Grand Pacific Drive 'rivals' ocean road

By Jodie Minus
Updated November 5 2012 - 10:25pm, first published September 18 2009 - 11:19am
Tourism Wollongong chairman Jim Eddy is adamant that the Grand Pacific Drive has much more to offer than the Great Ocean Road.
Tourism Wollongong chairman Jim Eddy is adamant that the Grand Pacific Drive has much more to offer than the Great Ocean Road.

The Grand Pacific Drive could easily knock the Great Ocean Road off its perch as one of the country's most scenic routes, says a Wollongong tourism chief.Tourism Wollongong chairman Jim Eddy said they were working with travel industry groups in the Eurobodalla Shire and organisers of the Sydney Melbourne Touring campaign to extend the Grand Pacific Drive signposting all the way along the coast and into Victoria."If you extend it through to Melbourne, it is a spectacular drive and much longer than the Great Ocean Road," Mr Eddy said."When you compare the scenic qualities of the Grand Pacific Drive, it is far superior to the Great Ocean Road."The Grand Pacific Drive (GPD) presently begins at the Royal National Park and then glides along the eastern coast for 156km to Nowra. A further 350km or so of marketing and signage would take it right through to the Victorian border.In comparison, the Great Ocean Road (GOR) stretches just 243km from Torquay, south of Geelong, to Allansford, east of Warrnambool.The highlights of the GOR include the Twelve Apostles, Great Otway National Park and some of Australia's highest sea cliffs.But in a much smaller area, the GPD has the Five Islands, Royal National Park and the Sea Cliff Bridge.Not to mention the blossoming Blue Mile, some of the world's best beaches, the Kiama blowhole and the gourmet food of Berry.Extend it to the border and you can add to the list: Hyams Beach, Mollymook, Clyde River oysters, wilderness areas, the Bega Valley and Eden.Besides, Victoria's famed Twelve Apostles are falling to bits, with one of the limestone stacks crumbling into the sea four years ago. The traffic is also notoriously bad in summer. And we haven't even mentioned the weather."I have done the Great Ocean Road about three or four times and I have only had one day that was a beautiful day with that mist that settles around the Apostles," Mr Eddy said. "The rest of the time, the weather was dreadful."Mr Eddy said with a bit of money to spend on marketing, the GPD could become a key route for the Grey Nomad brigade and a must-see for international visitors."The Victorian Government has spent an absolute fortune on (the GOR), including the walking trails and the tourist facilities along the route and we have spent next to nothing on the (GPD), except a bit of signage," Mr Eddy said. "So the potential for the GPD is enormous."

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