East coast road trip

My wife, six month old son and I are going on a road trip over the next two and a half weeks.

The plan is to make our way from Brisbane down to Melbourne, do the Great Ocean Road drive, and back up to Brisbane.

We have a few specific stops we need to make to see family, which means our path will look something like this:

Brisbane > Armidale > Dubbo > Rutherglen > Melbourne > Apollo Bay > Rutherglen > Canberra > Blue Mountains > Newcastle > Coffs Harbour > Brisbane

We'll be driving most days, and we won't have heaps of time to spare, but the schedule isn't too crazy that we won't have time to stop and enjoy ourselves.

So on that note, I'm after any ideas or suggestions about things to do or see, or places that are worth stopping at along the way. Anything from great little cafes or restaurants hidden away in small towns, to sights worth seeing, to some sort of activity (e.g. small bushwalks, waterfalls, etc.).

I'm open to any suggestions, so fire away!
 
Continue past Apollo Bay to port Campbell to see more Great Ocean Road highlights. Return to Melbourne via the inland road.
Marg
 
Dubbo Zoo - tickets let you in for 2 consecutive days
Jindera outside Albury
A lot of roadwork between Port Macquarie and Coffs at the moment
 
Ulmarra pub 10k north of grafting is a great stop for lunch - yamba pacific hotel for a drink. I'd do southwest rocks with trial bay gaol over Port mac or Coffs. If you're doing the newell then the planets and the parkes complex.

Canberra - war memorial, questacon, Telstra tower,parliament and old parliament houses, the mint, kayak the lake, arboretum.
 
If you're staying in Newcastle there's a nice walk down to Glenrock Lagoon. Also tons of great beaches if the weather holds out for another couple of weeks, or rather improves again. The canoe pool at Newcastle Beach is great for little kids as is the baths at Merewether.
 
Around Newcastle there is lots to do at Port Stephens, lookouts, dolphin cruises, massive sand dunes to slide down then around Coffs have a read on the Waterfall Way up to Dorrigo, great forest lookout platform and a nice waterfall in Dorrigo to see plus the Big Banana :)
 
I remember driving down the Great Ocean Road at dusk when all of a sudden there were hundreds of small wallabies on the road! I'm still not sure if it was a hallucination ( I didn't put the pedal to the metal but it was tempting lol).
 
If you are going to be stopping in at Rutherglen why not include Beechworth and Bright. Both little boutique towns that are beautiful in Autumn.
 
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