Melbourne to Mildura - drive or fly?

[rainbowgirl]

My family are going on a holiday to Mildura soon and plan to drive from Melbourne in one day. I know there are flights from Melbourne to Mildura but I don't know whether it is more economical or quicker to fly or drive. The logistics are complicated, whichever way we choose. There would be parking or taxi costs involved both ways if we flew and I'm guessing the fares would be more than the cost of petrol if we decided to drive. Before this, we've only done 2-3 hour drives with the family so I don't know how they will cope on a 7 hour drive.

I'm also curious as to how long a flight would take from Melbourne to Mildura and how frequently they run during the day. If there is only one flight a day then it might actually be quicker to drive.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

 

[mushypeas]

Fly, I did it last week for work.

In and out in a day, time is money... Why waste your time sitting in a car.

Cost me 89 there 119 back plus 19.80 ltcp airport parking.

Got there 45 min prior and 50 min in the air, on the way back already had boarding pass and got to the airport 20 min prior.

 

[mushypeas]

Also just to add, qantas/virgin and Rex fly 3 times daily

Edit: no lounges in Mildura unfortunately, waiting area us nice enough + small cafe

 

[Melburnian1]

Why not use the V/Line train to Swan Hill and then the coordinated coach?

Buy a Family Traveller ticket from major Metro stations or staffed V/Line ones and the kids in your family travel free (up to two for each travelling adult). Seat bookings are compulsory: you can also upgrade to first class on the train for $8 an adult each way, which is very comfortable. See V/Line - Regional public transport for Victoria Beats driving, and is way, way cheaper than flying.

The Family Traveller tickets are not mykis. (myki is only available as far as Bendigo and Eaglehawk on the trip north).

While it's unpredictable and can run like clockwork, the QF flights to MQL run late fairly often. They are interworked with Tasmanian flights (plus others?) and hence delays cascade.

You also avoid parking costs, while V/Line tickets give you free travel in Melbourne to catch your V/Line train. With a one way V/Line ticket (which you must have with you), you can travel on trains, trams and buses for an hour, which in reality means 'connect with your train from Southern Cross.'

 

[Doug_Westcott]

How long are you going for and what will you be doing once there eg will you need to hire a car to get around. How many are there of you and how old are the kids?

 

[rainbowgirl]

Family of 5, our children are lower primary school. If we went by plane we'd need to hire a car once we were there which would add more expense.

 

[Doug_Westcott]

Personally I couldn't face such a long drive with three kids in the back. Would arrive stressed and the drive home would negate any benefit from the holiday. However cost would be a big factor and how good your kids are on long drives.

 

[bass_ke]

Personally I'd fly, but we are only a family of 3 and my 2 year old loves aviation.

Do you know anyone that has a friends and family rate for car hire?

 

[rainbowgirl]

Thank you for the information and the thoughts.

We are trying to keep the costs down and would prefer to keep our own car for the journey. Our children haven't been on such a long journey but I think they would enjoy it. They might even sleep through some of the ride.

We will consider the advice and make a decision soon. It is our first trip to MIldura. We have been wanting to go there for a couple of years but this is the first time we've been able to arrange the accomodation we wanted.

 

[bass_ke]

Thank you for the information and the thoughts.

We are trying to keep the costs down and would prefer to keep our own car for the journey. Our children haven't been on such a long journey but I think they would enjoy it. They might even sleep through some of the ride.

We will consider the advice and make a decision soon. It is our first trip to MIldura. We have been wanting to go there for a couple of years but this is the first time we've been able to arrange the accomodation we wanted.

Enjoy the trip! Also congratulations on 1000 posts.

 

[dajop]

I've done the trip many times over the last 10-15 years from MEL and have both driven and flown (I have even driven a few times since being based in SIN, due to painful connections). If time poor, flying is the way to go, it's a lot easier than driving, however it can eat up time anyway depending on whether the schedules suit you or not. One thing I've done a few times is to break the journey somewhere, with family in Bendigo, that's easy, but I have even stayed at the "Thisledome Motel" (this'll do me!) in Sea Lake and it did me just fine, broke the journey nicely, driving up to there on Friday evening in 3.5-4 hrs and a much shorter drive (2-2.5 hrs) on Saturday morning. Hiring cars etc can get quite expensive with daily kilometre restrictions, depending on where you want to visit and how long. With a family I'd probably tend to driving from Melbourne.

 

[QF029]

It seems a no brainer to drive. 6 hours (plus stops) isn't an overly long day. You'll only save about 3 hours by flying, the cost will be much more and you'll have to pay for airport parking / taxi plus a hire car.

 

[robd]

It seems a no brainer to drive. 6 hours (plus stops) isn't an overly long day. You'll only save about 3 hours by flying, the cost will be much more and you'll have to pay for airport parking / taxi plus a hire car.

Agree with you. I've done many trips from Melbourne to Merimbula, particularly when the kids were small and it was never an issue. Oh wait, there was this one time when jnr#2 just couldn't wait to go the loo....

We had set stops along the way. The first at Macca's in Traralgon and the next in Caan River. We usually left pretty early and the kids would sleep for a few hours.

Personally, I would drive.

 

[harvyk]

Drive, it's only 550km. That's around a 6 hour drive... Just make sure you take things for the kids to do (this is where new toys, games and activities come in handy).
We did a 12 hour drive from CBR to Colac to visit friends mid last year with 4 kids in the back. We survived ok... We just planned a few stops along the way, knew where we'd find some playgrounds and had a little collection of drinks and food to give the kids along the way.

Oh, and music which the whole family likes is important as well. Don't do 6 hours of wiggles songs, in our case my eldest (6) is a big powderfinger fan, so we took along a couple of CD's of that... (so in other words, pick out some "adult" music which the kids like)

 

[bass_ke]

Try picking up the album "rewiggled" it was a tribute by several Australian artists covering the wiggles songs.

It has artists from the Living end to Sarah blasko and everyone in between

 

[UP4014]

Drive, easier with a family. Single or couple, then fly.

 

[Kangarucci]

I'm for driving. Drove up in Feb from the Mornington Peninsula. An easy drive once past the city. Stopped at Bridgewater Bakery for lunch and pit stop. As mentioned above, make sure that the kiddies have things to keep them occupied. Have done CBR to MEL numerous times and the key is to have stops to stretch the legs and toys/games/dvd player/ipad to keep everyones sanity intact.

 

[kempvet]

I normally drive the PQQ-SYD 400km and return so I can have the car in SYD and get around, even if I am there just for one night, cheapest alternative I find, and that is just for one person. I think in your situation drive.

 

[rainbowgirl]

We decided to drive to and from Mildura for our holiday. The children handled the car journey fairly well although there were a few unplanned toilet breaks. We kept them entertained with discussions about the scenery, word games, music, food, drink and personal electronic items.

When we were in Mildura and surrounding areas we got to do plenty of things we had never done before including riding on a paddle steamer, visiting an orange grove, exploring the Inland Botanic Park (the Sturt Desert Pea was in bloom) and rolling down the sand dunes at Mungo National Park. It was a wonderful trip for all of us and the kids keep asking when we will be going back there.

 

[robd]

We decided to drive to and from Mildura for our holiday. The children handled the car journey fairly well although there were a few unplanned toilet breaks. We kept them entertained with discussions about the scenery, word games, music, food, drink and personal electronic items.

When we were in Mildura and surrounding areas we got to do plenty of things we had never done before including riding on a paddle steamer, visiting an orange grove, exploring the Inland Botanic Park (the Sturt Desert Pea was in bloom) and rolling down the sand dunes at Mungo National Park. It was a wonderful trip for all of us and the kids keep asking when we will be going back there.

Excellent. Glad you had a great family trip. Nice to hear also, that you played games and sang together along the way. Some of my fondest memories as a child were car trips to camping spots and the like. Ahhh....I spy, spotto, 99 bottles of beer - good times.