3/7–Exploring Melbourne

Today’s agenda is to wander around the Victoria Market, the CBD and ride the old trolleys that circle the CBD.  We’re off to a good start with the market – it’s a 5 minute walk from the apartment so we’re there nice and early. It is huge – filled with every imaginable food.  In the outdoor areas, the produce vendors all hawk gorgeous – and really cheap!!! – produce.  We’re sad we’re not staying here now because we could so get into this market for food! Compared to the grocery store and restaurants, this is the place to shop!  Yum!  But, sadly, we are just window shopping since we sincerely doubt any of this stuff would be allowed on the plane tomorrow!

Inside the huge building complex are different areas for meat, poultry, seafood, prepared food, spices, etc.  You could spend hours upon hours wandering around here.  As it is, we spend quite a bit of time – but not enough that we don’t have about an hour wait for the tourist bus that picks up outside the market.

There are 2 tourist routes in Melbourne – the City Circle Tram which follows the old trolley lines just inside the CBD and the Tourist bus which goes to a bit more of the outlying areas across the river. Both are free and run on regular schedules throughout the day. Ed really wants to go on the tram (being the trolley aficionado that he is!), so we decide to do that later in the day, and first take the bus from the market and do a complete circuit of the city.  Since we are too early for the first bus – we go back the apartment for a bit (rest stop!) then head back to the bus stop and get in line (well, there are only 2 others there – but still).  The bus finally arrives (a bit late actually) and we grab seats and follow the narrative along throughout the city.

This is a great way to get your bearings here – we go to the waterfront area and dockside, where there are lots of shops, restaurants and a Costco!  No kidding!  Think it’s the first one built here – there are only 3 in the entire country! Wild!  After dockside, we go through the city then down to Southbank and the arts precinct where there are museums and entertainment halls and all sorts of activities. Then back up into the city past St. Paul’s, into East Melbourne, up to the Carlton Gardens and back to the market.  We decide to stay on the bus – which is really filling up now! Standing room only! But we’ve decided to go wander around Costco and waste some time – it’s still early in the day and we’ve got nothing to do except explore the little lanes down around Flinder street. 

We hop off at Dockside and walk back to Costco – it’s just like being home!  And the prices are pretty much the same!  How does that happen?  In a country where everything is way more expensive than the states – how do the prices in Costco equal what we pay in the states?  Who’s getting ripped off here?  We’re thinking us! Jeez!  But – it is a fun hour or so wandering – and it keeps us cool and off the hot streets. Plus – bonus! We have lunch there – they have the hot dog and soda special – it’s more expensive than the states, but it’s still really, really cheap – so we make out like bandits!

Back out on the street – we walk through the mall – and hit the tram station to go back into town.  Trams go both clockwise and counter-clockwise (what the Aussies, like all British speakers, call anticlockwise), so we’re taking the first one to appear.  We end up on the clockwise tram which is heading back toward our apartment then down into the CBD to Flinders street which is our destination.

In hindsight, we probably should have taken the anticlockwise tram, because it would have gotten us there faster – but we didn’t want to stand outside in the heat. Of course, the heat in the tram wasn’t all that great either (which we knew would be an issue, but we made that decision when we took the bus first).  But – we’re here now, so we make the best of it and enjoy the ride.

We end up ditching the tram by the Parliament House because the tram stops there for 5 minutes or something.  Nah – we’re getting out of that heat and walking – way better.  the little lanes we want to visit are about a 10 minute walk and we’re way happier out on the street.

Melbourne has all these little lanes running between major streets. Some of the pedestrian only ones have themes or have some special significance. Like, for instance, the AC/DC lane.  I’m all excited about this one, since the band is from this area, figure it will be totally cool.  Well…it WAS totally cool, when you read about how it first came about, and the artwork there depicting the band, etc.  Now, it’s just a run down little lane cluttered with advertisement posters and the AC/DC Lane sign.  Bummer!

While AC/DC is a disappointment, Hoosier Lane is not. It definitely lives up to its billing as a center for urban art.  Virtually every square inch of wall space is painted with murals, portraits, graffiti type art, you name it.  It is quite an eyeful and there are some incredible artists showcased up and down the little lane (alleyway).

Pretty cool!  Except that its literally pretty HOT!  We’re sort of spent by now – so we head back up through the CBD to the apartment to cool off in the A/C until later!

Its time well spent in the apartment since we do have to pack for our flights. So, once that is done, and we have determined we are still not so hungry, we’ll just finish our leftovers, we do decide to hit the streets for one last drink.  We end up stumbling upon this great little dive called the Horse Bazaar.  It’s crazy divey!  An after work drinking crowd is there – which is fine – but at night you can tell it gets nuts – there is a DJ and they have story nights and all sorts of activities. 

Very fun – and we spend out last few Aussie dollars on a beer and wine while we sit and people watch for a bit.  Back at the apartment, we polish off our remaining food and hit the hay, ready for our really, really, really long flying day ahead of us.

It was an incredibly great trip – the entire thing. On our last evening, we still can not believe we have been traveling for so long and are actually heading home.  It seems like yesterday we were just leaving for Hawaii.    We never say never, but if we don’t get a chance to come back, we’re really glad we got to see all we did and can’t imagine a better way to really explore New Zealand and Australia! 

