I am sorry if I am not in the right forum but I had to express my disappointment with this whole area. The whole ocean road is geared up for tourist price gouging.All caravan parks are now well over the $50.00 mark (Melbourne cup weekend $80.00) A little gem of a place called Wye river we did a stop to get a bite to eat the local cafe we looked at their menu and walked out straight away, just for a quick lunch order it was going to cost us nearly $70.00. & $9.00 for a loaf of sour dough bread. Went to the local pub they wanted to charge us nearly $90.00 for two chicken schnitzel and two glasses of house wine, $38.00 was their cheapest bottle of wine (in bottle shops it sells for $12.00. We wondered why there was no one there, the big 4 there was over $60.00 per night. We found price gouging nearly all the way along the Great ocean road. I must admit in Apollo Bay there are reasonably priced pubs to stop for lunch. $25.00 for a T bone steak ( at Wye river pub it was $46.00). I think if I have to go this way Again I will stay on the princess highway and by pass the great ripoff road. Please don't let me put anyone off from taking this route it is amazingly a beautiful drive but bring your own food and drinks and don't be tempted use the local food and beverage establishments.
Relax-n said
10:49 AM Nov 3, 2019
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 said
05:54 PM Nov 3, 2019
Supply and demand.
The customers set the prices, like everywhere/everything else.
Cheers,
Peter
Tony Bev said
06:10 PM Nov 4, 2019
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 said
06:33 AM Dec 24, 2019
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 said
01:51 PM Dec 24, 2019
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 said
09:14 PM Dec 25, 2019
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 said
03:03 PM Dec 26, 2019
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 said
04:36 PM Dec 26, 2019
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 said
05:05 PM Jul 17, 2021
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 said
05:07 PM Jul 17, 2021
A hamburger at the Roebuck Hotel Broome is $25...what a rip off.
Bass said
04:03 PM Nov 10, 2021
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 said
09:16 AM Nov 19, 2021
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 said
09:40 AM Dec 3, 2021
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.
I am sorry if I am not in the right forum but I had to express my disappointment with this whole area. The whole ocean road is geared up for tourist price gouging.All caravan parks are now well over the $50.00 mark (Melbourne cup weekend $80.00) A little gem of a place called Wye river we did a stop to get a bite to eat the local cafe we looked at their menu and walked out straight away, just for a quick lunch order it was going to cost us nearly $70.00. & $9.00 for a loaf of sour dough bread. Went to the local pub they wanted to charge us nearly $90.00 for two chicken schnitzel and two glasses of house wine, $38.00 was their cheapest bottle of wine (in bottle shops it sells for $12.00. We wondered why there was no one there, the big 4 there was over $60.00 per night. We found price gouging nearly all the way along the Great ocean road. I must admit in Apollo Bay there are reasonably priced pubs to stop for lunch. $25.00 for a T bone steak ( at Wye river pub it was $46.00). I think if I have to go this way Again I will stay on the princess highway and by pass the great ripoff road. Please don't let me put anyone off from taking this route it is amazingly a beautiful drive but bring your own food and drinks and don't be tempted use the local food and beverage establishments.
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
The customers set the prices, like everywhere/everything else.
Cheers,
Peter
Hi therussian, welcome to the forum
Snip from original post
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
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
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
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