Melbourne
Our flight to Melbourne was with Philippine airlines, who were okay. Without anyone behind me, I had the luxury of full-tilt on my reclining seat, and for once avoided anyone smashing my knees from infront. We managed to get a couple of hours kip (and I snuck in a film, John Wick 3; perfect plane fodder), and landed on time in Melbourne, a day later.
Actually, that day’s difference caused a little snaffu with the hire car, as I’d booked it, and hadn’t really noticed that we were taking off on the 21st and landing on the 22nd. The lonely wee car had been waiting patiently for us. The lady at the car hire desk (Apex Rentals – really nice people) said she’d been worried we’d missed our flight. Aw, they’re nice here.
Collecting the car, we hightailed into Melbourne, to the lovely Danielle’s house, who we’d met a month ago in Bhutan. Danielle had generously offered to put us up for the night, and with the added incentive of a washing machine, we bit her hand off and dropped our stuff off (into the machine), and showered before rudely deserting her and hairing down to the coast to meet up with Derrick and Amy, who we’d met in China.
Derrick has a boat. We met up with Amy and her partner, Matt, and Amy’s wee kitten, Macaroni, and headed round to the yacht club to join Derrick (Amy’s dad) on his 32ft sailing boat. He’s had it for a couple of years, and has refitted it with loving care, teaching himself to sail. We headed out into the bay, and Derrick had me and Shona manhandling the boat in the 20 knot winds around the bay for a few hours. It was absolutely brilliant fun. I’m not sure that Macaroni (whose first time at sea was often at 45º angles, as we caught full sail and skimmed along), enjoyed it quite as much, but a ship’s cat she will make, aaaarrr.
After coming back to port, wind-swept and sun-kissed, we bid farewell to these great people and drove back to Danielle’s, where we changed and made our way into Melbourne to see the sights of the city.
I was flagging a little by now, but we both pushed through and Danielle gave us a superb tour of the city centre, along the river, taking us up to her office for a view over the city, and through art quarters, before ending up in one of Melbourne’s Secret Bars for cocktails. This was followed by a very tasty Chinese meal with a superb Heathcote Estate 2014 Shiraz (Traveller’s tip: Australian wines are truly excellent… They don’t export the good stuff).
The next morning, Shona and I left early, as we had a decent drive ahead of us. But, not before Danielle presented us with an Australian Goodie Bag of various uniquely Aussie nibbles and munchies – isn’t she great?!
The Great Ocean Road (400km)
What a drive. We were both still buzzing from our time in Melbourne, and were in high spirits setting out. We made many stops on our way along the coast. First at Bell’s Beach, the setting for the iconic end scene between Utah and Bohdi in Point Break.
Next in Lorne for a coffee, then Kennet River for our first distant sighting of a Koala. We stopped in Apollo Bay for lunch at a nice cafe, then all the way along to the 12 Apostles, where we walked down the Gibson Steps onto the beach, then back up and along to the viewpoint to see the remaining 8 Apostles, framed beautifully by the dramatic cliffs of which they were once part.
The whole coastline was beautiful. The sandy beaches extend gently out under the shoreline, providing row after row of perfect breakers, creating the rhythm of an engine of endless motion, harnessed by the surfers who make this stretch of coast their home.
Before coming to this place, we weren’t really sure what the fuss would be about. We’ve seen coasts, we’ve seen lots of coasts. But this place is special, the light plays off those synchronous waves, crashing line after line towards the towering cliffs and picture-perfect sandy beaches. It’s beat, warmth, and panorama stays with you.
Port Fairy
We stayed the night in the pretty little town of Port Fairy, recommended to us as a great wee place to stay. We ate in a local restaurant, Blakes (excellent Blue Eye and Stargazer/Monk Fish specials) and slept well after a long day’s driving.
Dunkeld
The following day, we picked up some supplies and drove up towards the Grampians, where we were staying in the little town of Dunkeld, which was near Hamilton, Bute, and Stirling. There may have been a wee Scottish contingent of immigrants here at some point.
