Advertisement
Published: April 28th 2007
Team Ram Rod!
Road trip love :) Okay, I am for sure a little late with this one- but I have a reason! My camera broke and so I have been waiting for the first chance to copy some pictures from my friends... I wouldn't want a post without pics would I?
So, this post is about an AMAZING road trip I took over the Easter Break. We got a week off for Easter and we decided it would be the best use of time to head down the coast towards Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. Melbourne is about 8 hours away.... So- here we go!
Day One- ON THE ROAD
Early Friday morning we (myself, Erin, Kyle and Amy) packed up the hired car (our beautiful champagne coloured Falcon) and hit the road. We had a bit of a mix up and ended up taking the long way. It was okay because we stopped in Canberra (the Australian capital) for lunch. This day could be called "Day of Mackers" because we stopped at so many McDonalds- I think 3 in total. We arrived in Melbourne and checked into our hostel. We went out for an awesome dinner at a fancy restaurant in the
our little cabin!
Kyle, Adam, Erin, Amy, Ashley, Tara Melbourne Casino. We met up with 4 other Canadians who were in Melbourne and walked around for a bit. It was Good Friday and mostly everything was closed, so being resourceful we found a sushi place...not everyone wanted to hang out and most people went back to the hostel, but we did meet up with 2 other Canadians who were there and hung out and drank bad beer at this sushi place...good times!
Day Two- Discovering Melbourne
Melbourne is an AMAZING city. I definitely fell in love with the place. It is so unique, and efficient. On Saturday we woke up, checked out of our hostel and went out to discover the city! First stop was the Queen Victoria Market, one of the biggest markets in the world! It was great, half farmers market, half flea market- All bargains! After that we split up, so Kyle and I walked around...and we randomly ran into two of our Canadian friends in a cafe! Small world. We walked around the town, checking out the sights. One of the major ones is the Melbourne Cricket Grounds or MCG- its kind of like church. Its huge and in Melbourne footy seems to be
Xavier Rudd
So talented! a way of life. We also went up the Rialto tower for a few city- its so cool! Its kind of built around a river, but is also on the ocean, so its very interesting. Melboure also has a free tourist tram that goes around the downtown core- so we hopped on and got to see some other amazing parts of the city. We met up with Amy and Erin and then got on the road to Geelong where we would be for the next few days. Once we checked into our little cabin, we went to a local airport to pick up our friends Tara and Ashley who had just flown in. We were staying at the Riverglen Holiday Park, and funnily enough- two of our Canadian friends were also staying there! (Noticing any themes? We seem to be traveling in packs. Like Dingos.)
Day 3- Bells Beach
Today was supposed to be surfing day. Rip Curl Pro (a professional surfing competition) was meant to be going on at Bells Beach (a very famous beach) but apprarently the waves were tiny, so it was moved... BUT! we went to the beach anyway! Its a nice beach, and we
Go Kelly Go!
Scoreboards at Rip Curl, Kelly ended up not winning which was a shock to everyone :( got to watch the grom competition (grommet = young surfer) which was interesting. After a while we packed up and checked out more of Torquay (where Bells Beach is)
Day 4- NARANA!
Today was awesome! We went into the town of Geelong and walked around the ocean. Its very cool. We had an awesome italian lunch on a patio and could see the ocean from where we sat! It was amazing. It was also exciting because we were going to a music festival that afternoon called Narana. Its located by an aboriginal community centre in Geelong and the festival raises money for aboriginal initiatives in schools. The concert was headlined by Xavier Rudd (who is AWESOME- go check him out if you don't know) so it had lots of potential. We went to the concert and it was awesome! It was like a little piece of guelph- vegan/organic food, hippies everywhere! We bought some festival merch and quickly sat down to enjoy. The concer was a mish mash of artists- a lot of folk, but there was also some hip hop. This group- Bliss N Eso performed. They swore a lot which I usually dont mind- but there
Adam and Two Apostles
Originally the apostles were called "piglets" and a nearby island was the "sow" Apostles is a little bit more nice sounding dont you think? were lots of families there. At one point they split up the audience into two sides and we took turns yelling to the other side "The party's over here- fuck you on the other side." I was trying to participate, but when I turned to yell I turned to a family of four with young chilren. I aborted the plan and just bobbed my head. Xavier Rudd was brilliant as usual- totally blew my mind. This guy is like a one man band- he plays guitar, percussion, didgeridoo and so many other things- at the same time! Amazing.
