Tuesday 21st February - Great Ocean Road Day 2

Amanda was woken by a Chinese girl saying ‘Wakey wakey, Rise and a Shine’ which was brilliant – it took her a while to remember where she was and what was going on! We had our included breakfast before setting off again to take more pictures of the 12 Apostles, but in sunlight, and another stop was called Worm Bay, a beautiful secluded beach that you walked on to after going down some steps. Other stops included Gibson Steps and Loch Ard Gorge which are both famous as they feature in a famous shipwreck love story – which is just too long to repeat on here.  At Loch Ard Gorge, the entire group climbed over rocks around the bay in to a really deep cave. We also got a group photo taken here!

We stopped at Apollo Bay for lunch, a pretty, artistic beach town with very posh houses. We got the best tasting lunch yet! Burgers and wedges – the wedges would probably have fed a family of 4 alone, deep fried with a massive dollop of crème fresh and sweet chilli sauce dribbled all over – trust me, it was as immense as it sounds! Yummy yummy yummy! 

Other stops included a guided walk through a rainforest and the Lighthouse from ‘Going round the Twist’ – Jude played the theme-tune in the bus, as we approached it and it was so funny, all the English (us two and a girl a year younger than Mand) started singing along – it’s crazy what is in your memory when it’s tested! “Have you ever, ever felt like this, with strange things happening and you’re going round the twist”. So random but brilliant!

We also stopped at Bells Bay which is a famous surf beach with waves that reach 6 meters high! The waves were only 1 or 2 meters high when we were there so we stood and watched the surfers become irritated with the lack of surf and jumped back on the bus. This beach is also home of Rip Curl and Quicksilver, and hosts the World Surfing Championships.  

On the way out of Bells Beach we saw a heard of wild Kangaroos - Amazing to see them in their natural environment!

We arrived back at our hostel at about 7.30pm, well ready for a nice long sleep! After saying our farewells to Jude, we got some food and slept like babies!

Monday 20th February - Great Ocean Road Trip

We had to wake early as we were catching a bus for a two day trip to the Great Ocean Road. Amanda had done a lot of research before we left home and found a company that takes two days for the trip (rather than fitting it into one 12 hour day) and who also do the trip in reverse order so that you miss the crowds. The price included the nights accommodation and food so we did not have to worry about that either! Our hostel refused to look after our bags for the one night we were away so we had to walk to another hostel where the tour company had arranged for us to leave our bags. We waited eagerly for the bus to show. When it did, the driver – Jude – jumped out and with a big smile she greeted us. When she found out we were English she was elated, as most of the group were from countries were English is not the first language. She asked us to sit up at the front of the bus with her to keep her company. In return we got the best views on the bus and also the more detailed commentary that the rest of the bus did not get! Over the next two days we became great friends with Jude and we learnt a lot about her, as she did us! We will definitely be keeping in touch with her! Hopefully coming back to Melbourne and staying with her at her house as she has invited us!

The tour itself was just what we needed after a month of navigating and driving around NZ. To be taken somewhere without having to think or plan was a great feeling! Jude was also brilliant at knowing all of the history about each of the sites, with funny anecdotes – it really was an amazing trip. For anyone planning a trip, the company was http://www.ridetours.com.au and we would recommend them every time!

The first stint of the trip was mostly driving, however after about 3 hours we arrived in a town called Tower Hill where there was a sunken volcano for lunch. We also visited an animal reserve here. The weather as this point was a bit dull and it had been raining so although the views were not amazing, it meant that the animals had come out of hiding from the sun. We had a walk around and after 10 minutes or so found a large male koala, eating some leaves from a young small tree. We got some brilliant pictures after he jumped off the tree too. 

When we got back to the bus and showed Jude our photos, she said that we were very lucky to see one up that close and on the ground – normally you would have to rely on your camera having a good zoom function as they are asleep clinging on to the top of the trees. You can tell if a Koala is male or female because males have a crease line down the front on their chest whereas females have a bright white patch here. Also, males faces are more of a cone and females have flatter faces.  We also learnt that Koalas always seem so slow moving and sleepy because of the Eucalyptus tree that they eat all day – it makes them high so they are never really with it hehe! Very very cute and although we wanted to hug them, these were in the wild and if you see the size of the claws on their hands, you will see a very good reason to keep your distance.

We also saw Emus here and some sleeping Kangaroos in the distance. A brilliant stop that we weren’t expecting. We got talking to a Chinese couple that was on the same tour, and they were really good at speaking English. We made quite good friends with them during the trip.

We then saw what we had paid to see! Amazing rock formations along the coast - we took lots of photos. 

