Melbourne Toll roads

[bopa54]

Whats the situation with Toll roads around Melbourne? are they free for bikes?
I will be leaving Perth on Wednesday heading for Mildura via Adelaide, Melbourne and Omeo, yea I know its the long way.
Is it better to go through Melbourne or get the ferry at Queenscliff as I want to catch up with people in Packenham area on the way.
Any info please

 

[TOMCAT]

They weren't free last time i went through Melbourne. The phone number they give to pay over the phone takes forever to get through on. Whole set-up is a pain in the arse for visitors from interstate.

 

[slick rick]

mate

The gt eastern hiway from southern cross to Norseman is ****e on a bike,corrugations all the way.norseman to eucla/Ceduna is very good. Do not travel @ night, its not so much the roo's,wombats,wilddogs,emus,foxes,etc... its the camels. i have seen a couple on my last 2 trips. If i wanted to open the throttle it would be between balladonia to Caiguna,i have never seen the boys in blue thru there .Resist the urge to open the throttle from the top of the Madura basin to Eucla.Unmarked blue police wagon always working this area,also don't speed thru the lil country towns like merridin/ tammin/ kellerberin. You'll be easy meat, the boys in blue will get you for sure.Most 24hr servo's are [ on average] 180km apart.Madura servo isnt 24 hr.places i recommend you stay at,assuming its just you and yor bike are,norseman 8hrs frm perth,top up at balladonia, Caiguna for brekky,11 hrs out,great showers/toilets and toasties here,top up again,Cocklebiddy a clean place to over nite,then down the basin to the WA border.this should be around 14-15,30 hrs travel onya bike. You wont get checked for fruit and stuff till Ceduna,so when you reach WA border,go straight thru. you might want to refuel there tho. Ceduna is ya next big town,watch it around Yalata, new cop tryin to make a name lives there.Next place to eat would be at Wudinna.Cross the rail line 17km out from there,head for Kimba,ova the rail lines,past the big budgie, sweet all the way to the Gutter[port augusta].Treat all redlights as if they're speedcams, coz they ARE. Watch ya speed going under the truck cams, coz they have a speedcam as well. i would take the Laura/jamestown turn off,just past warnertown[1hour out] turn rt at the jamestown roundabout and head for spalding/burra/morgan[great country road] berri, renmark, yamba thru to Mildura.Cant beat the Buronga BP R/Hse for food/showers at mildura.good luck with the rest of your trip. Water/sunblock absolute nessicities..DON'T RIDE AT NIGHT..dont sit behind a truck,if i hit something, it will come out the back of my roadtrain like a shotgun blast,meat flying everywhere! and look ahead for roadkill. Looks like Baghdad in the morning from the previous nites roadkill.If it rains,roos are drawn to the road,cos it will hold water and they wanna drink.goodluck......take a small hand held 40 channel cb,if you have one,truckies will gladly help you if you need info,just call em up.CH 40 is the go.

 

[TOMCAT]

The gt eastern hiway from southern cross to Norseman is ****e on a bike,corrugations all the way.norseman to eucla/Ceduna is very good. Do not travel @ night, its not so much the roo's,wombats,wilddogs,emus,foxes,etc... its the camels. i have seen a couple on my last 2 trips. If i wanted to open the throttle it would be between balladonia to Caiguna,i have never seen the boys in blue thru there .Resist the urge to open the throttle from the top of the Madura basin to Eucla.Unmarked blue police wagon always working this area,also don't speed thru the lil country towns like merridin/ tammin/ kellerberin. You'll be easy meat, the boys in blue will get you for sure.Most 24hr servo's are [ on average] 180km apart.Madura servo isnt 24 hr.places i recommend you stay at,assuming its just you and yor bike are,norseman 8hrs frm perth,top up at balladonia, Caiguna for brekky,11 hrs out,great showers/toilets and toasties here,top up again,Cocklebiddy a clean place to over nite,then down the basin to the WA border.this should be around 14-15,30 hrs travel onya bike. You wont get checked for fruit and stuff till Ceduna,so when you reach WA border,go straight thru. you might want to refuel there tho. Ceduna is ya next big town,watch it around Yalata, new cop tryin to make a name lives there.Next place to eat would be at Wudinna.Cross the rail line 17km out from there,head for Kimba,ova the rail lines,past the big budgie, sweet all the way to the Gutter[port augusta].Treat all redlights as if they're speedcams, coz they ARE. Watch ya speed going under the truck cams, coz they have a speedcam as well. i would take the Laura/jamestown turn off,just past warnertown[1hour out] turn rt at the jamestown roundabout and head for spalding/burra/morgan[great country road] berri, renmark, yamba thru to Mildura.Cant beat the Buronga BP R/Hse for food/showers at mildura.good luck with the rest of your trip. Water/sunblock absolute nessicities..DON'T RIDE AT NIGHT..dont sit behind a truck,if i hit something, it will come out the back of my roadtrain like a shotgun blast,meat flying everywhere! and look ahead for roadkill. Looks like Baghdad in the morning from the previous nites roadkill.If it rains,roos are drawn to the road,cos it will hold water and they wanna drink.goodluck......take a small hand held 40 channel cb,if you have one,truckies will gladly help you if you need info,just call em up.CH 40 is the go.

