Collect your rental car from Budget Rent-a-car, Melbourne City depot or Melbourne Airport Depot. Depart Melbourne and head west, travelling along the Princess Freeway towards Geelong, where you will join the Surf Coast Highway towards the coastal resort town of Torquay, the official start of the Great Ocean Road. One of Australia’s most spectacular stretches of highway, the Great Ocean Road runs along Victoria’s western coast, sandwiched between the glorious Otway Ranges and the glittering waters of the Southern Ocean. You might want to consider making a short detour to the surfing mecca of Bells Beach, to take in its stunning coastal views, before continuing through the scenic coastal towns of Angelsea and Lorne en route to the picturesque fishing port of Apollo Bay and your overnight accommodation at Captain’s at the Bay. This drive is approximately 210 kms. Apollo Bay is a scenic little fishing port nestled in the picturesque foothills of the Otway Ranges. Home to an annual music festival, its pubs are generally filled with an array of local musicians and its lively streets offer a wealth of superb restaurants and cafes, art galleries and museums, as well as a fabulous seaside golf course. You can also hire boats and do a spot of fishing, whilst the steep and narrow road leading up to Mariners Lookout to the east of the town will bring you to a short walk leading to some spectacular views out across the township and the surrounding coastline.

This morning you may wish to enjoy a stroll through some of the magnificent coastal rainforest or perhaps make a small detour off the Great Ocean Road and travel through the Otway National Park to nearby Cape Otway, the most southerly point on the Great Ocean Road and a infamously treacherous stretch of coastline that is home to one of Australia’s oldest lighthouses. Depart Apollo Bay later this morning and continue along the Great Ocean Road, passing through Port Campbell and the Port Campbell National Park, taking in some of this stretch of the coast’s most magnificent scenery, including “London Bridge”, “The Arch” and the iconic and world renowned “Twelve Apostles”, giant rock stacks of immense grandeur that rise out of the waters of the Southern Ocean. After taking in the natural grandeur of the area continue on your journey to the historic town of Port Fairy, a place steeped in the rich history of whalers and seal fishermen. This drive is approximately 195 kms. Stay one night at the Oscars Waterfront Boutique Hotel, in a premium room.

Depart Port Fairy and drive through Hamilton. You may wish to make a stop here to visit the Art Gallery, considered by many top be one of Australia's leading provincial galleries and filled with a collection of Hogarth engravings and 18th century watercolours by Paul Sandy. Leaving Hamilton, continue through Cavendish to reach the small farming community of Glenisla, and your accommodation at Glenisla Homestead, where you will stay 2 nights. This drive is approximately 109 kms.

Today is at leisure for you to relax and enjoy the activities available on the homestead, and to explore the rugged beauty of the Grampians. Dominating the flat plains of Victoria’s farmland, the surreal rock formations and barren sandstone ridges of the Grampians have been described as Australia’s accessible wilderness and its myriad of waterfalls, lakes, tall forests and captivating alpine-like landscapes make the Grampians National Park an entire world in itself. This diversity of natural splendour consists of four main ranges: Mt William, Serra, Mt Difficult and the Victoria Range, which together form the serrated, undulating and canyoned array of one of the most outstanding natural protrusions in Australia and a very impressive finish to the Great Dividing Range. Original home to the Koorie Aborigines, the landscape is also littered with evidence of their passing, with rock art and rock shelters providing a rich vein of indigenous cultural history. The park has a good network of bushwalking trails and paths to discover, and its excellent system of scenic roads makes it ideal for exploring by car as well. Enjoy the views from Boroka Lookout and visit the town of Halls Gap where there is an informative National Park Visitor Centre. In the town of Brambuk you can find the fascinating Aboriginal Living Cultural Centre, which brings the history and culture of local Koorie Aborigines to life, including a photographic history of the area’s original inhabitants. To the west are two of the most spectacular sights of the entire ranges, the rock formation known as the Balconies, which affords some spectacular views across the Victoria Valley, and the majestic cascades of the thundering MacKenzie Falls.

Depart Glenisla this morning and continue driving through Balmoral, Harrow & Edenhope, crossing the Victoria/South Australia border and continuing on to Naracoorte, situated in the heart of the limestone coast region of South Australia Stay one night at Dartmoor Homestead. The drive today is approximately 173 kms Spend the remainder of the day at your leisure.

Your final day sees you depart Naracoorte and continue your journey west, towards the gracious and distinctly ‘European’ city of Adelaide, lying along the banks of the Torrens River. You may drop off your rental car either at the Adelaide Depot or Adelaide Airport. The drive today is approximately 410 kms.