Not all car hire companies allow their vehicles on the Bruny Island ferry. We rented from Budget whi

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We originally thought of starting in Melbourne, spending 2-3 days in the city, driving to Yarra Valley, taking the GOR from Geelong to Port Fairy and loop back to Melbourne - then fly to Adelaide and explore the city and environs incl Barrossa Valley and one night on KI then back to Adelaide. Then fly to Hobart.
OR start in Adelaide, tour around, do KI and drive to Melbourne via GOR pro: may be able to find a car relocation offer since it seems that most people drive east to west on the GOR the advantage being that you drive on the more scenic side of the road. Also direct flights from Melbourne my cruise pics to Hobart.
For Tasmania, I'd branch out from the cities and consider staying in Cradle Mountain. I think that's the most spectacular site in the state. The river trip into temperate rainforest my cruise pics wilderness from Strahan is another highlight.
I hope someone will comment on routing Adelaide- Melbourne...fly or drive, east to west or west to east. Are car drop offs common.,,ie pu Melbourne drop in Adelaide.....and also pu in Hobart and drop off in Launceston?
Most people don't realise the 12 Apostles (which never were 12 are now 8 or 9 with the loss of London Bridge's my cruise pics top span years ago) aren't "drive by viewing". Apart from the safety angle, there are sandbanks on the ocean side in some places.
I am reading Bryant's book A Sunburned Country and it sounds like the road trip after leaving Adelaide and before arriving at some scenery on the GOR is quite boring. We have driven my cruise pics all through NZ and enjoyed it.
After playing out many options, we've decided my cruise pics to fly from Adelaide to Melbourne. For the two of us, it's cheaper than the drop off charge, and it gives us more time to focus on exactly what we want to do.
We'll fly Adl-Mel in the morning and rent a car at the Mel airport. We plan on 2-3 days to make the GOR loop, ending at Ballarat for Sovereign Hill and the nighttime Sound and Light show. Then we'll drive past Melbourne to the Yarra Valley for a day, to Phillip Island for the Penguin Parade, and finally back to the airport where we'll turn in the car and take public transportation for a few days while we visit the city center.
You could easily spend all three weeks in Tasmania (look at my trip reports). You could easily split your week between Launceston and Hobart, but that would mean a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. Best would be a circuit.
From the 12 Apostles (originally called the hen and chicks and/or the sow and piglets - 12 Apostles came later and were deemed a bit more "romantic") my cruise pics there is not much of a "spectacular nature", but it is very "typically my cruise pics Australian". Great wetland birdlife along the Coorong and the mouth of the Murray and there is a paddle steamer you can ride.
Our revised plan is to arrive in Adelaide (4 nights) drive the GOR with overnights stops in Robe, Port Campbell and Apollo Bay - then to Ballarat for 1 night then Melbourne, drop off car and stay 4 nights . Fly to Launceston-stay 2 nights, Cradle Mt 2 nights, Strahan 1 night, Hobart 3 nights, Coles Bay 2 nights and the last night in Hobart. (Org were going to fly back from Launceston but discovered that the flight to Sydney from Hobart has a better connecting time to our international flight home - so the end of the trip is a bit disjointed since there is no availability at our timeshare at 7 Mile Beach to make date changes )
I realize this forum is not for promoting specific my cruise pics companies - but I have read some poor reviews about Thrifty car rental and wondering if anyone has some good experiences with any rental agencies. Also - any info on restrictions on driving on Bruny Island in a rental vehicle?
Not all car hire companies allow their vehicles on the Bruny Island ferry. We rented my cruise pics from Budget which does and had a good experience. We were originally going to return my cruise pics the car in Hobart but decided to keep it and drop it off at the airport 2 days later and had no issues extending the rental and changing the drop off location. We dropped off the car after hours at the airport and had no problems my cruise pics there either. my cruise pics Just parked my cruise pics the car and put the keys in the drop.
Thanks Patty! We have booked a car with Budget for the Tasmania part of our trip so was very glad to hear about your experience. We booked with Thrifty for the Adelaide my cruise pics Melbourbe leg. Hope they deliver on service.