Port Campbell to Warnnambool (and back again)

With a population of approx. 400 people there is literally nothing in Port Campbell apart from a two petrol stations, a pub, a couple of restaurants and a food shop, so we decided to start the day off by revisiting a few sites along the most photographed stretch of the Great Ocean Road.

Starting off at the Gibson Steps, we walked down to Gibson Beach as this is the only place along the stretch of Port Campbell National Park where the beach is accessible to the public. From here we could see two of the Twelve Apostles at sea level and walk along the beach where the tide would allow us. Strong currents and undertows make this a dangerous area if you get stranded by high tides, so you have to be a bit careful about how far you walk. The Gibson Steps were originally cut into the cliffs by hand by local landowner Hugh Gibson in the 19th Century but have been replaced more recently with concrete steps.

Gibson Beach looking east

This photo doesn't give a sense of scale, but these rocks are huge!

Jumping back into the car we drove approx 0.1km down the road (according the road sign) back to the Twelve Apostles to reshoot a couple of the eroded cliffs while the sun was in a better position and then drove a little further onto Loch Ard Gorge.

The Twelve Apostles at their best

This is the site of a famous ship wreck, the Lord Ard, on what is considered a notoriously treacherous stretch of coast (as demonstrated by the number of shipwrecks - over 80 in a span of 40 years). There were only two survivors of the wreck, Eva Carmichael and Tom Pearce (who resecued Eva). Maybe this could explain the Carmichael St connection from earlier? The gorge itself was impressive and it was easy to see how the Loch Ard ran into trouble off Muttonbird Island with strong waves crashing against the rocks, but the water within the bay looking so inviting and serene.

The archway by Muttonbird Island

The entrance into Loch Ard Gorge

The two rocks used to be an arch but are now know as "Tom" and "Eva"

Continuing west along the Great Ocean Road we passed some more limestone formations including the Grotto and London Bridge, named after its British counterpart for once being a double span arch. However, London Bridge had quite literally fallen down as one of the arches collapsed under its own weight on 15th January 1990 where the sea has continually eroded it. Apparently no one was hurt, but two people were left stranded on other arch and had to be rescued by helicopter. It is expected that the second arch will eventually do the same to form structures similar to the Twelve Apostles.

London Bridge

Looking down into the Grotto

The plan for the day was to drive over to Warnnambool and check out the Tower Hill Reserve. The drive took about an hour and we passed through the last town on the Great Ocean Road, Nullawarre - although it's so remote there's nothing to see there. Warnnambool is the first major town after the Great Ocean Road.

The Tower Hill Reserve is an extinct volcano 15km west of Warnnambool, which is believed to have erupted about 30,000 years ago. In the late 1950s Tower Hill underwent a re-vegetation project to restore the environment to the state it had been before European settlers moved into the area. Today it's one of a few places where you can spot wild emus, kangaroos and koalas all in the same place.

View into the reserve from Koroit lookout

View of the Tower Hill volcano

Arriving in the reserve, we settled down for lunch with some emus nearby in the picnic area but before long someone pointed out that there was a (unusually active) koala walking on ground to move to another tree. Whilst watching this rare behaviour an emu sneaked up on Lizzie and ate one of her sandwiches! There wasn't much she could do about it but she was quite upset as she was really enjoying her sarnies.

Before we started our walk round the Lava Tongue Boardwalk we saw our first huntsmen spider of Australia on one of the trees where I was taking pictures of koalas. I think we've been generally lucky not to see one up until this point, however, it did make me feel a little uncomfortable (being a bit of an arachnophobe) but I was glad to see it outside and not in a confined space.

The koala...

...and the Huntsmen Spider, apparently they get bigger than this!

Never turn your back on an emu, they're crafty pickpockets

To finish off the day we drove all the way back to the Twelve Apostles for a third time (via stop-offs at the Bay of Islands and The Arch), to get a shot of the limestone formations during the golden hour before and after sunset.

The Bay of Islands is a well kept secret

The Arch

The Twelve Apostles bathed in the light of a glorious sunset

High tide at Gibsons Beach

Lorne to Port Campbell

Getting up early for breakfast, we had heard that the local Sulphur-crested Cockatoos sometimes sit outside the balcony of our motel room and sure enough we were greeted by a couple of unphased cockatoos "looking for a good feed"!

Being so close to the ocean (literally you could see it from our balcony), we took the opportunity to walk down the pier and look out across Loutit Bay, back to the centre of Lorne before driving back into town to have a look around. If you've got the time to check out Lorne it's definitely a nice place if you just want to hangout.

You're never far from civilisation!

After fuelling up for the day, we took a short drive (about 15 minutes from the tourist information centre) up a windy road up to Erskine Falls, which are part of the Great Otway National Park. At the top of falls is a viewing platform, which offers decent views within a short walking distance of the car park. The walk down to the bottom of the falls was quite easy but it was coming back up which was more difficult, although it was worth it for the view. There were also lots of large rocks, which you could stand on at the bottom where the river was calmer.

Erskine Falls is an impressively tall and slender 38m waterfall

Not far from Erskine Falls is a place called Teddy's Lookout which apparently has the best views of Great Ocean Road in Lorne and they weren't half decent! From the lookout we could see the brilliant blue of the ocean all the way round to the Otway ranges and St George's river.

View from Teddy's Lookout

It wasn't until midday before we made some progress on the Great Ocean Road but even then we stopped off at a scenic spot down the road called Sheoak Falls where we did a 600m walk to a rocky waterfall which cascades 15 meters into a deep pool of water. This was another great site but it felt a little eerie especially as the water in the pool was very dark, most likely from the surrounding rocks. There were also lots of small lizards scurrying around, we weren't entirely sure what they were but they could have been McCoy's Skinks or Coventry Skinks because they were a bronze/copper colour.

Sheoak Falls

Some sort of skink, not sure which one but there were loads of them!

Driving on to Kennett River we were really keen to get to Grey River Road as this was billed as the best place to go koala spotting on the Great Ocean Road. However, this was actually one of the biggest disappointments of the trip so far as the trail guide from the tourist info didn't really give us much insight as to where to see the koalas and there wasn't much of an actually walk to do but more of a dirt track to drive up. Eventually we did see some "free-range" koalas, which were very cool but the whole experience didn't quite live up to the hype.*

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's a koala!

The only redeeming part of the drive was seeing a wallaby gracefully fleeing into the bush and spotting a wild echinda on the side of the road going about it's business! There also a number of exotic birds around including lorikeets and we even saw a Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo.

Pressing on, we then moved out of the forested area and more inland on the Great Ocean Road as we drove through Apollo Bay (a place to revisit on the return leg of the trip) and entered the Horden Vale flats en route to the Twelve Apostles in Port Campbell National Park. Although we were running tight on time, we had to make a quick stop for these famous monoliths. Having seen lots of photos of these rocky stacks nothing quite prepares you for how impressive they are in real life. I was completely blown away by the view from the boardwalk, which more than made up for the earlier disappointment. Tomorrow will be a better day to revist the other famous limestone rock formations along this strech of Port Campell National Park and hopefully get a picture of the Twelve Apostles at sunset.

* Having revisited this stretch of the Great Ocean Road in June 2013, I can report we had a much more enjoyable and positive experience koala spotting along Grey River Road, at Kennett River. I'm not sure if it was a better time a year because it was a lot cooler, but we spotted at least 20 koalas in the trees on a short stretch of the road. On the flipside we didn't see any Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos or any echidnas this time round.* 

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.

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.