Torquay to Melbourne

This is the final entry on the blog for the road trip as the car has to be returned to the place where we started back in Melbourne. To make the most of the day we left Torquay early to take a quick detour to Bells Beach, which is a famous surfing beach where the final showdown in Point Break was filmed. Admittedly, I've never seen the film (although Lizzie is vowing to make me watch it soon...), but I was in awe of the sea as some really powerful waves crashed metres in front of us. We had to abandon the beach visit fairly quickly though as we were being bitten by blood sucking flies!

Bells Beach is the mecca of surfing, this was just one of many surfers!

A surfer getting ready to take on the ocean

Pressing on, the next stop en route to Melbourne was Geelong (or 'Geh-long' as it's pronounced) which was a 20 minute drive from Torquay. Although, we only had an hour to spare we were able to check out the revamped waterfront at Corio Bay and some of the unique buildings on Moorabool St.

The distinctive T&G Building in Geelong

The T&G Assurance Building in Warnambool

Although, no longer called the T&G building, this iconic Art Deco masterpiece is in the heart of Napier

The T&G Mutual Life Assurance Society was an insurance company that operated in Australia and New Zealand in a number of iconic Art Deco buildings. Although the company no longer exists the name still lives on in several cities including in Waarnambool, and Napier in New Zealand, which we visited on our original trip.

Down by the waterfront there are a number of brightly colour bollards (111 in total) which capture the character of Geelong's inhabitants, past and present. These range from the lifeguard team, to some fishermen and even the town band. The Baywalk Bollards were created by local artist, Jan Mitchell, who transformed old timber pier pylons into this colourful piece of public art. The most recent bollard is a tribute to Jan Mitchell herself as she died in 2008.

Lizzie as part of the lifesaving team

Volunteer Rifle Band represents Geelong’s first band
concerts in 1861

The Geelong Baths Swimming Club with yours truly

World War II couple

1940s Tram Conductress

Scallop fishermen and woman

Yacht Club lady

Mrs de Carteret

Fireman representing the Volunteer Fire Brigade

The final leg back to Melbourne was far less interesting (apart from trying to navigate our way round the city centre) but it concluded our 1254 km or 779 mile trip!

It was a sad day saying goodbye to the trusty Ford Focus

To cap off a fantastic week on the road, we quickly dropped into the State Victoria Library to check out the Ned Kelly exhibition, which included his death mask and the most complete version of his infamous armour from Ned's capture at Glenrowan. Normally these items are on display at Old Melbourne Gaol so I'd imagine you'd be quite gutted if you paid the entrance fee at the gaol to find out you they're free to view temporarily at the library!

What I was also impressed by at the library was the octagonal La Trobe Reading Room. This was the largest reinforced-concrete dome in the world when it was completed in 1913. Since 1959, copper sheets were installed over the skylights as sheets of glass had reportedly fallen onto the library users below. However, with the wonders of modern technology the dome has been restored to it's original state and the reading room can be flooded with natural daylight once again.

We're staying in a different (more central hostel) for our last two days in Melbourne and just around from the corner are the Carlton Gardens where the UNESCO World Heritage listed Royal Exhibition Building can be found. Built for the 1880 International Exhibition, the building is one of the world's oldest remaining exhibition pavilions.

The Royal Exhibition Building was designed by the architect Joseph Reed, who also designed the State Library of Victoria

After taking advantage of the $5 pizza offer at the Blue Moon Bar next to our hostel (it was actually a nicely made fresh pizza, nothing out of the microwave!), we went for an evening stroll on Yarra promenade down by the Southbank where we eventually finished up at Federation Square for a free Cornetto ice cream to round off the day.

View of the city skyline from the Southbank

The Travellers sculpture, Sandridge Bridge

Melbourne skyline with the Southbank Pedestrian Bridge

Clock tower of Flinders Street station under the bridge arch

Flinders Street station is the oldest station in Australia

Alas this draws to a close to our adventure around Victoria and Melbourne, and brings us onto the main part of our trip - New Zealand.

A day at the zoo and a day at the beach

In an attempt to explore Melbourne beyond the Central Business District we decided to take a trip to Melbourne Zoo in the inner city Parkville suburb, which was a short train journey from Flinders Street. The zoo is one of the city's most popular attractions and is currently celebrating it's 150th anniversary this year, making it the oldest zoo in Australia and the third oldest in the world.

The main attraction for us was seeing the large collection of native iconic Australian animals such kangaroos, wallabies, emus, echidnas, koalas, kookaburras and Little Blue Penguins (which we're hoping to see in the wild as part of the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island). 

Emus are the second-largest living bird in the world by height

Wallabies

An echidna

Laughing Kookaburras

A tree-kangaroo found in New Guinea and far north Queensland

Little Blue Penguins waiting for lunch

The first koala of the trip - it's so sleepy!

