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.

Port Campbell to Apollo Bay

Leaving our room at the militant Port Campbell Hostel was one of the most surreal experiences we've ever had when checking out of a hostel. After being taken back a little by all the rules we had to follow, I half joked that there was a notice saying that an alarm would sound 15 minutes before our check out time! Then at 9.50am a tannoy announcement came on (seriously what kind of hostel has a tannoy?) to "kindly" remind us that in order to receive our $10 key deposit we must leave the hostel within 10 minutes. Feeling quite cheesed off by this we left fairly swiftly -  it's not like we were paying customers, oh wait yes we were...

The plan for the day was to combine the Otway Fly with a trip to the Cape Otway Lightstation and if possible squeeze in a walk to Triplet Falls inbetween. Driving to the Otway Fly took just over an hour, and we paid to go around the steel treetop walk which enables visitors to walk 25 metres above the forest floor. The whole walk included a bush walking track that took us just over an hour and we climbed our way to the top of the spiral tower to give us a face to face view of the tallest parts of the forest canopy at 47 metres! 

View up the spiral tower

Looking down the walkway from the tower

There was also cantilever platform to walk out to, which has been designed to hold 28 tonnes or 14 elephants, however the "gentle" swaying action didn't feel very reassuring in the wind! The best joke of the day was on a signboard which said "When's a leaf not a leaf? When it's a phyllode!". It's not really a joke because it's not funny but more of an interesting fact as phyllodes are essentially leaf-like structures.

Phyllodes are no laughing matter!

 

The platypus we spotted at Young's Creek!

Having spent a decent part of the day at the Otway Fly we decided not to bother with the nearby Triplet Falls to give us as much time as possible to make the most of Cape Otway Lightstation as it was another hour's drive. Unfortunately this wasn't the wisest of decisions as the lighthouse was a serious disapppointment, especially as the admission cost is quite high (luckily we'd paid for a special combined ticket with the Otway Fly which made it cheaper). According to their leaflet it's billed as being the "highlight of the Great Ocean Road", however the grounds looked seriously run down with a number of the buildings closed off or feeling a bit neglected. The World War II Radar Bunker was closed off, as was the Head Lightkeeper's House and there was a token Aboriginal culture site, which a bit confusing and didn't tell you much about what was on display. Although, the state of Victoria seems more tolerant in acknowledging the indigenous cultures that existed before European settlement, sometimes it feels that the things which are highlighted are often just lip-service and don't give you much useful knowledge unlike when we visited Koorie Heritage Trust in Melbourne on King St. It seems a shame that more progress hasn't been made to integrate Aboriginal culture into mainstream society apart from where it offers some sort of commercial interest... 

A spectacular view across Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean

One couple wanting to catch a glimpse of the lighthouse had a wasted journey as they but didn't want to pay the entrance fee ($17 per person), but I didn't really blame them as I felt it didn't offer good value for money. We kinda wished we stuck with a walk round Triplet Falls and I wouldn't really recommended the lighthouse as a must see attraction, which is a real shame considering it's historical significance in Victoria. According to a leaflet I read it's the oldest surviving lighthouse in mainland Australia (built in 1848) and was involved in the first telegraph cable laid between Tasmania and mainland Australia in 1859.

Nice lighthouse, shame about the rest

The only redeeming part of the Great Otway Lightstation experience was the sheer number of koalas hanging out in the eucalyptus trees on the road down to the lighthouse! It was easily the best place to see them in the greatest numbers on the Great Ocean Road, a far better place than the Kennet River Koala Walk.

Who has Lizzie spotted...?

 

... not another koala!

The final leg of journey was down to Apollo Bay where we finished the day with some well earned fish and chips. Exploring Apollo Bay was for another day...

Phillip Island to Lorne

Leaving Phillip Island early, the plan for the day was to reach Lorne but in order for us to do this we would need to catch a ferry in Sorrento to cross the Bass Strait and pick up the Great Ocean Road from Queenscliff. Working our way round the Mornington Peninsula our first stop was at Mornington itself, a historic seaside town famous for it's colourful bathing boxes and swimming beaches.

The bathing boxes at Mills Beach

We had just enough time to grab some lunch and walk through Main St to see the Grand Hotel, Old Court House and the Old Post Office Museum, as well as visiting the famous bathing huts on Mills Beach before continuing our journey onto Sorrento.

Along the way we drove past the highest point on the Port Phillip Bay coast (at 305m), known as Arthur's Seat (or Wonga by the Boon Wurrung people). Although, you can catch excellent views of the bay we had no time to stop at the lookout. I also spotted a street called Carmichael St in Tootgarook, so maybe we were destined to pass through the peninsula!

Once we reached Sorrento, we barely had time to check out Portsea, which was a shame as it's the last village on the tip of the peninsula plus it has some interesting things to see in the nearby national park, but that was just the nature of the day. I bemoaned the fact that most of the day had been spent in the car but it had to be done as this would be the longest part of the journey and was always going to be logistically the most tricky.

