Many thanks for your post.

We drove the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Adelaide about 3 years ago, so I especially loved looking at your travelogue and seeing again photo's of the 12 Apostles, London Bridge and Warrnambool, where we stopped and had lunch. Unfortunately, it was a miserable trip for us, we had weather as you described in your notes........windy, rainy and cold. But the biggest problem was in our planning. We had planned on doing that distance with only one overnight. We thought we'd be able to drive from Melbourne to Mt. Gambier in one day. Due to an idiot at our car rental place, we didn't have our car until 1:00PM, instead of at 9:00AM. So, with an unrealisitc timetable to begin with, we were now 4 hours behind schedule. So there we were driving on rainy, slippery roads that have no railing to keep us from being hurled into the rocky ocean and trying to rush it! It was the trip from hell - although we did stop to see the sights, including Blue Lake. When we got to Adelaide, we couldn't wait to get rid of the car and never see the inside of it again!

So, as far as your suggestion to drive the Great Ocean Road, instead of seeing KI, I think we'll pass. (To others reading this post....by all means, do drive the Great Ocean Road, just make sure to plan for 2-3 overnights.)

That said, I find it extremely interesting that you feel that one day on KI is enough. So what would be the best way to do that? As a day trip from Adelaide? Would we get to see enough of it? We have seen the fairie penguins on Phillips Island, so we don't need to go out of our way to see them again late at night.

Many thanks Gavin. Candice NYC