Day 5
Today we went to Johanna where rip curl had been moved too. It was a great time and really wicked to witness a surfing competition- these guys have skill! We were also on the hunt for Kelly Slater- one of, if not THE, best surfers in the world. We had a few sightings from afar, and so we decided to approach for a photo. He looked like he was trying to have some quiet time, so I asked "are you trying to have some quiet time." to which he responded "I'm trying." so then we aborted THAT plan
and just kept walking. Even though I kind of got a snub, I still think he is wicked cool. After Rip Curl we hit the Great Ocean Road. This is a ROAD by the OCEAN that is really GREAT because it has lots of natural wonders like the 12 Apostles.
SO, the 12 apostles- kind of cool. They are these rock formations (not unlike flowerpot island if anyone has seen those) but there aren't 12 any more because some of them have fallen. Iw ould have asked for my money back ,but its free. We continued down the road and checked out some other awesome sights- a gorge, a blowhole, an arch etc.. (it was cooler in person that it sounds in writing.) We were getting tired so we continued into Port Campbell to find a place to sleep.
We went around to a few motels and hostels but they all said NO VACANCY. After being turned away many times I said "NOw I know how Joseph and Mary felt!" I'm not sure if either no one heard, or they just didn't find it funny. Anyhoo- we ended up finding a campsight and pitching our tents for the
giant koala!
don't you just love koalas? night. We went out for an amazing dinner and drank some beer by their awesome little harbour.
Day 6- Man this road by the ocean is GREAT!
So, we woke up and hopped back on the road to check out some more of the sights that the Great Ocean Road has to offer. We took a detour to the Great Otway National Park. We did the skywalk which is a steel walk way up to 40 metres above ground- so we were pretty much walking above tree level at some points! It was NUTS, but totally amazing. It was an amazing rainforest with HUGE trees! I really loved it.
After a ridiculously expensive lunch, we hopped back on the road to Melbourne. We booked a hostel on the way and it turned out to be AWESOME! This hostel had a roof top lounge, a restaurant, nice rooms- it is the Hilton of hostels! That night we went out to hit the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and saw this guy named Josh Thomas- he is a 19 year old comedian who turned out to be hilarious. The festival is as prestigious, if not more, than Just for Laughs and
Koala!
so cute, and the koala aint bad either?! it was great timing that we were in Melbourne at the time. After the show we hit up a semi-posh bar called Cookie. It was EXTREMELY dark (ie dimly lit), and at one point they turned the lights down lower! We headed back to our hostel and called it a night.
Day 7- Islands, Koalas and Penguins- oh my!
Today Amy, Erin and I parted with Kyle and headed to Phillips Island. This place is pretty cool- its a small island about 2 hours outside of Melbourne. We found a place to camp for the night (called "AMAZING THINGS", kind of weird no?) and then took off to check out the island. We got a pass that got us into 3 of the main features. The first one was some smaller island that is kind of like pioneer village. It was interesting, and their pancakes were delicious. At this place we met up with Sean and Meg and then proceeded to the Koala Sanctuary! This place was awesome- they have walkways that are pretty high up so you can be on the same level as the koalas (who are usually pretty high up in the trees.) Usually koalas sleep
20 hours a day, so its rare to see them pretty active, but we were there at the right time! They were moving and jumping! Definitely good times.
After the koalas we headed to the "Penguin Parade" which was so cool! Its a daily march of the penguins. They are called little penguins and each night they climb out of the ocean to go to their nests. We sat in roped off areas and watched it! It was so fantastic! We weren't allowed to take pictures 😞 The funniest part was the sign in the parking lot that asked you to check under your cars for penguins!
Day 8- back to Melbourne
We woke up early int he morning, packed up our tents and headed back to Melbourne for the last time. We were staying in a different part of Melbourne called St Kilda. Depending on who you ask, St Kilda has different reputations- cool and trendy for some, creepy and prostitute filled for others. I had a great time! We reunited with Kyle and checked out the place. I went into a store to get some q-tips and the woman in the store said "You aren't from around here are you?" I told her "No, I'm from Canada." Turns out, she is from Canada too, from ETOBICOKE! She went to Richview probably around the same time my brothers did...hilarious. She moved here to work and loves it. She was very nice and recommend a bunch of bars and pubs to go to.
Our night in St Kilda was amazing- we met up with some of Kyles friends, reunited with Tara and Ashley and bar hopped! It was delightful!
Day 9- Going home.
Okay, this day isn't that exciting- we just packed up our crap and drove home. We stopped off at a cute little town called Albury for lunch and then hit the road to get home in time. It was a long day, but it was nice to get back home into my bed.
Thats it! Iknow its a long one, but hopefully you enjoyed! Miss home 😊 Lots of love from down undah!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.11s; Tpl: 0.029s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0474s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Rachel B
non-member comment
no photos?
why couldn't you take photos of the penguins? strange. does the flash startle them? hmmmmmm............