While I was still in Adelaide over Christmas, I saw a post on an Australian backpackers' FB page from a girl I knew from Canberra, Clara, who wanted to plan a road trip on the Australia Day weekend & sought travel mates to share the cost. Clara lives in my suburb in Canberra, & we'd met once for coffee so I knew we would get along for the road trip. I have visited Melbourne once before but had filled my time there with Phillip Island, the Grampian Mountains, & several museums/city sights, so I have wanted to go back & do a Great Ocean Road trip, when possible. Additionally, due to Australia Day on Monday, I would have a long weekend & could be flexible around the trip as well as spend extra time in Melbourne; there's so much to do & see there! So, although I didn't really have the money for another trip, I scrounged it up & soon we were booked for a rental car for two days & one night in Port Campbell Hostel.
Day 1 - 24 January:
After an overnight Greyhound from Canberra, I arrived at Southern Cross Station in Melbourne CBD around 7:45 a.m. Clara & I would meet at the rental car office at 9 a.m. (She had been staying in Melbourne to explore prior to our trip), so I grabbed a chai latte at an internet cafe & had some time to email families on Au Pair World.
After we met, I was ecstatic that the car we had rented was a Hyundai i20 - the same model as the car I rented in Tasmania although this time the i20 was white, 2-door, & manual. I love this car! Clara & I had also rented a GPS & after determining that she prefers being passenger while I prefer driving, we set off toward Geelong then south to Torquay (birthplace of Rip Curl & Quicksilver) to begin our trip along the Great Ocean Road.
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| Bells Beach |
The views were everything promised - beautiful white beaches, dramatic cliffs, looming mountains, and mysterious forests. We traveled through the cities of Anglesea and Aireys Inlet before stopping for lunch in Lorne. After some delicious wraps & smoothies, we took a short hike to Erskine Falls, which was the most hiking we had time for to be on schedule for sunset at the Twelve Apostles. Another fun side trip was our stop at Kennett River. Clara had made a detailed list of places to stop along the Great Ocean Road, & she had listed that we could see koalas at Kennett River...but nothing more specific about where to look. So as we passed the sign for Kennett River & then were on the bridge crossing the river, Clara scanned the nearby trees. All of a sudden, she shouted that she'd seen a koala, & I made a speedy U-turn to park beside the row of trees we had passed. Indeed, we both saw our first wild koala, alone, & hanging out in a tree right across from the beach, beside Kennett River. It was so cool!
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| Anglesea, VIC |
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| GOR memorial sign |
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| Lorne, VIC |
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| Erskine Falls |
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| All of the possible ways to die at Erskine Falls |
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| Koala at Kennett River |
The next scenic town was the city of Apollo Bay, the last stop before the road took a turn into Otway National Park. On the other side of the national park, we made a side stop that ended up being the one of the best along the trip, which was at Johanna Beach. We had been driving through countryside for some time & knew the ocean was to our left but could only see cows & pastures as far as the eye could see. We randomly saw a sign for Johanna Beach & decided to make the stop despite having never heard the name of this particular beach. It was absolutely beautiful & deserted. There were only a few lone beachgoers on the secluded beach but the view & waves were incredible. We stepped into the icy cold water to consider swimming but realized quickly that it would have been dangerous (& cold) to venture far into the water. The waves were massive & brutal & crashing into shore from 10 directions at once. Even standing ankle deep, several waves would crash at once, & we would suddenly be thigh-deep in water & nearly-dragged out to the wild ocean in front of us. It was so fun, though, to splash around in the water & see such a wild, rugged beach.
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| Huge waves at Johanna Beach |
Following Johanna, we booked it straight to Port Campbell (but not before stopping at a sketchy biker bar with an old "bottle shop" sign to buy some champagne for the sunset). Sunset at the 12 Apostles was absolutely breathtaking with the soft glow over the stunning rock formations. I was also surprised by the lack of people there! I had expected a Saturday night sunset, during summer, on Australia Day weekend, to be packed & too touristy to get a great view but this was not the case. There were plenty of people, sure, but plenty of space & room for every single person to stand by the walkway railing & get a special private view.
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| These signs were all over the GOR...comforting. |
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| The Twelve Apostles when we arrived |
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| More apostles |
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| Popping the cuvée |
After sundown, we headed toward the Port Campbell shops, where we hoped to get a late dinner before arriving at our hostel for the night. On the way, our GPS took us down several gravel roads, where we stopped to pet "Bessie," our new horse friend. Just before we emerged out onto a main road again, we spotted five or six kangaroos beside our car. As they hopped away beside the car, we raced them down the gravel road then popped out onto the main highway by the shops. Not much in the small town was open so late so we ended up at a fine dining restaurant, where I enjoyed a Scotch filet with scalloped potatoes & vegetables. We retired to Port Campbell Hostel for a shower & rest before catching sunrise the following morning.
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Day 2 - 25 January:
We arose at 5:45 to make the 6:30 a.m. sunrise at the 12 Apostles. Unfortunately, we experienced true Melbourne weather on Day 2, which is known to experience four seasons in one day. It was 10 degrees Celsius when we watched the sun rise, & I had only brought shorts, tank tops, & one light sweater on our trip. The sunrise was beautiful, particularly with the sun breaking through the storm clouds in the horizon. The sunrise group at the 12 Apostles lookout was significantly smaller than the sunset group but it was nice to get an early start to our day.