En route to Dunkeld, we stopped at the Tower Hill Nature Reserve. We were just in time to join an 11am tour, hosted by a local chap called Levi. He was Aboriginal albeit from a different region, and he showed off some of his craft, with hand-made boomerangs, clubs, 120,000 year old axe heads, and even gave us a superb demonstration of didgeridoo playing, complete with circular breathing (no idea how he did it).
We then went for a walk around the park, spotting Koalas lazing in the trees, and learning about their highly padded backsides and fluid-filled brain cavities to protect them from their frequent falls from the trees “They’re not the brightest”, Levi explained. We walked across a boardwalk over a marshy area, and spotted a copperhead snake lazing in the grasses. A second one was sat, alert by the roadside slightly further on. Things that kill you #1.
After a brief lunch, we made our way north to Dunkeld where we were staying at the Royal Mail Hotel, which drew comments of “I didn’t realise I was speaking with Royalty” from one lady we were chatting to – it’s considered quite posh as it’s known for it’s amazing 8 course ‘degustation’ menu, which we didn’t indulge in, but our stay was lovely.
We were staying here on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Arriving on Christmas Eve, we cooked ourselves dinner for the first time in 7 weeks, and got a good night’s sleep before waking up on Christmas Day, having some rather lovely fruit and cinnamon toast and a coffee for breakfast, and heading up to the Grampians for a hike to The Pinnacle, a classic hike in these hills.
It was about 33ºc, so hot going, but we enjoyed the walk in the beautiful surroundings with stunning rock formations, and after a picnic lunch, drove the hour or so back to Dunkeld for a dip in the pool.
That evening, we had our ‘Christmas Dinner’ in the hotel, which was delicious. We made calls home for the first time during our travels, which was really lovely and made us feel really close to, and far from home. I then drank a good quantity of very good wine.
Adelaide
We left Dunkeld the next morning, and spotted our first Kangaroo just as we were leaving the hotel. Well, I say that we ‘saw a Kangaroo’. I’m not actually convinced they’re real. It doesn’t really stack up does it. Who’s actually seen one outside of Australia? Nobody. A giant rabbit that lives in the desert but has the torso of a man? Sounds pretty mythical and far-fetched to me. I’ve been saying to Shona all week that I’m fairly certain they’re made up. In the same camp as unicorns, centaurs and bloody trolls. Anyway, we saw *something*, but it could have been a confused dog. I’m not convinced, not by a long shot.
This was a big day’s driving – around 550km. Shona took the first leg (see wine, above). We drove through Harrow, on recommendation of a friendly local (all locals are friendly… Actually, everybody in Australia is friendly). It had an original wooden gaol, and a cricket club that bore the first Australian international sports team, apparently. We didn’t stop, as the whole place looked a little creepy on a deserted Boxing Day.
As we made our way through the countryside, Shona commented that it was like driving through an impressionist painting; the wheat fields rolling out either side of us, dotted with huge, ancient Eucalyptus trees. White Cockatoos scattered from the trees lining the roads as we passed. At one point, a large flock of pink Major Mitchell’s Cockatoos wheeled above us, reminding us of how ecologically diverse and isolated this huge island is.
Arriving in Adelaide, we checked into our hotel (Mayfair Hotel), then nipped over to the shopping area to see about fixing/replacing my useless phone. After some time in the Apple shop, I left with a new phone, but unfortunately, I also left with a very large credit card bill. Unfortunately, while the damage was technically ‘within tolerances’ of the water resistance rating for the phone, because I’d not bought it in Australia, I wasn’t covered by Australian consumer protection laws and the shop couldn’t help me out. A very disappointing outcome and not a great advert for Apple.
The following day, we took the car on a tour of the McLaren Vale wine region. We drove an hour or so south, and stopped at a couple of vineyards for wine tasting and lunch. It was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. Even teetotal Shona enjoyed it! She also bought a hat (it’s reaching 40ºc today).
From there, we made our way to where I’m now writing this, Adelaide Airport, where we’re staying in the Atura Adelaide Airport hotel before catching an early morning flight to Cairns tomorrow morning, starting the next leg of our trip – a 2800km drive down the coast to Sydney.
Travels with Sklaroffs 