We reluctantly packed our bags and said goodbye to Vikki and Alison, our flatmates, then jumped in a taxi for the airport. I think the flight to Melbourne took about 3 hours but can’t remember exactly. We’ve taken so many flights now that I get them all muddled up. We were flying south the whole time so were expecting it to be considerably colder when we touched down in Melbourne. It was slightly depressing to acknowledge that our departure from Cairns marked the end of any decent weather for us just when summer would be on the way back home.
We arrived in Melbourne around midnight and took a cab to Base backpackers, which was to be our home for the next few nights. We didn’t want to pay the extra for a private room so it was back to staying in Dorms. We got a late dinner at the 24 hour McDonald’s and retired for the night. We got up late the next day, sorted out a couple of day trips for our time in Melbourne and had a walk around St Kilda the suburb in which our hostel was located.
The next morning we woke up early and boarded a tour bus for a day trip of The Great Ocean Road. We spent the first hour getting out the city. The first stop was at Bells Beach, the place where surfing started in Australia. The world surfing tour visits every year and it was also the location of Patrick Swayze’s demise in the movie Point Break. On the day we visited the waves were about as impressive as they are at Bournemouth, though I’m sure Jacko would’ve been straight in riding the white water! The Great Ocean Road was initially opened as a tourist drive after the 2nd world war and it’s easy to see why. It winds its way right along the edge of the spectacular coastline for 100s of kilometres. During the day we stopped off to see wild Koalas and tropical birds. We arrived at the 12 Apostles just before sunset to take some pictures. We took the highway back getting back into Melbourne at about 10pm and having covered about 600kms.
On the next day we took a trip to Phillip Island to see the penguin parade. This is the nightly spectacle where shortly after sunset you can watch the world’s smallest penguins returning to shore after spending the day out at sea. They ride in on the surf in small groups then hover at the water’s edge building up the courage to make the dash across the beach to the safety of the sand dunes that they call home.
On our final day in Melbourne we took in the city sights. Shortly before sunset we went up the Eureka Tower, the highest viewing platform in the southern hemisphere. We went on a ride called The Edge. They put you in what is basically a big glass box which then moves out the side of the building on a hydraulic arm leaving you gazing down through the glass floor to the city 90 stories below. For added peace of mind the experience is accompanied by music designed to sound like glass shattering. Jenn freaked out and decided not to move for the entire time we were on the ride. Once the experience was over we stayed up the tower to watch the sun set over the city.
We took a budget Jetstar flight to Sydney the next morning. We had thought about driving from Melbourne to Sydney but were told not to bother as there wasn’t a great deal to see. It was raining when we touched down in Sydney. We’d booked the cheapest hostel we could find, D’lux Backpackers in the Kings Cross area of town. It was fine for the money and provided us with a couple of good nights out during our stay. The next day the weather in the Sydney had improved dramatically. We walked down to the City Centre and took some more cheesy Sydney Opera House pictures then took a walk through the Botanical gardens. The next day we went on a day trip to the Blue Mountains, which lay a couple of hours drive inland from Sydney. Our guide was excellent and seemed to know just about everything about the local area. Sadly the weather was not so good. There was dense fog which meant visibility was down to about 100 meters so we weren’t actually able to see anything. It’s now time to say good bye to Australia and go over to New Zealand. Hopefully I’ll be back one day as there’s still so much I haven’t seen!