London Bridge that is no longer an archway anymore was one of our favourites with a funny story behind it – when the archway collapsed, the tourists walking along the top had to leg it to the land. There were 2 people left stranded on the remaining rock out at sea. When the news crew arrived they were hiding their faces and the story came out later that they were in fact both married, but not too each other – they had sloped off, having an affair thinking that nobody they knew would see them there. I suppose that is Karma for you!

When we arrived at the hostel, we had a big group BBQ. We all mucked in cutting salads up and preparing chicken burgers, beef and sausages and all enjoyed this, plus more pasta salads then you could imagine. The Chinese groups were loving taking lots of photos of us preparing the food – this made us laugh. Straight after eating our dinner, we jumped straight back on the bus to see the 12 Apostles during sunset. This was magical, we got some brilliant photos! The only thing we would have preferred was a little less cloud cover but hey we can’t complain. 

We then waited half an hour to see the penguins walk across the beach to sleep for the night – there must have been over 100 penguins waddling as a group up the beach – although we were quite high up, and these penguins only reach 30 centimetres high, they looked like ants to us, but it was still cute to watch.

After arriving back at the hostel and enjoying a glass of wine whilst watching Miss Congeniality, we were well and truly ready to sleep!! We shared a room with the Chinese family and couple which is the first time we’ve done this!

19th February - Melbourne Continued...

We took a tram to the east side of town and had a look at a couple of impressive buildings. The first were St Peters Church and St Patricks Cathedral.

We then moved on to look at the Parliment buildings in the same area. Suitably impressed we walked back to Federation Square where we found a company which hired bikes by the hour. We had been told that a great way to see a lot of the city was to hire a bike so we thought we better give it a go! After handing over our cash we were on our way. The city has lots of cycle lanes and as it is mostly on a grid system it is fairly easy to navigate around. We headed south towards Albert Park. There were a couple of logical reasons for this. Firstly, it is home to the Australian Grand Prix (which is to be hosted there in a couple of weeks) and secondly it is also home to the Melbourne Aquatic Centre. The park itself is huge and in the centre is a large boating lake. There is a running path all the way around the lake and lots of playgrounds for kids. 

The main road around the lake is the grand prix track, which for 11.5 months of the year is the park access road. However it is still lined with crash barriers and advertising hoardings so it was impressive to see and be able to cycle around! Gav recognised a lot of the corners and is now looking forward to watching the race in a few weeks even more! 

After this we headed to the aquatic centre with the aim of having a swim. When we arrived we see there a swimming competition in the outdoor 50m commonwealth pool. It brought back many memories for us both of when we used to compete. The sound of the races starting, the smell of Chlorine, the buzz of competing! We headed in to watch a bit of the action. Alongside the outdoor pool was a wave machine that was for practicing surfing. There were a few people practicing their techniques which was really good to watch. All of the other (4) swimming pools were really busy as it was the weekend so we decided to come back later in the week for a swim.

Back on our bikes we headed further around the park to the pit straight of the Grand Prix circuit for some snaps before leaving the park and heading for the beach. 

We arrived in St Kilda, where Melbourne meets the sea! There is a beautiful beach here and lots of people soaking up the sun, walking up and down the boardwalk or sat in the beach front cafes. There is also a huge pier sticking out into the sea – probably the longest pier we have ever seen! 

We carried on along the beach further and came across an international beach volleyball tournament. There was lots of activity here with stalls giving away free samples, competitions and prizes. We locked up our bikes and had a wander around and grabbed some lunch before sitting and watching the ‘celebrity’ match between the major competitions. We didn’t recognise any of the celebs but I am sure they are well known in Oz! One of them was the winner of the previous years tournament, which was obvious when she claimed the winning point straight from her serve! There were other athletes and sports stars playing. The viewing area was a large boardwalk with big beanbags from the sponsor – Garnier. It was a really good atmosphere and we would have stayed longer but had to cycle the 10km back to the city to return the bikes.

 We got up some speed on the way home and enjoyed the cool breeze! We both enjoyed investigating by bike and would recommend it highly!

We wanted to see Melbourne at night so headed back to the hostel for an early tea. Guess what we had..... Pasta!! We did find an Aldi supermarket near the hostel so bought some more adventurous food for the next few days. On our walk back into the city we ventured through China Town. 

It was interesting to see all the little shops selling gadgets and trinkets to the Chinese tourists and locals. Our next stop was Hosier Lane which is very famous for the street art work that lines the walls. There is a wide and varied collection of paintings on the walls, from small intricate designs, to images which cover the whole face of a building. Some famous artists including ‘Banksy’ have work on display there. We felt a little bit out of our comfort zone in the dark alley at night time, but everything was ok and we think we were just being a bit paranoid!

We took the bridge across the Yarra River and dropped down on to Southbank. Much like the Embankment in London is it lined with eateries, shops and numerous street entertainers. In the darkness of the night and with the backdrop of the city it was brought to life! 

