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Published: March 13th 2013
We arrived back at Sydney airport and were greeted by Jan and Alek who were very kindly putting us up again for the following 5 days. We had some much needed R&R, washed all of our horrible backpacker clothes and relaxed. We generally spent the mornings planning the next part of our trip, the afternoons down on Bondi Beach soaking up some rays and the evenings eating all sorts of proper food which we'd been missing, including Indian curry, a BBQ and Alek's famous spinach pie. It was all delicious and set us up nicely to begin our tour of Australia.
We flew from Sydney to Melbourne Airport and picked up a Hire Car from Avis (a Kia - "oooo, nice wheels" I hear you say!). There was a little excitment when picking up the car as it was supposed to be manual, but turned out to be an automatic. Luckily for me (Mark, as the solo driver on this leg), Jan had loaned Hazel her car during our stay in Bondi, so I at least had some pointers on how it was supposed to work, but my left hand kept trying to grab the gear stick while moving. To
add to that, the indicators were on the right hand side of the steering wheel, so I kept flicking the windscreen wipers on when trying to indicate. I think this is Karma after laughing at Paul doing the same in the Blue Mountains!
Moving on, we were soon heading out of Melbourne and following signs to Torquay. We had wanted to drive to Sorrento and take the ferry across, but unfortunately the hire car insurance didn't cover it. The scenery on the first part of the journey was not dis-similar to the UK, albeit the colours were a little more washed out, but once we hit Torquay and drove onto the Great Ocean Road the scenery was stunning. The road runs right next to the ocean (the clue's in the name, Mark) and curves around the cliff tops next to the classic orangey aussie rocks and deserted beaches. We stopped every few minutes for photos and visited the little towns on the way (Lorne was exceptionally beautiful down by the beach. We looked like classic tourists when we stopped to photo some cockatoos, which are as common as muck over here). Just before dusk we took a detour, mentioned
in Paul's driving book and drove about 1-2km up a dirt track to find wild Koalas. We were not disappointed and Hazel put her 'Wildlife Photo of the year' skills into action again.
We stayed over in Apollo Bay in quite a nice YHA hostel, although after closer inspection Mark had to squash a cockroach which was lurking in the corner of the room (we're going to forgive the cockroach in hindsight, as we are currently sat writing this in our hostel in Melbourne, and the cockroach would be a welcome improvement on some of our fellow travellers!). The next day's drive started with a detour to see more Koalas hanging over the road and we also saw a couple of kangeroos (or maybe Wallabees?). Since Hazel was now an expert at spotting them, we would pull over by the side of the road to take photos and then other cars would also pull in, so by the time we left there was a crowd of people koala spotting.
After a few more scenic stops (and poses across the bonnet of the car) we arrived at The 12 Apostles, of which we would only see 5 but are
sure that the rest of them were there somewhere! The cliffs along this stretch of coastline dropped vertically to sandy beaches at the bottom and we took some time to go down to the sand and walk along. As well as the 12 Apostles, there was also a range of other limestone rock formations, including an arch named "London Bridge", which actually did bear some resemblance.
We continued along the coast to the end of the Great Ocean Road and then kept going inland for a bit until we arrived at Port Fairy. We had hoped that there would be something of interest to see, but I'm afraid not. This was a low point of the trip for me, as I (Mark) got stung by a bee on my forehead as I put my cap on. Luckily though, we made it to the local pharmacy with five minutes to spare before it closed for the day! (anyone who saw our super duper first aid kits being prepared will be disappointed to hear that they let us down two days in a row - the first time because there was no burn cream, and noodles and Hazel don't mix so
well, and this time because we left them at the hostel for the day, doh!)
The return trip from our hostel in Apollo Bay involved heading back along the Great Ocean Road and to Melbourne airport to drop off the car. There is then an airport shuttle available which takes you right (almost) to the door of your hostel - a luxury for overladen backpackers!
It turns out everyone was right about Melbourne though - it's a really lovely city, and we managed to turn up on Labour Day long weekend and during preparations for the Melbourne Grand Prix, so the atmosphere's been fantastic. When we first arrived, we decided to get ourselves orientated by taking the free tourist bus trip around the centre of the city - this had the added benefit of air conditioning, which was really welcome on a humid 35 degree afternoon. The city has a weird juxtaposition of modern and 19th century buildings, but somehow it really works - the skyscrapers and the historic gold rush era buildings work really well together. The network of trams is extensive and to keep the old ones running there is a free ride circling the CBD.
There has recently been a free walking tour started in Melbourne, so we went along to that on Paul and Dom's recommendation to learn about the history of the city and about the local hero Ned Kelly (Hazel is now keen to watch the Heath Ledger/Orlando Bloom film version when we get home). We later stopped by the state library to see the metal armour which Ned Kelly wore when confronting the police back in the 1800s, and somehow gatecrashed a high school history trip while we were there, which was very informative! On our last day in Melbourne we rode the tram up to the Queen Victoria Markets and, after browsing the cheap souvenirs, bought some fresh fruit and antipasti for lunch. After a detour via an Aboriginal museum/gallery, Hazel decided we should venture to the "edgy" Fitzroy precinct, so we walked out that way before realising we weren't hipster enough and took a tram back to the hostel.
By chance we were in the hostel lounge (waiting for our washing to finish) when it was time for the 'Tuesday Free Pasta Meal'. We thought it was worth a go, so we queued up for some mushroom &
sundried tomato pasta, which was actually delicious (we might have to try replicating it in another hostel kitchen in the not too distant future!). We had planned to hit a recommended dumpling house in China Town that evening, but we were so full after the pasta meal that we skipped that and headed straight to watch the hourly fire show at the Crown Casino. Bargainous Times!
If you aren't already bored of our photographic endeavours, we have a few cute videos of koalas for your viewing pleasure!
Koala Climbs down branch [
]
Hello Koala
Climbs up tree [
]
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Karen
non-member comment
hello
Just spent a lovely half hour catching up with your blog and drooling over your photo's....you are obviously having an amazing time! Got back from India on Sunday..mission almost accomplished, now trying to adjust to UK time...not sure why though as We're off to Colorado on Friday and my poor old body clock is going to thrown into turmoil once again....Looking forward to the next blog..much love to you both xxxx