheetahs, rhinoceros, giraffes, zebras), Lara, Geelong, Torquay, Anglesea, Bells Beach (home to world's longest running surfing competition), Aireys Inlet, Lorne, Apollo Bay (resting place of many shipwrecks, contrast of rugged coastline and green hills), Great Ocean Walk (91 km between Apollo Bay and Glenample Homestead, near Twelve Apostles), Cape Otway Lighthouse (in Great Otway National Park, built in 1848), Wattle Hill, The Twelve Apostles (in Port Campbell National Park, one of most photographed sites in Australia, limestone stacks, created by wind and water), Gibson Steps (2 min from Twelve Apostles, area of cliffs, first sightseeing stop in Port Campbell National Park), Loch Ard Gorge (10 min drive from Twelve Apostles, part of Port Campbell National Park, visible process of erosion in action, named after ship wrecked on the site), Port Campbell (seaside resort, centre of Port Campbell National Park), Peterborough, Nirranda, Springvale, The Cove, Nullawarre, Mepunga, Allansford, Warrnambool, Port Fairy (whaling port, historic bluestone buildings, know for its folk music festival), Griffiths Island (connected by causeway to Port Fairy, home to colony of short tailed shearwaters), Wreck Beach (site of the shipwrecks Fiji and Marie Gabrielle) or Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village (museum and Australia's richest shipwreck collection, located in 1870's village). Direct driving 349km (5hours) .

Overnight Warrnambool

DAY 2 Discover Great Ocean Road

One of the most iconic coastal drives in the world, the historic Great Ocean Road that was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932 as the world's largest war memorial, traverses coastlines washed by the Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean. Beginning close to Geelong at the Bellarine Peninsula down to Portland and almost to the coast of South Australia with townships and villages between, the Great Ocean Road Drive is magical experience. From Torquay in the east to Cape Otway, is the Surf Coast then becoming the resting place of the sailing boats, the Shipwreck Coast towards Warrnambool, then on to Allansford. The Great Ocean Road, with some inland ventures, delivers an amazing array of experiences, bucolic countryside and cafes with fresh local produce, vineyards, galleries, crafts, heritage, culture, nature, kayaking, diving and driving above the ocean, alongside tall cliffs, famous towering rock stacks in raging surf, tranquil beaches, beautiful remote bays, famous surfing beaches, friendly, welcoming towns, extinct volcanos and crater lakes and thick forests alive with flora and fauna. Warrnambool is a laidback country town, with excellent cafes, restaurants shops and beaches high on Flagstaff Hill, the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum is a reconstructed maritime village from the early 1800's complete with hotel, schoolhouse, band, surger, a couple of lighthouses and a lighthouse keepers cottage. Overlooking the ocean with relics from the famous ship wrecked off the coast of Port Campbell in 1878, the Loch Ard, the museum is a delight. Just off shore, whales migrate annually to nurture their babes, with great coastal viewing points along the Great Ocean Road at pretty Warrnambool - once a whaling port - for you to experience the sight of the gentle giants at rest and at play.

Geelong (Werribee Park Mansion), Lara, Bellarine Peninsula (historic mansions), Port Lonsdale (great views of Port Phillip Bay), Queenscliff (Australia's best preserved military fort), Torquay (Surf Museum), Bells Beach (surfing mecca and longest-running surfing competition in the world, Rip Curl Pro Surf & Music Festival, kangaroos in the early morning, Bells Beach Point Addis, surfing, signed Indigenous walk trail to beachside lookout), Anglesea, Aireys Inlet (great beaches), Lorne (resort township, Teddy's Lookout over the Great Ocean Road, Angahook-Lorne State Park walking trails), Apollo Bay (laidback township, Mariners Lookout, fishing), Otway National Park (farming villages, inland rain forest, giant tree ferns, Otway Fly Tree Top Walk, flora and fauna, koalas, glow worms, splendid waterfalls, Hopetoun Falls, Triplet Falls, Beauchamp Falls), Cape Otway (climb Cape Otway Lighthouse for amazing ocean vistas, oldest in mainland Australia [1848] and secluded beaches), Lavers Hill, Shipwreck Coast (some 50 ships sunk or run aground), Port Campbell National Park (natural limestone and wind and water carved sandstone rock formations, Loch Ard Gorge, famous London Arch, The Grotto, Razorback), Port Campbell (estuarine flora and fauna, wetlands), Peterborough (rock formations, Bay of Martyrs, Bay of Islands), Warrnambool Flagstaff Hill (Maritime Museum and village), Tower Hill State Game Reserve (extinct volcano and crater lake with tiny island in bushland), Logans Beach (whale watching viewing platform Logans Beach, seasonal [May - Sept] Southern Right Whales come to give birth, nurse and then restart the breeding cycle), Port Fairy (National Trust 1840 limestone and bluestone stately homes and cottages, early fishing port), Portland (first European settlement in Victoria, charming harbour township).

