Hi Everyone! Don’t you just hate people who put their seat back before you even take off?... yep me too, luckily a combination of being boarded, disembarking, re-boarding and my knees won me a tiny victory over the twat in front!
We booked a hotel in melbourne as it was the same cost as a hostel, who knew that i could get so excited over a cotton fluffy towel - amazing!
Day 1 - It was freezing & grey but we braved a walk down to federation square where we a)picked up our day 1 tickets for centre court tennis (yeehawww) b)booked the neighbours tour c)booked the tour to see the baby penguins and finally d)booked a hire car for the great ocean road. After that wallet bashing we then walked to the sky tower to take a look at the city from above. After this we headed to the markets which chez wanted to visit (oh the joys). On route chez says its brightening up a bit, within 10 minutes it was 30+ and baking - I was happy about this except I had winter clothes on and didn’t layer up!! the markets were ok (not my thing) but chez looked up and down every aisle not buying anything (surprise surprise). We headed off to st kilda which was a tip from Lara who worked with cheryl, it was a cool place with a nice beach and coffee shops. On the tram back cheryl gave up her seat for an old man with 2 walking sticks called john - John sat next to me and spent the next 30 mins telling me his whole life story - I have picked out the highlights…
beaten cancer a few times
was born with a hole in his heart
had broken legs
had broken arms
broken back
Was a gang member
came back from almost being a cripple
He was a nice old guy but he gave me a headache!!!.
That evening we had tickets for an outdoor cinema in the botanical gardens, we were watching Prisoners. When we arrived, we laid our towels down and started munching on our picnic, it was then we saw you could hire big comfy bean bag cushions - i resisted the temptation to be tight and paid for these. This proved to be a great buy as it got cold in the evening so we ended up with towels over us. To keep up my healthy eating diet plan I also purchased burger,chips and a full fat coke!
Day 2 - we headed off to pick up our hire car for the great ocean road - as our car had been in the wars we called it john after my friend on the tram! Getting to the start of the Great Ocean Road takes an hour and involves driving through melbourne - they have several roads with things called Hook Turns, we were told how to avoid all the roads with these on but true to form we ended up on one!! I didn’t really pay any attention when they were explaining them, so combine the lack of knowledge with the trams alongside you and you get a crazy few minutes driving where I broke every rule on the road and for good measure I did almost run 2 old people over!
The GOR is unreal, we visited the lighthouse from ‘around the twist’, drove through miles of stunning coastal road. We saw wild koalas, the 12 apostles,and too many other things to list. The water on the beaches comes from antartica so isn’t quite like what I was used to in Queensland! We stupidly booked into Port Fairy about a 1.5 hour drive extra than we needed to, lovely place but we arrived, ate dinner, went to bed and were on the road by 7:45 the next day to head back for the tennis!! On route back we tuned into a local farming radio station which played some awful songs one of which "hi-ho-dairy-o, the farmer took a wife” has stayed stuck in our head for days!
Day 3 - We arrived back in good time and headed to the tennis. The trams were packed as it was 5pm with tennis fans + commuters. We headed straight to the heineken arena which had a beer tent (of course), jacobs creek tent and food. The queue was pretty big so we went separately, chez was quicker then me back to our meet point and spent the next 10 mins getting chatted up by some guy, I didn’t care as I had purchased 3 pints of ice cold beer!! There was a great atmosphere and a live band.
We then went to our seats to watch Djokivic play some other dude. The seats were awesome and cheryl finally understood the rules by the end. It was a close match, 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 and djokivic gave a hilarious interview at the end. Next up was some female tennis (well I say female) it was Serena Williams world number 1, who may have some balls of her own vs. a local aussie called Ashley Bartly who was 18. Serena had loads of attitude and despite the crowd being hostile to her and chants of “lets go ashley, lets go!” she smashed the other girl 6-2, 6-1. We then left the arena and went back to the hotel.
Day 4 - All together now….Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours, with a little understanding, you can find the perfect friend……..
On our way to the meeting place for this trip we picked up a $1 coffee & tea in 7/11 where we met mani - mani is an indian guy who talks & talks & talks which would have been ok if we hadn’t been running late, I got rid of mani and then we met up with the tour and 14 of us sad people headed off on the bus with old episodes playing on route. We found out that despite aussies saying they don’t watch it, its the highest rated show on the network it runs on over here! We went to the studios then onto ramsey st itself (which is called pin oak road in real life) they have security there as apparently people use to knock on the doors hoping to see Dr Karl or they stripped naked for a comedy photo on toadfish's garden! Its much smaller in real life but kind of cool. We then headed back to meet a star, usually its 1 of Harold, Toadie, Karl, Steph….nope we get Stingray who died 6yrs ago. He gave a bit of a talk but to be honest nobody gave a shit. It was a fun morning and a hot one (40C). We then sat in federation square watching the tennis on a massive screen which they put up. We got to see the trophies for the winners and had a photo. We sat outside for about an hour then headed inside for cold drinks. Cheryl looked like she was going to pass out!!!
That evening we were due to go on 'the little penguin bus tour' to phillip island, about a 1.5hr drive away. Before we met up with the tour we stopped for a 30c mcdonalds ice-cream and who do we bump into…yep Mani from 7/11 - we had a decent chat and when we left said goodbye, but this didn’t seem to be enough for mani who gave me a long handshake and a double cheek kiss for cheryl…. guess you had to be there but was pure comedy!!
We arrived at phillip island and watched the 30cm tall penguins come ashore in the surf, walk a few steps then retreat back to the water, this went on for a while until a couple of brave little penguins ran across the beach and didn’t get eaten by foxes/birds of prey, then loads of them in gangs of 10-15 came out of the water and started the walk to their nests to feed their babies. They swim 100km a day hunting and eating, pretty cool. We saw hundreds but couldn’t get photos as you aren’t allowed to film or video as the flash can really scare and disorientate them.
We arrived back at midnight and collected our bags from storage at the hotel - it was still 30C+ and we made our way to the airport for our 7am flight to NZ. We got to the airport but decided not to sleep and power through. I did doze off but woke up when a cockroach was on my toe!
That’s the end of our time in Oz & we loved every second of it. For me Perth, the Red Centre & Melbourne were my favourites. For Chez it was Rottnest Island (Perth), Margaret River wine tour, the Red Centre, Rainbow Beach & Sydney.
We’re now in NZ so the blogs might be more of a challenge as we’re in a camper van but we’ll still try to keep you updated.
Hope all’s good with you.
G & C x