Picturesque view of Sorrento from Port Phillip Bay 

After a short journey across "the Rip" we arrived at the Bellarine Peninsula in Queenscliff where we could finally start our trip on the Great Ocean Road. It wasn't long before made our first stop to stretch our legs at Angelsea, parking up next to the river to watch an old man doing some impressive kite boarding - it guess it shows that you're only as old as you feel! Walking along the bank of the estuary until we reached the Main Beach, we caught our first proper glimpse of the Southern Ocean.

Kite boarder on the Anglesea River showing how it's really done

The next stop of the journey was for a brief look at the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch located at Eastern View. It marks the commencing point of the first stage of the Great Ocean Road built by 3,000 Australian soldiers and sailors who returned from the First World War (1914 - 1918). The casualty rate of 64% was higher than any other nation engaged in WWI and was Australia's highest of any war.

Finding employment for the returning servicemen was a crucial factor in the Great Ocean Road project and their rehabilitation to civilian life. The Arch commemorates the construction of the road and symbolises the sacrifice made by so many, across distant lands.

The Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch built in 1939

Me and Lizzie at the start of the Great Ocean Road

Pushing onto Lorne we drove up some steep and twisty roads along the B100, as well as passing an interesting lighthouse at Aireys Inlet called Split Point Lighthouse. In an ideal world, if we had the time (and money) we would spend a couple of weeks exploring the route but at least we've got the return journey to revisit anything we couldn't see first time round.

Arriving in Lorne just after 7pm we got settled into our motel and then went to the Grand Pacific Hotel to get something to eat. On our way down Armytage St we were greeted by a whole host of cockatoos and galahs feeding on the ground. One cheeky cockatoo even flew up to the fence right next to me. 

The Grand Pacific Hotel is a landmark in Lorne, originally built in 1875 it has been fully restored with a modern facilities whilst retaining some classic period features.

The iconic Grand Pacific Hotel at dusk

Exploring Victoria: Melbourne to Phillip Island

After a late night planning our routes to Phillip Island and an early start checking out of the hostel, we picked up our hire car from the city centre to start the first leg of our 6 day road trip across Victoria. However, it wasn't long before we encountered our first problem - the hire car was an automatic and we'd never driven an automatic before! It wasn't as straightforward as you would think to get the car moving but once we got to grip with the controls it wasn't so difficult, although it did feel a bit weird not having to change gear or use a clutch peddle. On the whole, driving in Australia isn't much different to driving in the UK, except you've got far less traffic and more exotic animals to avoid running over!

Lizzie started off the driving for the first stage of the epic journey and she even performed a few of the infamous hook turns in the city centre! They're not as difficult as they're made out to be, all you need to do is pull across to the left hand lane if you want to turn right at an intersection to avoid blocking the tram line. Once the road is clear then you cross all the lanes of traffic to make your turn. Simples!

Unfortunately, there are no short cuts down to Phillip Island so we had to take the long way round the Mornington Peninsula largely down the Nepean Highway to avoid the Melbourne toll roads. It took us a couple of hours to reach our motel at Cowes, the capital of Phillip Island. There's also a town on the island called Ventnor just like the Isle of Wight so maybe there's some sort of historical connection.

Phillip Island is famous for it's Penguin Parade and Grand Prix circuit. The Penguin Parade is the number one wildlife tourist attraction in Australia and as a result it attracts half-a-million visitors annually. There's also a large seal colony to see at "the Nobbies", as well as the Koala Conservation Centre and Churchill Island (a working farm off the main island).

As Phillip Island is only 100 sq km it's quite easy to get around by car. So after dropping our bags off at the motel, the first thing we did was head down to the Koala Conservation Centre to see what else but koalas up close and personal from the treetop boardwalks!

Mrs Koala stuffing her face from the Koala Boardwalk



Cute joey climbing up to see her mum







































Walking around the Woodland Boardwalk, we caught a glimpse of a galah (or a rose-breasted cockatoo) in the distance before we decided to head round the short bush walk track where a swamp wallaby (or black wallaby) posed beautifully for us.

Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla)

Swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor)

Me taking a picture of the said wallaby

We then went to Penguin Parade at Summerlands in the south-west corner of the island, to watch the Little Blue Penguins (Eudyptula minor), or Fairy Penguins as they're known here, head back to their underground burrows from a day out at sea. The Little Blues are the smallest penguins at the world and the only penguin permanently found in Australia. The tour we did was the Ultimate Penguin Tour where we were taken to a secluded beach in a small group of just five people, away from all the main amphitheatre, to watch the little fellas waddling back to their burrows at dusk (approx. 9pm). On the walk back to the visitors centre we caught a glimpse of a few stragglers searching for their burrows in the car park, hence why it is important to check under your car before you drive away.

Penguins also have burrows in the car park, you have been warned!

An interesting note to the island conservation was that the Victorian government started a compulsory buy-back of the land on the Summerland Estate as it was considered a blight on the landscape and a threat to the last major penguin colony on the island. The plan was to strip back the developments from the land to restore the natural habitat to the area. This started in 1985 and took place over 15 years before any revegetation could take effect.

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.