The great (ripoff) ocean road

therussian · Newbie

The great (ripoff) ocean road

Relax-n · Guru

Totally agree

We have been driving this road for nearly 30yrs and seen so many changes over the years, most, not for the best

Now we mainly stick to the more inland roads

But it is a nice drive and should be done at least once each way. However there are very few, if any now, places to pull over to look at the scenery if towing.

Can be relatively dangerous now with so many "tourists" in a hurry to get from "here to there" and "tick off" the drive

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Supply and demand.
The customers set the prices, like everywhere/everything else.
Cheers,
Peter

Tony Bev · Guru

Hi therussian, welcome to the forum

Snip from original post
The whole ocean road is geared up for tourist price gouging
I agree with the above

It is a nice drive, and can be done in a single day, providing you start early

As Peter (Peter n Margaret), has already said, it is a case of Supply and Demand

The tourist really have no option, but to pay the price, as most of them would have pre booked, their tours

Grey Nomads (like myself), have been along that road, more than once, just to look, or because it was on the way to somewhere

As I have said, it is a nice drive, and for those of us who are self contained, it is easy to avoid the tourist prices, on that road

Eaglemax · Guru

There is no "free camps" along that road but yes you can stop. Worth doing for those that havent but start early and make your final destination past Cape Otway like Lavers Hill or Johanna but even the latter has a hefty overnight fee to the Forestry people paying online. Once you get to Post Campbell its much more touristy friendly.

City tourists are more than willing to pay what ever the cost is. To be fair it is a seasonal area with much lower numbers in the cold weather....Nah- still way expensive...lol
Tony

-- Edited by Eaglemax on Tuesday 24th of December 2019 06:35:16 AM

dabbler · Guru

It's a unique region a few hours from a major city with an international airport. Of course it's going to be expensive. Businesses aren't cheap to buy into or to operate. Sister and BIL tried it for a few years but the overheads were just too high to warrant the effort (and they already owned a house there so didn't face huge housing costs).

2trout · Senior Member

I found that I prefered to stay at Camperdown or Colac and do a day trip or two along the road. Rates are quite reasonable at these 2 towns and they both have a decent shopping centre, good bakeries and nice, well priced, cafes. Camperdown in particular has a very good caravan park situated between 2 Crater lakes and next to a botanical garden. Mt Leura is worth driving up and having a look over the area. A nice day trip is to drive to Port Campbell, along the Great Ocean Road to Warrnambool and back to Camperdown on the Princess Highway. Stop at the Warrnambool Butter factory at the end of the GOR for lunch and some cheese is a good idea and not expensive. Warrnambool is a largish city with a good shopping centre and nice beach. Total distance is well under 200 kms. The Commercial Hotel and the Leura Hotel both offer very good, reasonably priced counter meals in Camperdown if you want a night out.

Rob Driver · Guru

2trout wrote:
I found that I prefered to stay at Camperdown or Colac and do a day trip or two along the road. Rates are quite reasonable at these 2 towns and they both have a decent shopping centre, good bakeries and nice, well priced, cafes. Camperdown in particular has a very good caravan park situated between 2 Crater lakes and next to a botanical garden. Mt Leura is worth driving up and having a look over the area. A nice day trip is to drive to Port Campbell, along the Great Ocean Road to Warrnambool and back to Camperdown on the Princess Highway. Stop at the Warrnambool Butter factory at the end of the GOR for lunch and some cheese is a good idea and not expensive. Warrnambool is a largish city with a good shopping centre and nice beach. Total distance is well under 200 kms. The Commercial Hotel and the Leura Hotel both offer very good, reasonably priced counter meals in Camperdown if you want a night out.

Hello 2trout

That is basically how we have done it.

Some good spots inland out of the spotlight of the spectacular coastline, and it is a lot easier to take in the views from the car when not towing a van.

We have seen it once and dont have any intention to go back again. When we did it there were caravans and motor homes trying to stop in some difficult spots so stay out of their way.

Regards

Angie

Possum3 · Guru

The road can be very dangerous when Overseas Tourist's (Asia,French.USA,etc) leave the parking spots and end up on wrong side of road. Take extreme care around parking bays.

AFB · Member

If you think thats bad dont bother to detour of the highway to visit Denham, Coral Bay, Exmouth or boring Broome. $60/night and no refunds, absolutely none, worst ammenities in the country. Ningaloo caravan tourist resort Exmouth, the worst of the worst.

AFB · Member

A hamburger at the Roebuck Hotel Broome is $25...what a rip off.

Bass · Senior Member

Was just going to mention that AFB, 4 friends have just returned from the west (they escaped lockdown with 2 days to go ) they said that they will not return the prices were obscene, and john remarked on the idiots on the Gibb. Next door arrived home on friday from doing the lap and said they missed alot in the west because they could not afford it 2 adults 2 young kids. Were going to head that way in Aprill but now ?.

Bicyclecamper · Guru

We did the lap in the early 80's,( 12 mths leave without pay), and we are very glad we did it then. I also did a lap on my push bike in 87', but stopped at Broome, because I just could not afford it, (it had gone mad price wise), and I got a two up truck driving job from Broome to Perth, so made some money, and didn't have to ride that section. I would never do the coast road again. Just stay inland, and this is what we have done since 95'.

Wanda · Guru

Bass wrote:
Was just going to mention that AFB, 4 friends have just returned from the west (they escaped lockdown with 2 days to go ) they said that they will not return the prices were obscene, and john remarked on the idiots on the Gibb. Next door arrived home on friday from doing the lap and said they missed alot in the west because they could not afford it 2 adults 2 young kids. Were going to head that way in Aprill but now ?.

A bit late, but, we did the West this year, Broome, Pilbarra, Gascoyne etc etc, jep WA is still bloody expensive. They think we all work in the mining industry, there lies the problem. Is it a rip off, yep probably!

We did it back in 2013, thought it was expensive then, I think its got even worse

Do it, but I think once or twice is enough, there are better/cheaper/value options on the East Coast and Central Aust, Nt,SA,Qld & NSW.

Ian