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Published: December 29th 2008
The Great Ocean Road
Does what it says on the tin
Tuesday 23/12/08 Our last day on the Great Ocean Road took us from Apollo Bay all the way into Melbourne. The road from Apollo Bay winds along the coast and with the sea on our right hand side for many kilometres it felt like one of those roads you pnly get on car adverts. We are so used to sitting in our cars in nose to tail traffic that it has been a real pleasure to drive on empty roads with vast open spaces on either side.
We were almost tempted to backtrack slightly on our route from the previous day as we had heard about a walk where you could see wild koalas. It would have meant a pretty big addition to our journey and we had to get the car back to Melbourne so we decided to carry on. About an hour into the trip we entered some eucalypt forests and I had a feeling we may get our koalas after all. Sure enough as we rounded a bend a car load of tourists had unloaded and were pointing their cameras at the tree tops. We pulled over and spotted a koala perched
precariously in the bough of a tree right above the road. As we looked we saw more and more of them in the trees around us. As you would expect from an animal that spends 20 hours a day sleeping, all of the koalas were dozing away. This makes them easy to photograph but perhaps not the most exciting of subjects.
There were a couple more interesting stops on the road that morning. In the town of Anglesea the local golf course is home to a large number of kangaroos so we stopped there to watch them as they got in the way of the golfers.
Further down the road we stopped for lunch in Torquay, the surf capital of Victoria and a town which is probably about the same size as its namesake in Cornwall. A large shopping mall called Surf City is home to outlet stores for most of the big surf and outdoor clothing companies. We were both in need of some new clothes so a bit of retail therapy was required.
We planned to head from Torquay straight into Melbourne but a sign pointing towards a wildlife sanctuary diverted us. This was a
The end of the road
(or the start if you go from Melbourne to Adelaide) rehabilitation centre for wildlife injured on the roads but was also a small zoo. We saw more koalas and kangaroos and Jules fulfilled one of her wishes for the trip when she came face to face with a wombat. We spent half an hour or so with the animals before the flies once again got the better of us.
The final leg of the journey into Melbourne included some great long range views of the city and then a slightly unnerving drive around the freeway to the airport. Considering the amount of space available in Australia it was interesting how many drivers wanted to drive their cars within a few metres of our bumper!
We took a taxi from the airport into St Kilda and checked into our hostel. After working our way through two weeks worth of washing we headed out onto the waterfront and Acland Street - St Kilda's main street for bars and restaurants.
The walk down Acland Street took us past wonderful cake shops with shelf after shelf of huge cakes and pastries. The smell was amazing but we managed to resist, promising ourselves a cake on Christmas Day instead.
As we
perused the restaurant options we spotted a familiar face walking past. We have both been avid watchers of the HBO TV series 'The Wire' and the actress who plays the character Detective Greggs passed by. We didn't have time to ask her for a photo with Bob unfortunately.
The hostel is very lively and quite noisy with a huge bar which opens up to non-hostel residents at night. Fortunately we are on the second floor and away from the action - we both feel a bit old for the antics going on down there!
Wednesday 24/12/08 We needed to get our picnic for Christmas Day together so we headed down Acland Street bright and early to avoid the crowds. There were some great little delicatessens along with the cake shops already mentioned so we packed the cool bag with ice and stocked up.
By about 10 o'clock it was getting busy but we had completed our shopping so headed into the city centre on the tram. All of the city's public transport runs on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and it is also completely free for these two days. The tram system is fantastic - clean,
efficient and with loads of routes around the city. Two lines ran right past the hostel so we jumped on one of these and were in Federation Square twenty minutes later.
Fed Square is not actually square at all. The area is made up of irregular shaped buildings, sloping walkways, stairs and quirky annexes. The buildings are really unusual and sit alongside some of the fantastic older buildings in Melbourne's centre, particularly Flinders St station, the main rail terminal.