Worry about payin toll in Melbourne is way down the list ..you gota get across W.A and S.A to Victoria first !!!

 

[Binnsy]

Last October I got charged $12.00 for a sixty cent toll in Melbourne when it didn't recognise my GoVia account.

After a couple of phone calls to idiots I gave up and paid the twelve bucks...

 

[Cobba]

Ok. So I'm guessing slickrick has done that crossing on more than one occasion.
**** good info there.

As far as I know ( and I'm pretty **** sure of it) only one of the Melbourne Freeways tolls bikes and that's the newest one, East link. I've always avoided it and never been hit on any of the others.

As Binnsy said, it's about $12 if you get tagged and don't have an account, so it won't break the bank.
If you Pre pay by calling 13LINK (135465) it will cost you $2.70 for a bike from Springvale road to Monash Freeway, but it's not the most logical route.

If you're heading straight thru to Pakenham from Mildura then you'll arrive into the suburbs from either Ballarat or Bendigo.
Take the Tullamarine Fwy, Domain tunnel and Monash Fwy and you'll miss all the headaches and tolls.

Queenscliff ferry. It's a long way out of the rode unless you are coming in from Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Rd. If you are, then it's up you if you take it.
Saves about 10 minutes and costs about $30.
Makes the toll seem cheap if the whole trip is coming down to $$$$$

As Rick said, watch the smaller towns, and also watch your speed in general.
Victoria is different to the other states. 25Ks over is an instant loss of licence here, not 30.
That would put a hold on the rest of the trip.


Happy to give a few pointers on good bike roads in the North East of the state if you're interested. Just PM me and I'll give you the goss.
Always up for a drink and a chat if you're anywhere near Yackandandah during you're travels, might even tag along for a bit if that's alright.

Cheers.

 

[Cobba]

They weren't free last time i went through Melbourne. The phone number they give to pay over the phone takes forever to get through on. Whole set-up is a pain in the arse for visitors from interstate.

Have the same feeling when I travel thru Sydney. All seems too hard, and which number should I call when there's more than one???
Usually I just end up waiting for them to sent the bill and wear the extra admin fees for the privilage.
Beat's arguing with them like a mate of mine from S.A. He's now got a $460 bill and a legal battle to try and quash it.


A bit of silicon spray (tyre black) accidently sprayed over the number plate when I'm detailing the bike before the trip seems to collect a lot of dust that I didn't notice till I got home as well.

Sorry officer. I'll clean that off right now.

 

[CanberraR3]

Sydney's much easier to sort out than Melbourne. Sydney you can organise a single E pass that works on all roads and is pretty much the same as having an E Tag. Last time I went to Melbourne I had to organise seperate passes for pretty much each road because they have different operators. That was in a car though so I don't know about what they charge bikes. Sydney hits bikes the same as cars. It's MUCH cheaper to sort it out in advance. RTA sits in each state should have all the info.

That's quite a trip you're planning! Hope it goes well.

 

[ponters]

Bopa, as canberra said, it is only Eastlink that likes to rape bikes...any electronic tag registered along east coast of aus works on this arse numbing road or you can just ring as you ride past the signs and give them your cc.

you have 48hours to ring and pay after you ride it i think.

as far as qcliffe ferry ride, can add an extra element to the trip but is avoidable if you just want to get to Pako. The Melb Omeo trip is a ripsnorta, did it last easter and loved it. Watch out for theDinner Plain road as budget cuts means they haven't resurfaced road for 22 months and was due about 13 ago. I had no issue on the pocket rocket but a mate on a harley lost his bike...

anyway, let us know when ur heading in and around Melb, if my bike is back from Lush's I might hook up on a leg if not can shout you a latte!!!! oh right oh right, maybe even a cleansing ale for a travelling rocketeer.

 

[coneye]

Don't know if time is the issue,, but if it was me i would , head to port augusta , then take the roads through horrocks pass head to the clare valley , then the barosa valley ,, from there head over the back of the adelaide hills to handorf,, from there go down the fleruie peninsular to cape jarvis ,, then over the ranges to victor harbor , head to wellington ,catch the ferry and go through the coorong to mount gambier , , from there the great ocean road . ferry and on to pako .

Its not the direct route adds a bit on , but some real good riding roads if your coming through on the weekend , i don't mind hooking up and showing you part of the way to wellington