Australia - Victoria Part I - Lorne, Port Fairy and the Grampians

Oct 3-13, 2009 - Australia Adventure for the second year in a row... This time Victoria!

Australia...the land of warmth...not this time around. We had a fabulous trip, but it was cold. The kids got to surf only twice and were really glad we had the wet suits! We also brought all of our tennis racquets with us and played several times - It was more like tennis weather than surfing weather. But in typical Shivers fashion, there was very little down time to actually find time to play tennis or sit at the beach.

Oct 3 - Ach, the flights out of Christchurch always leave so early. I suppose that is because I aim to get the cheap seats. We spent the night of Oct 2nd at the Copthorne Airport hotel in Christchurch. It was a great place to stay as we were allowed to leave our car for the week, and get a ride to the airport at 4am! Arrived in Melbourne at 9am and had the whole day! We rented a Holden, for Avery, and drove to Torquay for lunch. The kids slept most of the way. The beaches are gorgeous and there were surfers, and kite surfers out. We also saw heaps of hang gliders along the coast. Our first night was in Lorne at the Cumberland Resort. We had a 2 bedroom apt and use of surfing equiptment, tennis courts, outdoor grill, indoor pool, and at the price we paid for this hotel, we took advantage of it all! It was really a fun little town. We shopped a little, watched some skate boarders and tree climbers, and then Gregg and the kids decided to face the cold and surf. We took 2 boogie boards and 2 surf boards and I photographed:) Everyone enjoyed the heated indoor pool while I went to the grocery shop for dinner. Gregg grilled burgers and we watched the dozens of Cockatoos flying around. Great first day, and we were happy to have very comfy beds!

Oct 4 - The Great Ocean Road - We left by 9am, would you believe we timed our visit with the first night of daylight savings so we lost an hour;( Our first stop was for a quick walk up to Carisbrooke Falls. Then on to Apollo Bay Visitors Centre to make sure we knew what to do and see along the Great Ocean Road. We were told that on the way to the Cape Otway Lighthouse to look for Koalas in the wild - wow, how cool was that?! We saw heaps of Koalas in dozens of trees. It was so fun to stop and look for them - They can camouflage themselves quite well. After dozens of photos we headed on to the Cape Otway Lighthouse which was also cooler than we thought. It was a nice historic area and a good walk and chance for the boys to run off some extra energy. Seeing the Koalas was definitely a highlight. Next stop, somewhat inland, Otway Fly. This is a huge steel raised walkway above the trees. It is so cool how you gradually walk right up above the tree tops in a rain forest. We also had a awesome lunch at the little cafe there. After this long, probably 4km, walk the boys fell asleep in the car. When we arrived at The Twelve Apostles, the highlight of The Great Ocean Road, we literally had to drag the boys out of the car to see the rock formations which are beautiful, but we are so spoiled. We have seen so much beauty this year! Back in the car and on to Port Fairy for the night. This was a beautiful day, but a lot of driving as well. We arrived at Port Fairy around 7pm and had booked the most beautiful historic house, called The Drill House. It was far nicer than the house we live in in NZ - 4 bedrooms with an awesome kitchen, dining and TV viewing area. Gregg, Syd, and I went for a quick drive around exploring and shopping for dinner. We left the boys quite happily sitting on the leather sofas in front of the flat screen TV. Sydney cooked us a lovely gourmet pasta dinner - what a treat!

Oct 5 - This was a weird start to the day. It rained very hard all night so we thought is was going to be an awful weather day. We planned big breakfast and a late start. The weather was actually a bit like what felt like a Thanksgiving Day. It was cool, cloudy and breezy. After checking out the Visitors Centre in Port Fairy, we drove around and looked at the historic port and town and took a long walk along the pier to where the harbor meets the ocean. This is a huge whale watching spot, but I think we may have missed the whales by just a week. That was okay, we have seen whales before:) Then, back in the car and off to Halls Gap in the Grampians. This was a surprise. We were not really sure what to expect and these mountains sort of came out of no where and were amazing. The Grampians are a really craggy group of mountains and Halls Gap in tucked into the valley. Our hotel was the type where you only want to sleep. So after checking in and dropping our stuff, we headed off to hike The Pinnacle. Wow, we loved this. It was a little over a 2 hour, steep hike through a gorge called "the grand canyon" and it was! Although it was a tough hike, it was so gorgeous and so different than anything we have yet done, that we all LOVED it! And the views from the top were amazing. We were tired when we got down. Gregg wanted to go see some of the great waterfalls in the area. We opted for McKensie Falls, the largest and thought is was just around the corner. Well, it was a 30 min drive and then the hike to the falls was another 600meters down, but as we all know, what goes down, must also come back up, or so it was in this situation. Gregg and the kids raced down to the falls, which were worth the run, or walk in my case. I took my time getting down and back up. After taking lots of nice photos, we wanted the ice cream break we had promised the kids. Alas, the ice cream had to wait as it was late and we were tired and hungry for dinner. The heaps of kangaroos in the town soccer field also distracted us for another 20 minutes. After a quick change and a glass of wine at the hotel, we went to dinner in town at The Quarry. The food was okay, the wine was great, and the dinner a really lovely night out. It is so nice to be out of the country with no cell phones or computers to compete with! I love having this quality family time together!

Oct 6 - Melbourne here we come! Okay, so first stop at Brambuk, the aboriginal centre, we bought a boomerang and some art and made our way into town for the ice cream we had promised the kids the day before. After this we were really on a roll to get to Melbourne. There were several wineries along the way where we should have stopped, but we were anxious to get to the city and the weather was cold and wet. By the time we got to Ballerat, all we wanted to do was eat. The visitors centre was in a beautiful art gallery, so we sent the boys back to the car, and to their PSPs, and Gregg, Syd and I toured the gallery. Off to Sweet Decadence for lunch. This was one of our favorite food stops, not only was it a homemade chocolate shop, but they made the most amazing homemade soups, breads, sandwiches. We thought we had heaps of time to get to Melbourne and get settled before having to drop the rental car off at 6pm, but you know what city driving can be like, esp. in a town that you are not familiar with! Barely got to the hotel, Somerset Gordon Place, near Chinatown, in time. Gregg and Graham took the car back while Syd, Avery and I got settled. It is a lovely old historic hotel. Shame about our dark lower level room...moved to the fifth floor the next night. But the two bedroom apartment was perfect for the 5 of us. Shamefully, our first night in Melbourne was spent eating take outs in front of the TV. We sort of regretted this later, but at the time we were tired. Syd and I got Japanese take outs, Sushi Burger, and Gregg and the boys got chinese takeaway from Chinatown. Tomorrow we hit the town running!

Stay tuned for Melbourne adventures coming in the next blog...

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