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We had decided to drive the Great Ocean Road to Port Fairy before heading back to Melbourne CBD so we had about two hours left to drive in the morning. The sights on Sunday morning were some of the best of the entire trip, with gorgeous rock formations & beaches every five minutes following Port Campbell, it seemed.
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| Loch Ard Gorge |
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| "The Arch" |
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| London Bridge |
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| The Grotto (my favorite side stop) |
When we arrived at Port Fairy, it was sunny with a lovely chill to the air. We walked out to the water then enjoyed a pot of tea at a waterfront cafe. Port Fairy was my favorite beach of the entire trip. Rather than catering to Great Ocean Road-trippers, it seemed much more casually residential & just overall pleasant. It was a beautiful town centered around the water, & I would love to go back just for a quiet beach holiday. We walked toward a lighthouse we had seen from our lookout at tea then got in the car to head toward the Otways, where we hoped to see a few more koalas before departing the scenic route for a more direct highway.
Unfortunately, our unreliable GPS took us on dirt roads again, this time for hours. We had lovely farmland views but soon realized that we were not taking the most direct route back to the Otways & therefore had lost the time we had to spare there. The rental car was due back in the city at 4:30 p.m., so we opted to just take a highway directly back to Melbourne. We made it back with an hour to spare & parted ways to head to our separate hostels in the city (we had booked separately & last-minutedly but would potentially meet up on Monday). As it turned out, our hostels were side by side, as Clara discovered when she took a tram then ended up following me for several blocks, since I had walked from the rental car office (haha).
I spent the night at Melbourne Central YHA, which was lovely; I have had great experiences at Melbourne Metro YHA but tried the central location for it proximity to Australia Day events. Also, because of the holiday weekend & booking last-minute, I had booked into a 6-bed all-female dorm rather than the larger, mixed dorms I have been accustomed to. It was more expensive but so nice to relax in a smaller room with just other girls (with better hygiene on average, I'd say ;P) after a long two days of driving & sightseeing.
Day 3 - 26 January (Australia Day):
The last day of my Melbourne trip was spent absolutely perfectly! Prior to the trip, neither Clara nor I had plans for Australia Day but both would be around still. I had gotten in touch with a male au pair who formerly worked in Canberra & I had met once as he was friends with my family's former au pair. I knew that he had moved to au pair in Melbourne after his time in Canberra so I enquired about his Australia Day plans & to see if he had any suggestions for activities on in the city. Quentin recommended that we get ground passes to go the Australian Open. The passes were only $44 each & included entrance to the grounds as well as seats at any of the outdoor courts; only one indoor court was off-limits to our pass.
I have never followed tennis in any capacity although Al & his sister Shara both have played so I have seen matches on TV at their house. It was boring to me on television but I love the vibe at sporting events so I knew the day wouldn't disappoint. Live tennis was so much more interesting, & I had a blast! Clara also bought a ticket so the three of us (Clara, Quentin, & myself) took free trams from the city to Melbourne Park just before the first games began.
The first match we saw was a great starter for me. Quentin & Clara both follow tennis & wanted to see a French player, Fabrice Santoro, who was already out of the open but playing a legends' double in the morning. As an added perk, another tennis legend, Mansour Bahrami, played as his doubles partner versus Thomas Enqvist & Mats Wilander, both Swedish. As it turned out (& he is apparently known for), Bahrami was an incredibly entertaining athlete. He constantly grunted & moaned & yelled "YES!" when his opponents' serves didn't clear the net. He talked to the crowd & performed many trick shots, all the while playing a great game of tennis. We were laughing nonstop.
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| Santoro & Bahrami |
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| Hilarious watching the ball boys/girls scrub down the entire court with towels after rain. Seems like there should be an easer way to do this... |
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| Legends' double |
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| Santoro |
Following the match, we grabbed a bite to eat & watched more tennis on the large screen outside, near the front of the grounds. We then wandered toward Hisense Arena & fully appreciated all of the cool stuff our ground pass got us into! We made a fun video with Macca's, went into the Heineken beer garden to watch Serena Williams v. Garbine Muguruza (Spain) on the big screen, & enjoyed the festival feel of the grounds.
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| This goes out to Annabel. |
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We finally went into Hisense Arena to watch Martina Hingis (with whom Clara & Quentin were familiar) & Flavia Pennetta v. Yung-Jan Chan & Jie Zheng. Next were some Americans (who unfortunately lost): Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan v. Dominic Inglot & Florin Mergea. Lastly, we saw Milos Raonic v. Feliciano Lopez, which was the first singles match I had really seen & was fabulous! I decided (randomly) to pull for Raonic, & I must have given him so luck, cause he was the winner!
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| Hingis & Pennetta v. Chan & Zheng |
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| Bryan & Bryan v. Inglot & Mergea |
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| Raonic serving Lopez |
At the end of the second set, however, I had to leave to catch the free tram back to the hostel. I retrieved my backpack, which was stored in a locker there, then walked the short distance to Southern Cross Station for my 8 p.m. Greyhound back to Canberra. It arrived at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning, & I caught a cab back home for the start of the last week of school holidays. It was a fabulously spent Australia Day weekend, even without the barbie & Triple J's Hottest 100. ;)
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| At the tram back to the CBD |
Happy late Australia Day to all & to all a good night!
Cheers,
Alli
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