Advertisement
Published: February 26th 2010
Edit Blog Post
Send two country girls to a big city and it's not long before we need out, at least for a day or two every now and again! So while we have been in Melbourne, there have been plenty of mini trips, such as...
Sovereign Hill An old town from the time of the gold rush which is now preserved as a sort of out door museum. All the shops were still as they would have been back then, and all the staff were dressed in their old fashioned clothes. We took a tour of a couple of mines and tried (unsuccessfully) to pan for gold.
Great Ocean Road They say that there are three great things to see in Australia - the Rock, the Reef and the Road. The first two are well known back home, but not many people seem to have heard of "the Road" until they get here. (The saying is of course slightly wrong - there are FOUR great things to see in Australia - the Rock, the Reef, the Road and Ramsey Street, but that's another story...) The Great Ocean Road is a 200-300km stretch of coastal road just west of Melbourne,
Panning for gold
No, I didn't find any, and yes, I am wearing jeans and a hoodie in the Australian summer! and has some really cool rock formations from the way the sea has erroded the cliffs over the years. All the way long, there are loads of look outs and lighthouses and beaches to stop at. And parts of the road are built right into the cliff side - quite scary looking out my side of the window while Fiona was driving! A really cool beach that we found was called Johanna beach, and was massive, though there wasn't a single other person on it apart from us. There were also beaches along what is called 'the ship wreck coast' where you can see anchors and some ruins from shipwrecks that happened decades ago. The most famous sight is the 12 Apostles, although we could only count about 8...
Puffing Billy Puffing Billy is an old steam train that takes you through some scenic forests and hill sides. You get to sit on the edge with your legs sticking over the side, which is fun after you get over the fear that you're going to slide right over the edge!
Wilson's Promontory We didn't think the Prom (the Aussie's shorten EVERYTHING) was that far away, until
Johanna beach
Fiona on the huge deserted beach we started seeing roadsigns as we left Melbourne - over 200km away! Quite far to go for a day trip... Australia is so much bigger than we ever remember... But it was a nice day in the Wilson's Prom National Park - we did some bush walking (and saw a snake!) and did some sunbathing on Squeeky Beach - the sand was very squeeky...
Brighton Beach ...complete with colourful beach huts!
Phillip Island Phillip Island is famous for the Penguin Parade which happens every evening at sunset - loads of tiny penguins come out of the sea, waddle up the beach in wee groups and then head up the dunes to their homes. So cute! You aren't allowed to take photos of them though :-( But we did also go to the Koala Sanctuary there, where they have built boardwalks through the trees so you can walk right by the sleeping koalas. They sleep for 22h a day... but we did spot one who had just woken up, and we watched him eat his tree for about 10 minutes before he just fell asleep again mid-mouthful.
The Grampians We spent a weekend in the
Grampians mountains - obviously not the Scottish mountains! And not as impressive either... But unlike in Scotland, the Australians have built roads and lookouts all the way through, so you can just drive to a carpark, walk for a couple of minutes and then get a great view out! This is, of course, cheating! I haven't been climing Munroes back home for nothing! So on our second day, I dragged Fiona out walking. We meant to set out really early to avoid the head as much as we could, but we got a bit lost and by the time we found where we were supposed to be going, it was well past 10am... So by the time we finished at 2pm, it was at least 35 degrees, even near the top... You don't get that in Scotland! However, the view was very very worth it! (The pain in the legs while trying to climb stairs for the next 3 days maybe wasn't...)
We stayed in a really cool hostel though. Nothing like hostels in cities. Each dorm room was in a wee chalet, and we were in the middle of nowhere, with kangaroos almost on the door step! (This
was mine and Fiona's first 'roo sightings in 3 months of being in Australia, which I think is impressive in itself!)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.087s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0335s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb