Neighbours are just good friends!

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Turn left here or should it be right? The Melbourne city centre’s grid layout should make for easy navigation, after all the journey from the airport to our hotel should only take 15-20 minutes … unless you are Lena and Alan, in which case it takes 2 hours! (It was peak time traffic - honest!)

Decisions, decisions, we didn’t know where to start - explore Melbourne’s unique architecture, stroll through one of the many parks or drive on the ocean road? While we couldn’t make up our minds as to where to go first, just like at home the weather followed suit, as it also couldn’t make up its mind what it wanted to do - sunny then a little rain, back to sun again. Apparently this changeable weather is a rite of passage and is all part of the Melbourne experience (infamous for its weather and 4 seasons in a day)!! Fortunately, the weather remained resolute in its sunshine for the rest of our short stay.

Melbourne is an impressive city and they even lay on free city transport with a tourist shuttle bus and a free city tram to ensure that you don’t miss out on any of the important sights - Alan even mentioned how he could see us living here (no, its ok mum we’re not planning to emigrate - yet). Perhaps his head was turned by the gold, after all Melbourne was one of Australia’s cities that underwent a Gold Rush, but for Alan it was the gold of his pint that attracted him as we experienced Oktoberfest in one of Melbourne’s pubs! Prost!

We now understand why people refer to Melbourne as the European city of Australia as it does have a very European feel, probably due to the neo gothic buildings and the artistic culture of the city. Art is a key theme throughout the city as you literally find sculptures on virtually every street corner.

I think there is no better drive than cruising along The Great Ocean Road. We meandered along this quite dramatic and rugged coastline, enjoying spectacular views in places like Wye River, Anglesea, Apollo Bay and Princetown. Princetown?! Yes, we could not resist stopping at this place to enable Alan to relieve old memories. It’s just as quiet in Princetown here as the place in Devon, but even smaller and without Dartmoor on its doorstep, albeit that in Australian terms Dartmoor is probably only down the street, but for us it was another 3hours+ drive away! Of course, we followed the tourist guide book and visited the 12 Apostles (limestone pillars that rise offshore from the sea), and enjoyed the various other imposing rock formations which appear down the length of this famous stretch of coastline. We also had another reminder of home when we were told ‘London Bridge has fallen down, fallen down, fallen down; London Bridge has fallen down …’ a nursery rhyme that has come true! We even managed to see some wild koala bears and a kangaroo! One day was not enough for the Great Ocean Road. All in all, this was a great trip out; our only regret being that we did not have longer to explore all that was on offer.

Unfortunately, the ‘Neighbours’ of Ramsey Street, Erinsborough were on their holidays, so we missed the opportunity to visit - perhaps next time we’ll let them know we’re coming. Finally in Melbourne, we wanted see more of Oz and what better place to end our journey than in ‘Oz’ itself as we enjoyed the show ‘Wicked’ (better that than commiserating with the locals who had just seen Melbourne lose 40-0 against Manly in their rugby football league final).

Our biggest feat in Melbourne was trying to fit it all in and as we left many areas unexplored we’ll just have to come back again!
Time to unpack our cold weather gear now, ready to board the next plane to New Zealand as the temperature there is a chilly 15 degrees!

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