We were looking for a bar called ‘Chill On’ which is a bar completely made from Ice. We had a voucher to go in. Unfortunately we could not find. Our legs were aching from all the walking and cycling so defeated we jumped on a tram back from the hostel.

Melbourne - 18th Feb

Welcome to Melbourne! 

We landed at 11pm (previous day), waited for a bus for an hour outside the airport, that the hostel assured us would be there. After ringing the hostel, they said ‘the bus transfers finish at 10pm’ – not the news we needed to hear. Feeling tired, we chose the easiest option, jumped in a taxi that took us from door to door. The hostel did apologise and reimbursed some of the taxi fee, so we “built a bridge and got over it” (a brilliant Oz saying that we’ve learnt – basically a longer way of saying – got over it). Straight to bed on arrival and were joined by our ‘lovely’ (not!) roommates (shared dorm room for 4 people). Our roommates arrived at 1am and were quite good at getting straight in to bed, but for the next couple of days were very grumpy and didn’t even try to communicate with us because they couldn’t speak English – they also slept at the times that nobody else does e.g. 12pm – 9pm which made it difficult for us to use the room when we needed to change/get ready for the next day.  

We woke pretty early and headed down for our free breakfast – a long queue and only toast or cereal but we weren’t complaining!! The easiest thing for today was going to be getting our bearings with the city so we headed to a central point – Federation Square – which was roughly a 15 minute walk from our hostel. 

On the way we walked through some of the small walkways that Melbourne is famous for – lined with shops, cafes and bars there was lots to explore. We arrived in Federation Square which was bustling with people and street acts. There was lots going on. The square is next to the very impressive train station building.

It is fairly easy to get around the centre of Melbourne as there is a really good tram network. One of the routes is actually a free tourist tram which circulates the city centre. We thought this would be ideal and save our legs from even more walking. 

After enjoying the tram for about 30 minutes we arrived at the Waterfront City – a large shopping centre on the edge of Melbourne Harbour. It was very modern and had some quirky shops. They are in the middle of building a huge Ferris-wheel like the London Eye. After grabbing a tasty sandwich from one of the shops we headed to the waterfront to admire the city and the beautiful boats that are docked there. The atmosphere was great and it was very modern and clean. There were lots of boats docked there and some of them were very impressive! 

We jumped back on the tram and headed to the hostel to re-charge our batteries with rest and food! The kitchen in the hostel was not very big and there were always lots of people trying to use it, so we had to jostle for position and wait our turn for a pan! We enjoyed some pasta.... again.

Christchurch, New Zealand to Melbourne, Australia - 17th Feb

Knowing that our flight from Christchurch was at 7pm-ish, we thought we would have a quiet day, chilling in the Botanical Gardens opposite our hostel. There were some massive trees and beautiful flowers – lots of artist displays that the community had put together as a way of making the place look colourful and bring positive thoughts of progression and recovery to the rest of Christchurch. 

We had a walk around, read our books on a bench and sunbathed on the grass – lovely and relaxing. For lunch we found a cafe and got a yummy toasted sandwich, bought some snacks and then caught the local bus to the airport. There was a huge Cicoda travelling next to Gav on the bus which freaked him out a bit.

We got some tea at the airport and waved a sad goodbye to the very beautiful New Zealand. We loved every moment of the first chunk of our trip, and will always have a soft spot for New Zealand – we both very much want to be able to go there in the future.

Hanmer Springs to Christchurch - 16th Feb

The main attraction of Hanmer Springs is a thermal park with swimming pools, but as we had done this at Alpine Springs (which lots of people said was much better than the one here in Hanmer because there were no views and it got very packed full of lots of people) we decided to save our money and headed for a walk part way up Mount Isobel. 

The walk was about 4 hours and after the first couple of hours of climbing through forest and over rivers we encountered thousands of wasps which feed from the native Mountain Beach trees. They didn’t harm us at all so we ended up not noticing them at all. 

We arrived at the Dog Stream Waterfall which was very impressive at 41 meters tall! 

The day had brightened up for the walk back down and we enjoyed the views as we walked. Towards the bottom of the track we bumped into an American couple who had a car and offered to take us the last 5km back to Hanmer. We were tired and it was very hot so we kindly accepted. 

Once back in the town we headed to the library where we booked a trip when we are in Oz (Great Ocean Road) and also a flight to get to Sydney. 

We got back to the hostel and chilled out with some free ice cream. We used our last potatoes to make some wedges before we got back on the bus bound for Christchurch once more, for our last night in NZ. The 2 hours drive was really pretty with mountains a range of large boulders that looked like frogs – bizarre! Before long we were back in Christchurch. The bus dropped us and it was a 30 minute walk with our heavy backpacks to the YMCA hostel again. By the time we got there we were shattered so put on a film on before falling asleep.