One of the most interesting animals that we saw had to the bizarre, but unique, platypus. This semi-aquatic animal is one of two mammals known as monotremes which lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young (the other monotreme being the echidna). What makes it even more unusual is it has a a soft, toothless rubbery bill, webbed feet, beaver-like tail and the males have venomous spurs, making it one of only a few venomous mammals - it's truly like no other animal on earth!

Lizzie outside the "Platypusary"

The platypus in all it's greatness!

However, poor water quality in Australia is threatening the platypus and many others species, so the zoo has been running the Wash for Wildlife campaign, which encourages people to use washing products with less phosphates, as these ultimately find their way into the ecosystem. High phosphate levels can cause:

• The potential for algal blooms
• Oxygen starvation of water, inhibiting the survival of some wildlife
• Decreased water clarity, creating a physical barrier to wildlife finding food and escaping predators
• Smothering of some habitats caused by disrupted light infiltration.

I'm sure this is not a problem exclusive to Australia, so it would be worth considering using products with reduced phosphates or even those without any to help preserve our wildlife elsewhere.

The other notable incident of the day was when a bottle of lemonade exploded in my face! In what seemed like a fairly harmless idea, I decanted some lemonade into a water bottle to take as a drink to the zoo.When it came to sitting down for lunch I unscrewed the cap and all hell broke loose. Having the bottle in the pocket of my day-bag in the thirty degree heat must have built up the pressure of the gassy liquid, as before I knew it the cap flew off and hit me in the face with a loud bang, with all the lemonade jetting out. It must have been quite funny to anyone who was walking by as I would have laughed at that!

Heading in the opposite direction, we decided to pay St Kilda a visit on a different day, catching the number 16 tram from Swanson Street. St Kilda once had a seedy reputation but has enjoyed a resurgence. During the Edwardian and Victorian eras, St Kilda became a favoured suburb of Melbourne's elite, however, today, St Kilda reminds me a little bit of Southsea in Portsmouth, in that it looks run down but is potentially quite a nice place to be.

One of the more famous attractions in St Kilda is Luna Park, which is a traditional-style amusement park that opened in 1912. The entrance to the park is iconic, as you have to walk through the creepy Mr Moon's gaping mouth! Once inside there's a heritage-listed wooden scenic railway, which is the oldest operating roller coaster in the world. Luna Park as a whole is listed by the National Trust of Australia, and the main heritage features are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

The iconic "Mr Moon" entrance

 

Walking down the foreshore we headed over to the pier to check out the St Kilda Pier Kiosk and the nearby colony of Little Blue Penguins. The original kiosk burnt down in 2003 in an arson attack, one year from its centenary, but was it was faithfully recreated using the original plans and what remained of the original materials.

St Kilda Pier

St Kilda Pier Kiosk

Round the back of the kiosk is a stretch of breakwater which protects the harbour and is where the colony of penguins have set up residence. It is thought that the penguins might have originally come from Phillip Island and decided to stay. My good deed for the day was removing some litter from the beach by the Little Blues, although its a shame none of the locals thought to do it, seeing as they enjoy the penguins as much as the tourists they attract. However, we did indeed catch a brief glimpse of a Little Blue Penguin under by the boardwalk, down by the sea.

View of the Pier Kiosk from the penguin breakwater colony

Unfortunately, our day at St Kilda wasn't as successful as we would have liked it to have been as it rained on and off (although thankfully this was the first real bit of rain we've seen the entire time we've been here). Once the rain stopped the winds picked up and kept pelting us with sand, which got quite painful and irritating quickly, especially along the foreshore path to Albert Park.

On a final note, a special mention needs to go out to the Soda Rock Diner in South Yarra. Having stumbled upon this on the corner of Toorak Road and Chapel Street, this restaurant is a faithful recreation of a 1950s American diner. The thickshakes were thick, there service was great and they even catered to vegetarians, serving a decent veggie burger. If you're ever in the area be sure to check out this diner if you want a nostalgia trip, good music and fine burgers.

Soda Rock on the corner of Toorak Road and Chapel Street

Vinyl-seated booths complete with a jukebox!

Aussie, aussie, aussie,

The next stop on our tour Down Under is Melbourne in Australia, which was an 8 hour flight from Singapore to Tullamarine Airport. At a glance Melbourne has bags of character and we're currently staying in the trendy suburb of South Yarra, which is noted for shopping, fashion and entertainment.

At first I was little apprehensive about the thought of going to Melbourne, especially after feeling quite settled and having a really good time in Singapore. Another reason was that me and Lizzie both really enjoyed Brisbane and Sydney when we did our original trip, but we had heard a lot of good things about Melbourne so I didn't want it to fail to live up to expectations.

