In a few weeks we are driving from Melbourne to Merimbula for a holiday. We plan to do it in a day, leaving Melbourne between 5-5:30am. I have two high-energy little boys (2 & 4 years old) and am looking for suggestions re: stops directly on route (don't want to add time) that will allow for play/run around as well as eating stops. So throw me your playground, footie oval etc. ideas as well as restaurant/cafe names (breakfast/lunch). We are hoping to make it to Bairnsdale for breakfast but that may be overly ambitious so if you know of a good place before then, let me know. By the way, I've never done this before and have little knowledge about the whole route - it's just that someone said to me "oh, Bairnsdale for breakfast". We hope to get to Merimbula by 3-3:30pm (we've estimated 10.5 hours with stops).
I love Merimbula, such a great holiday spot! We've done Melbourne to Merimbula twice now, once when DD was 3 and again when she was 4. We stop twice, first in Rosedale for brekkie/morning tea at the Bakery, it has absolutely everything. Then we stop for lunch at the Marlo pub. Not sure if your boys have day sleeps, but DD would sleep after lunch the rest of the way to Merimbula. We also had a couple of toilet stops along the way, mostly at the rest stops, or on the side of the road if DD was busting. All up it takes us about 8 hrs. Hope that helps
Thanks! My little one still does a day sleep but doesn't like sleeping in the car. My 4 year old doesn't need a day sleep (it delays his night bedtime) yet zonks out in a car!
Bairnsdale is a solid 3.5 to four hours. Unless you have luck and your kids fall asleep, I wouldn't try doing it all at once. The stretch from sale to bairnsdale is so damn boring, and with nowhere to stop! once you hit the freeway on the way out, you could probably do traralgon pretty easily. It's about two hours. Any more than that and you'll be pushing it to keep kids happy
Tgon has maccas adjacent to a shooing centre right on the highway in the kiddie of town. Directly across the road is Victory park. Plenty of running room. There is also Newman park down behind that Park - plenty of play equipment only a couple of minutes off the highway.
Beyond that, the next major centre is sale (rosedale is in between - there is a park but it's on the other side of the road and parking can be an issue sometimes). If you get past traralgon without a stop, do yourself and your sanity a favour and stop somewhere in sale (you can go past the turn highway turn off/roundabout a few hundred metres and get to park land at lake Guthrie)
Past bairnsdale you'll have lakes entrance. Stop there cis not much else directly on the highway past there until you get to cann river. Great park there for stopping and burning energy.
Once you get past there I'm not much help cos I usually turn off to head to Canberra up the cann valley highway rather than going up ther Coast.
My biggest advice is to make sure you've had a rest stop at either sale or traralgon. The stretch from sale to Bairnsdale is horribly boring. There is only maybe one stop (at the Billabong roadhouse). It's ok for a pee break but I wouldn't expect anything more of it than - too many cars/trucks and no where for kids to play
Melbourne to Merimbula and stops in between
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