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Published: November 1st 2006
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After another epic but scenic drive along the Great Alpine Road through the Victorian Alps and its Lakes District (I kid you not), we arrived in Melbourne where Dawn and Eugene and their lovely little girl, nearly-three-year-old Nicole, kindly put us up for a few nights. Dawn and Eugene are old mountain biking mates of Rod’s, but he hadn’t seen them since they left Poynton for Melbourne six years ago!
We were very spoilt by Dawn’s fantastic cooking and weekend goodies from a local bakery. It was all very civilized and far from the hostels and camping lifestyle we’ve become used to.
We spent a Sunday afternoon at nearby Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary, where there was a fantastic birds of prey display and the wombat keeper explained a bit about wombat behaviour, which stood us in good stead for our trip to Wilsons Promontory (see upcoming blog update!). After that we idled the afternoon away in the Yarra Valley Wine area, which is only about an hour North of Melbourne…time had healed memories of the Hunter Valley aftermath and the wine tasted even better here! It was a lovely, sunny day and it seemed that half of Melbourne’s yuppies had
The old heap of junk
On the Great Alpine Road brought their kids to the wineries to run riot in the gardens while they guzzled the good stuff…what ever happened to a day out at the park?
As Dawn and Melbourne explained, in Australia - and particularly in Melbourne, Oz’s coffee capital - the yuppie kids are truly pampered…..while the mums and dads enjoy their coffee in one of the city’s gizillion coffee bars, the kids get placated with a ‘babycino’ (frothy milk with a dash of chocolate). Talk about the slippery slope!
The Rugby League grand final was on while we were in Melbourne, so Eugene took us to one of Melbourne’s newest landmarks, futuristic Federation Square, to watch Melbourne Storm play Brisbane Broncos on a big screen. Although Melbourne considers itself to be the sporting capital of a sporting nation, it’s yet to embrace Rugby League (which is big in New South Wales). In Melbourne Aussie Rules is the local sport, which has us baffled but Melbourne lost anyhow.
On our first full day in Melbourne, we adopted a pace that seemed to work in a city whose European-style alleyways are crammed full of coffee bars, restaurants and deli’s. After 30 years as a committed
tea-drinker, I finally developed a coffee habit in Melbourne which seems fitting. We wandered around taking photos of the bizarre mix of old and new architecture from both sides of the Yarra River and we squeezed in a visit to National Gallery of Victoria, which was pretty impressive. For our third snack stop of the day we met Eugene and went to Brunetti’s café…. something of an institution in the Lygon Street Italian area. It has a patisserie counter that goes on forever, full of the most tempting cakes.
The Great Ocean Road After being told by several people that the Great Ocean Road was unmissable, we re-jigged our itinerary to fit it in.
The road begins at Torquay (?!*), which is about an hour and half’s drive South West of Melbourne, and continues on past Bell’s Beach (regular venue for surfing World Championships), on to charming Lorne and Apollo Bay and then inland for a short stretch before rejoining the coast near the Twelve Apostles: humungous limestone stacks carved out as the waves erode the coastal cliffs.
We’d originally planned three nights to drive as far as the Twelve Apostles and Port Campbell (although the
Dawn and Nicole
Heading up from the Kapp household Great Ocean Road continues on past there), but we cut it down to two when Rod’s hopes for an afternoon of mountain biking at Apollo Bay were dashed - yet more supposedly great trails that are unmarked and, he was told, impossible to find without a local to help you. Obviously, said locals charge to act as guide.
The drive was very scenic and dramatic in places…but the definite highlight was the area around the Twelve Apostles and we timed our arrival there perfectly: it was late afternoon on a hot, windswept day and the light was perfect for photos. Just a few hours later the clouds rolled in, and we were woken in the middle of the night by a simultaneous clap of thunder and bolt of lighting. It felt as though the storm was right on top of us and we were convinced the lighting had struck the car, but we were far too sleepy to bother getting out of the tent to check!
We woke up to a very soggy tent the next morning and there was more rain on the way, so we packed up and made a quick get-away, driving on the inland
highway back to Melbourne and through the city southwards to the Mornington Peninsula.
The Mornington Peninsula We spent an afternoon wandering around an upmarket little holiday town called Sorrento (not the best at original place-names, the Aussies), which is at the southern end of the Peninsula. It’s a really nice place, but it’s not yet holiday season and Sorrento was near-deserted.
We drove North again in search of a campsite for the night but also - and more importantly - in search of wineries. You may have noticed a pattern! After a steep drive up Arthur’s Seat (another unimaginative name) we found ourselves a winery just about to close so we rushed in there for some cool-climate Pinot Noir and then drove on to uninspiring Dromana to spend the night.
Another day and another few wineries, including one that supplies to the UK (memo to self), and then we were back on the road back to Melbourne.
More Melbourne! During our last few days in Melbourne we stayed in St Kilda (a beach-side suburb, with a colourful history). St Kilda was nice enough but it was only a tram-ride away from the city centre
so we headed back there for another busy, sunny, day.
Unfortunately, Rod didn’t get to see any cricket played at legendary Melbourne Cricket Ground (‘the MCG’), but we did manage to get on a tour of the 100,000 capacity Ground which even I enjoyed despite knowing nothing about Cricket…sorry, Dad! Other than that, we filled the day with regular coffee and beer breaks and we decided that Melbourne was the place to splurge on our first dinner out. In reality, it was hardly a splurge: we spent $40 (a little over 15 quid) for both of us to enjoy two courses plus wine in a fantastic restaurant on vibrant Brunswick Street, which is packed full of busy restaurants and is home to Jamie Oliver’s new eatery.
The verdict on Melbourne: It’s a great, cultured and cosmopolitan city without pretension. After over six weeks in Australia it felt almost European! We can understand why it’s considered to be the most ‘liveable’ city in Australia.
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The Mikez
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Blog-tastic!
Another good couple of Blogs Rachy-Roo. Maybe a future career as a travel writer? Seeing as you like wine here's a gag: What's a bogan's (chav's) favourite wine?..........."Wayne! Can we go to the pub now?!" Wa, wa, wa, waaaa! Wine/Whine? Do you get it? Good eh? No? I'll get my coat.