To melbourne
Hi Lickwid, grab a car and expore all over the place. Start at Phillip Island, then explore the East Coast around Flinders and surf the reef breaks (be careful you gotta get the tides right), then head over to the west coast and head down the great ocean road. I have lived here for the past 5 years and gotta admit I have never surfed Bells or Winki, I reckon Phillip Island is a really great wave and has a little bit of everything(sorry to the locals). i live over in the east coast and the websites I use as a reference are www.fullcirclesurf.com.au for the island and www.triggerbrothers.com.au for the east coast.
Make sure you have booties and a steamer because it gets f@#ing cold (water temp is only 11 degrees)and takes ages to warm up in the day. My mate comes down from Sydney and has a hell of a time getting used to how cold the water is.
Hope you have a great time!!!!!!!
Bloody oath, come on down. We Vicco's have been to QLD more times than you've been here! You've gotta remember it is bloody cold in the water. Check out mtw's suggestion of www.triggerbrothers.com.au and you can see what the water temp is. I'd give the East Coast a miss as it's pretty fickle and when it's firing usually everywhere else is 10 times better.
I'd just stick to Bells area, there's plenty of breaks on offer and you can driver either way 20 minutes or so and score some gold. Like you said the forecast for Torquay is looking sweet, Bells and Winki will be firing. Crowds, nothing like qld because it's COLD. Enjoy your time.
I just finished work today, and it looks like Ive got until sometime next week off, Im thinking a trip to Melbourne could be in order. Coming down from the qld coast by plane, Would you victorians welcome me into your midst for the good week of surf you guys are about to have? I've never been there, so anyone want to recomend some decent places to stay at or accommodate me yourself?