Holiday beach rentals in Victoria? Advice please :-)

Hi everyone...
I'm a Canadian who's been living in Melbourne for almost 2 years now.. my parents and grandmother are finally coming out to visit me from Canada for Christmas this year, and we've decided we'd better rent a holiday home since they'll be here for a month and my place is already kind of crowded with 4 of us.

Does anyone have any experience with renting a vacation home for up to a month? What are the best areas? I'm thinking one of the penninsulas, Phillip Island or out Great Ocean road way but I don't want to be TOO far from Melbourne... does anyone know of any particular suburbs that are best for beach access, ammenities and public transport access?

Just any advice on this would be greatly appreciated since I've never rented anything for longer than a few days! Cheers

We have loved the Great Ocean Road area and have stayed in and around Apollo Bay.

Check stayz (dot) com (dot) au for a variety of accommodations. It's high season so you might start looking for a place soon. We booked a cottage last month and had difficulty, as many places were already reserved. Be prepared to pay a fair bit of cash, too.