The city centre is built along the Yarra River, and as the river passes Flinders St station there is an esplanade alongside running from Federation Square towards the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and the Rod Laver arena, home of the Australian Tennis Open. We walked along this esplanade (Federation Walk) stopping to look at the sculptures and interactive displays along the way. Melbourne does this sort of thing really well. There are surprises everywhere you go in the city - the authorities aren't frightened of commissioning unusual artwork, some pieces absolutely enormous. Rather than tucking them away in art galleries, they are an integral part of the city. More importantly they are accessible. You can actually touch them, sit
on them, walk on them, in some cases skateboard on them.
One piece of work which was particularly striking (no pun intended) was a set of bells which were upturned and raised on metal poles above a section of Federation Walk. There were about fifty bells in a range of sizes positioned irregularly. As we walked around them the bells chimed seeming to respond to our steps.
Another feature of Melbourne is the alleyways and arcades which run between the main shopping streets. At times it felt as though we were in Madrid rather than Melbourne with street cafes in narrow alleys with overhanging balconies and air conditioning units.
To get a different view of the city we headed up to the Rialta tower observation deck. This is on the 55th floor of a skyscraper office block in the heart of the central business district. I've always enjoyed heading up to these tall buildings despite my uneasiness with heights. It is great to see a city in all its glory and the views from the Rialta tower were excellent. We could clearly pick out St Kilda and also had great views of the MCG, the Telstra Stadium
on the waterfront, the race course (home of the Melbourne Cup) and in the distance the valleys of wine country.
Next stop was the enormous Crown Casino complex, the largest casino in the southern hemisphere (lots of things in Australia are 'the largest in the Southern Hemisphere' - I guess there isn't the same competition as in the Northern Hemisphere.) We had a couple of small beers for some Dutch courage and then headed on to the gaming floor. We spent a couple of hours in the casino. It was great fun and we won occasionally, lost a bit more often but ended up only about twenty dollars down - just over eight pounds. Part of the reason we spent so much time in there is that we got lost. The gaming floor is enormous and the various sections all look very similar. It was a bit bewildering with all the noise and flashing lights of the machines. The best response was to get another beer and wander around until we saw something we recognised.
We eventually found our way out and crossed the Yarra River on a footbridge lined with glass panels. Each panel represented a country
which contributed to the population of Australia. The panels ran by country in alphabetical order and detailed the number of people born in that country who now reside in Australia, along with the number of people in Australia directly descended from that country. The number of glass panels was incredible, representing a huge number of nations. As you might expect, the countries of the UK had a large influence. I hadn't quite grasped the influence we are still having though. In a population of just over 20 million, 1 million of these (or five percent) were born in the UK. What is even more amazing is that even now with the influx of immigrants from Southern Europe, South East Asia and the Indian subcontinent, about 9.5 million, almost half of all Aussies are directly descended from Britons. The rate of emigration from the UK to Australia continues apace.
It was now getting dark and there was a huge Christmas Carol concert taking place in Melbourne, shown on big screens in Federation Square. We watched for a while and tried to get into the Christmas spirit but when it is over 20 degrees at eight o'clock in the evening it
just doesn't feel like Christmas!
As we headed away from Fed Square we passed all sorts of street performers all with large crowds gathered around them. There were lots of families around and the Christmas revelry was all very good natured even though there were some casualties who had clearly started very early. It was getting very late by the time we sat down to eat in Chinatown. The day exploring Melbourne had been really enjoyable. Our guide book described it as a city of few sights but many experiences and I would go along with this. Melbourne doesn't have the same visual impact as Sydney (I'm not sure any city does) but is undoubtedly one of the most interesting cities I have been to in which to wander round. Each street holds something unusual or new, the calendar is full of events in Melbourne, the bars and restaurants are as diverse as in an city and the climate can be as warm as the rest of Australia but with a slightly more unpredictable edge. In short I would imagine that Melbourne is a city where you could never get bored, each day a unique experience and never dull!
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