Overnight Warrnambool

DAY 3 Great Ocean Road - Goldfields

Travel beside the biggest lake in Victoria, to Victoria's richest goldfield and to the source of the 19th century wealth of marvellous Melbourne in the Victoria Goldfields.

Today you can see Warrnambool, Terang, Camperdown, Lake Corangamite (Victoria's largest natural lake), Cressy, Enfield, Napoleons, Buninyong, Mt Helen, Sovereign Hill, Ballarat (Victoria's largest inland city, wide streets lined with grand old buildings, site of the Eureka Rebellion in 1854 and the Southern Cross, home of Australian democracy and a 'fair go') or Grampians National Park (114 km, one of the richest Indigenous rock art sites, series of sandstone mountain ranges, great scenic drives, bushwalks). Direct driving 172km (2.10 hours) .

Overnight Ballarat

DAY 4 Goldfields - Yarra Valley

Travel the National Highway enroute to Ballan, leaving behind Ballarat and finding where country towns and villages, distant from the Goldfields, grew and benefited from the goldrush days.

Ballan (small historic township on the Werribee River, settled in 1838 and an important coach staging point for travellers between Melbourne and the Goldfields), Bacchus Marsh (horse country, fertile orchard country on Werribee and Lerderderg Rivers, Pick Your Own Orchards and farm gate stalls, historic early 1800's buildings, first stop for Goldfields Cobb & Co coaches in 1850), Lerderderg State Park 10 km north, (remnants of gold mining days, trout fishing, wildflowers, koalas, cockies, wedge - tailed eagles), St Anne's Vineyard and cellar door), Melton, Hurstbridge, Healesville ( cafes and restaurants, galleries, craft boutiques studios, central to the Yarra Valley wineries), Yarra Valley.

Overnight Yarra Valley

DAY 5 Discover Yarra Valley

Meander through fertile valleys and the sweeping vine clad hillsides of the historic Yarra Valley wine area and choose which of the 55 welcoming cellar doors of amazing vineyards you prefer to enjoy tastings of fine, world famous wines - you might even meet the winemaker. The Yarra Valley was started by early pioneers and settlers as long ago as 1838, and today has some 100 wineries. Visit Australia's oldest family winery, the sublime De Bortoli Winery, Moet et Chandon owned Domaine Chandon where the tasting room overlooks the vineyards or the TarraWarra Estate winery where a fine art gallery is combined with the classic winery the choice is wide ranging. Or choose to experience some cutting edge style winemaking where the distinct terroir of the cool climate Yarra Valley wine regions, the Valley Floor and the Upper Yarra, gives rein to some progressive young winemakers - interspersed with amazing cafes and restaurants serving fresh local produce to complement their wines. Visit farm gates offering fresh grown produce, wander into a gourmet cafe or restaurant, a roadside gallery or a village antique shop. See flora and fauna, rise above the world in a hot air balloon, on a scenic helicopter ride or take a jump into the unknown - skydiving in the Yarra Valley. Explore the quaint townships and villages of Yarra Glen, Lilydale, Kangaroo Ground and Healesville set on gently sloping hills and Seville, Hoddles Creek and Warburton where the Upper Yarra extends across much of the south side of the valley, sitting on the doorstep of Melbourne.

Yarra Valley (100 renowned wine makers, 55 cellar doors, multitude of cafes and fine dining restaurants, fertile farmlands, fresh produce, hot air balloon rides), Healesville (quaint heritage township, cafes, galleries, restaurants), Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander, Healesville (unusual, lush winery restaurant with a lot to enjoy), Healesville Sanctuary (animal hospital and native wildlife sanctuary with 200 species of animals and birds, Tasmanian devils, platypus, lyrebirds, wallabies and kangaroos), Marysville (more northerly picturesque village), Warburton (pretty green villages to enjoy), Yarra Glen (cafes with fresh local produce), TarraWarra (TarraWarra Museum of Art, Australian art collection from mid 1900's on), Nillumbik, Hurstbridge, Kangaroo Ground (scenic countryside and classic masters such as De Bortoli Winery and Yering Station Winery, Punt Road and Mandala Wineries, Maddens Rise and Soumah Wineries).

Overnight Yarra Valley

DAY 6 Yarra Valley - Lakes Entrance

Travelling through friendly country towns, bucolic countryside and the Latrobe Valley.

Today you can see Coldstream, Seville, Wandin North, Olinda (Dandenong Ranges National Park), Woori Yallock, Launching Place, Yarra Junction, Three Bridges, Noojee, Icy Creek (Mount Baw Baw National Park), Hill End, Willow Grove (Blue Rock Lake, Moe, Newborough, Morwell, Traralgon, Sale, Longford, Golden Beach, Paradise Beach, Seacombe Lake Coleman), Stratford, Perry Bridge (Lake Wellington), Meerlieu (Providence Ponds Flora and Fauna Reserve), Bengworden, Bairnsdale, Eagle Point, Johnsonville, Swan Reach or Kalimna (Gippsland Lakes, Ninety Mile Beach, Gippsland Lakes Coastal Parks). Direct driving 312km (3.50 hours) .