View from Flinders Street Station with St Paul's Cathedral in the background

Our first couple of days have been spent getting ourselves orientated and working out the slightly confusing transport network of trains, trams and buses. Taking a trip into city centre via the Flinders Street Station (an impressive 100 year old Victorian train station), we were greeted by a vibrant atmosphere at Federation Square or 'Fed Square' as it's colloquially known as. On the main performance stage were a band called Clairy Browne and the Bangin' Rackettes who drew in a reasonable crowd playing doo-wap and ska music. 

Federation Square

After stopping for a little listen we then headed over to the Yarra River for a walk down towards Richmond, it reminded me quite a lot of a European city, especially with the trees and rowing boat houses lining the bank of the river, and the racing boat teams practicing in the cool evening, as well as the nearby trams ferrying commuters towards the suburbs. 
 

Stretch of the Yarra River

We walked until we reached Birrarung Marr, which is park designed to celebrate the diversity of Victoria's indigenous culture. Its name comes from the language of the Wurundjeri people who originally inhabited the area, 'Birrarung' means 'river of mists' while ‘Marr’ refers to the side of the river.

Birrarung Marr with the MCG in the background

On our first full day in Melbourne we spent pretty much the entire day at the Australian Open on Australia Day. This was a far better way to spend Australia Day than when we were in Cairns on our last trip, where some of the locals took quite a backwards attitude to the indigenous protest of "invasion day". Although Australia Day still courts some controversy, there were no problems in Melbourne (unlike what took place in Canberra with the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard), however, you have to admire the sense of pride Australians have in their country - it's the shame the same can't be said for St. George's Day in England!

Purchasing a ground pass for the day we were able to watch a number of games on the famous blue courts of Melbourne Park including: 

Junior Boys' Singles - Quarter-finals
Luke Saville (AUS) vs Kyle Edmund (GBR) 

Men's Doubles - Semi-finals
Leander Paes (IND)/ Radek Stepnaek (CZE) vs Max Mirinyi (BLR)/ Daniel Nestor (CAN) 

Legends' Doubles
Pat Cash (AUS)/ Goran Ivanisevic (CRO) vs Jacco Eltingh (NED)/ Paul Haarhuis (NED).

The legends' doubles match was the highlight of the day as the match was intended as a bit of banter, with Pat Cash and Goran Ivanisevic providing a bit of comic relief, plus the Aussies were keen to see one person only, Pat Cash! The only problem with sitting around watching all these matches was that we both got quite badly sunburnt despite using a sunscreen with SPF20+. Even down as far as Melbourne the sun is really intense. The last time I got sunburnt in Australia, I took my t-shirt off for 20 minutes in Cairns and lived to regret it for days afterwards!

Ivanisevic "arguing" with the umpire

Captain Australia and Pat Cash showing support for Australian nurses

We hung around for the rest of day to see the men's semi-final on the LED screens around Melbourne Park and watch Roger Federer vs Rafa Nadal. It was a typical Federer vs Nadal match, however the game was interrupted momentarily for the Australian Day firework celebrations - apparently this happens every year but we had a great view. 

In a completely unrelated incident that took place on the way back to our hostel, some teenage girl tried to throw herself in front of a train. She got onto the tracks to prove a point to someone on the phone, fortunately, the train driver had spotted her before he pulled into the station but it could have been much worse if the train wasn't stopping...

On a more upbeat note, we ate at the renowned Fiesta Mexican restaurant in South Yarra (literally on the door step of our hostel). It's a popular haunt for famous tennis players in the Australian Open. Since Andre Agassi started the trend of visiting the restaurant, he has had a dish named in his honour - the "Agassi Burrito"! Players such as Lleyton Hewitt and his wife (formerly Rebecca Cartwright from the Aussie soap Home and Away), Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco and Linsey Davenport, amongst others have eaten there.

For our first full day exploring Melbourne we walked down to the Royal Botanic Gardens on the outskirts of South Yarra. Apparently, the gardens are widely regarded as the finest botanical gardens in Australia and it's easy to see why. One aspect I was really impressed by was "Guilfoyle’s Volcano". The volcano was built in 1876 and designed by William Guilfoyle with the aim of providing gravity-fed irrigation for the Royal Botanic Gardens. The reservoir was styled in the form of a volcanic crater, and was a striking visual feature of the Gardens. Today, the volcano has been restored to play a key part of the Royal Botanic Gardens’ water management program as well as to provide striking views of the city from the boardwalk.

Meandering through the park, we eventually reached the Shrine of Remembrance, which is a shrine to commemorate the lives lost in the Great War of 1914-1918. The shrine was designed by architects Phillip Hudson and James Wardrop who were both World War I veterans, in a classical style based on the Tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus and the Parthenon in Athens. 

It was quite a somber experience visiting the shrine as it also had a lot of information about that the events that took place in Asia and the Pacific during the Second World War. Apparently, the fall of Singapore to the Japanese was considered the greatest loss to the British Empire, and this had major implications for Australia but this is something that you're not really taught about it school in Britain. This is quite disgraceful when you consider that both Singapore and Australia were both part of the British Empire at the time.