Overnight Lakes Entrance

DAY 7 Discover Lakes Entrance

Experience sweeping changes of scenery and ambience from dramatic coast to bucolic farmlands, amazing mountains to inland lakes as rural Gippsland reaches from east of outlying Melbourne, out to the border with NSW to the west and with the Great Dividing Range to the north and to the south the roaring Bass Strait. The sheer size of the region covers diverse locations, from snowfields, forests, spectacular coastline and wide rivers and lakes. Ideally located in East Gippsland, surrounded by a massive network of some 400 sq km of inland lakes to the west and to the east by miles of deserted beaches washed by the Tasman Sea and with a harbour that is home to one of the biggest fishing fleets in Australia, Lakes Entrance is well supplied with seafood and fish restaurants on the wide esplanade. See the Fishermans' Co-op bring in their catch from the harbour side viewing platform, and view an amazing collection of seashells, enjoy boating, swimming, fishing or paddle boats in the waterside resort of Lakes Entrance. The topography of South Gippsland and the most southerly tip of mainland Australia at Wilsons Promontory National Park consist of awesome granite peaks and native flora and fauna. The western boundary of Gippsland is fertile rolling hills .

West Gippsland Drouin, Warragul, Yarragon, Jindivick, Neerim South (follow the Gourmet Deli Trail through lush countryside, farm gates, vineyards, diaries and local producers selling fresh picked produce and smallgoods), East Gippsland Paynesville (boating), Metung, Lakes Entrance (Ninety Mile Beach and other wild unspoilt ocean beaches and seafood fresh from the ocean, native wildlife, rugged forests, cruise the waterways or dine beside a lake, the biggest inland waterways in the country fed by five major rivers, parks and walks in natural bushlands), Central Gippsland (Mount Baw Baw (snow resort, seasonal snowfields and skiing), Wilsons Promontory (diving, coastal scenery, bushwalking trails, fruit and berry farms, wineries, cheesemakers, farmers markets), Walhalla, Port Albert (historic gold rush towns, seaside villages), Bass Coast (historic coalmining, Phillip Island), Orbost (explore Banjo Patterson Poem country, Snowy River), Latrobe Valley, Traralgon, Yallourn North (historic brown coal township, bushland), Moe, Croajingolong National Park (outstanding coastal wilderness and World Biosphere Reserve, white sandy beaches, granite peaks of rocky coast, hinterland of lush rainforests, heathlands and towering eucalypts, flora and fauna).

Overnight Lakes Entrance

DAY 8 Lakes Entrance - Melbourne

Time to choose again; to take the 'High Rd', the Princes Highway, through the Latrobe Valley and pretty country towns or to divert through more coastal South Gippsland with award winning wineries, historical villages, National Parks and awesome ocean vistas.

Leaving behind the Gippsland Lakes (five rivers form this lake behind Ninety Mile Beach, water activities, fishing, boating) or Lake Wellington (the largest of the Gippsland Lakes), see Paynesville, Bairnsdale, Sale, then take to the coast to Port Welshpool, Foster, Venus Bay, Wonthaggi, Koo-wee-rup, or keeping to the Princess Highway via Rosedale, Traralgon, Morwell, Newborough, Moe, Trafalgar, Warragul, Drouin, Bunyip and Pakenham. Direct driving 318km (3.40 hours) .

Videos & Images

Keppell’s Lookout, Marysville State Forest

Prices flying from

Victoria Discovery Self-Drive 8 Day Self-Drive Package

$ 715 *

*Starting holiday costs per person, two share, for low seasons (A$). Seasonal surcharges apply outside of low season. As prices vary based on travel dates, be flexible with dates to get the for the best deals! Vehicle Hire conditions apply (request Vehicle Hire Inclusions Sheet, also provided with Costings). Subject to limited availability at these prices, after which higher prices apply, book now. See Important Information before booking. © DISCOVER AUSTRALIA Booking Code: mp108

Departures Departs: Any Day

The Victoria Discovery Self-Drive is very popular. Many dates book out well in advance, please book soon.

Call 1800 73 2000 or

click to ask a Specialist Consultant.

Book Now

Download Now

You can also instantly download a brochure now

Any Questions? Open

Please complete as much as you can to help your Specialist Consultant provide the best response.

Your Preferred Travel Dates?
Dates You're Unable to Travel?
Number of Passengers?
(any consessions or children)
Special Requests?
Title

First Name

Last Name
Email Address

Telephone
Details for your FREE brochures

Country

Suburb

Address

State

Postcode
How did you first hear of DISCOVER AUSTRALIA?

Subscribe to dealsAlert Privacy Statement
Incomplete Fields, See Above

Sending Enquiry. . .

Thank You - Booking Enquiry Received

Your Specialist Consultant will respond soon.

The Australian Specialist. Enjoy more, for less.

great value
& great people

Neil & Kim, NSW

About Us

Car Hire

Tours