3/6 Yarra Valley Wine Tour

Today we get to sleep in a bit – the wine tour pick up isn’t until 9:20 – but it is at the other end of the CBD, so we head out early just to be certain (plus I got a little nervous because one confirmation said 9:20 and one said 9:00 – so what the heck, we can sit and wait).  And sit and wait we did! Outside St. Paul’s cathedral, waiting for our tour group.

Lots of people started showing up, all seemingly waiting for a wine tour.  We kept to the front of the pack, always on the look out for our tour:  Chill Out Tours.  Finally a little van pulled up and we hurried over, wanting to be at the front of the bus since there were so many people.  Imagine our surprise when it turns out there are only 3 of us on the tour!  Wow – our own private tour!  Fun!

We scramble into the van with our other passenger, we’ll call her Beth, because, well, yeah, can’t remember her name.  Our tour guide, Barry, we had heard good things about on TripAdvisor.  Again, it takes about an hour to get to the Yarra Valley, with Barry engaging us in conversation, asking what we liked in wine, what we did, etc.  Very nice way to create a cohesive little group.  He was very full of knowledge too, about the area, the wine (the reason why wine bottles are 750l is because it is the size of 1 breath of the bottle blower) and local lore.  He also gave us explanations for all sorts of Aussie animal names:

Koala – the Aboriginal name is “little man that does not drink”

Kangaroo – means “I don’t understand” because when the white man arrived, they didn’t know what the animal was, and the Aboriginals then called it “I don’t understand”.

We come to our first destination – Domain Chandon.  Who knew they were in Australia?  They are growing and bottling their signature sparkling wine, but of course they can’t call it champagne, because it is not from the Champagne region in France. But it is still excellent wine.  We tour the winery where they are actually harvesting the grapes and processing them…

…then we go to the café for a tasting where we each try a different variation of sparkling wine – traditional for Beth, sparkling merlot for Ed (which I had really wanted to try, but didn’t like at all) and a rose for me.  We also had cheese and bread to snack on with our morning aperitif!

After our morning tipple, we had time to wander around the grounds of the vineyards. It was beautiful there, so peaceful and pretty – and a beautiful day to just relax and stare out across the beautifully  landscaped grounds.

Moving on, we drive through the rolling valleys, past so many vineyards and small wineries.  It’s now time for lunch at Train Trak, a locally owned vineyard with a separately run café, Zonzo, on the premises. 

This place is great – small, personal, the tasting area is a big shed looking out over the vineyard.

Definitely a favorite!  And I even determine that I like certain red wines here!  Who could have ever guessed that?  So much so, that I have a glass to accompany our fabulous lunch.

And lunch is fabulous – a series of Italian delights (and thus the red wine!). First a huge antipasti with these incredibly delicious balsamic marinated pearl onions (we thought they were mushrooms, but no, so good!) plus arugula and shaved parmesan on the side for salad, all accompanied by excellent focaccia bread….

Then came the pizzas.  And yes, plural!  First is the shrimp, tomato and spinach, then the mushroom, sausage and red onion, followed by a version of margherita pizza with mascarpone cheese (which you can see from the picture, we liked so much I couldn’t take a picture fast enough!).

Awesome! We are stuffed, and we still have cappuccino to top it off with!  We absolutely roll out of the restaurant, taking deep breaths of the fresh valley air to help our digestion, while staring across the peaceful vineyards.

Phew!  Back in the van, we spend a pleasant 10 minutes or so winding back along the little vineyard lanes to our next stop – Yering Station.  I don’t remember too much about this winery.  Except that I took a picture of the boxes to remember where we went!

Oops. Should have taken better notes. But I do remember that as we were approaching the tasting area, a huge group of people were coming out – and they were most of the people we had seen waiting for the tours at St. Paul’s earlier that morning.  We so lucked out with only 3 of us!  It is way more personal, way more fun, and so much less rushed and crowded and pushed!

So – Yering Station was great – I’m sure – but not memorable, obviously!  The last stop, though, De Bortoli Estate, is memorable though.  It’s a beautiful setting, with lovely manicured gardens and shrubbery entering the winery….

…and once inside, the loveliest people!  The two ladies helping us with tastings were a hoot – constant stream of conversation – all the while dealing with a Princess Cruise tour!  Then the ship tour left, and there were left over cheese and cracker plates which they proceeded to give to us!  Great fun – I overdosed on red wine and went back to white. Ed had a beer.  And we all snacked our way through the last of the tastings for the afternoon.

I have no idea how we stayed awake on the ride home, but we all managed to do just that.  We talked a good deal about the volunteer opportunities in Australia – a couple of which are near and dear to Beth’s heart.  We talked about culture and politics and tons of things, and it made the drive just fly by.  All too soon, we are dropped off at St. Paul’s  and bid adieu to our companions as we hike our way back up the hill to to the top of the CBD and our little short stay apartment. 

Later, we go to the Queen Victoria Market Place, right behind our apartment for their special Wednesday night market with music, crafts and different food stands. But we are still so stuffed from our lunch, that we end up walking around for a bit, then heading back to the apartment to have leftovers!  Then a good night’s sleep to prepare for our last full day Down Under!

3/5–The Great Ocean Road

So, a month (or more) has gone by, and my fault, I never finished the last 3 days of our trip – which quite frankly were some of the best!  So, this will be a mini-blog – reporting what we did, but without most of the commentary on the funny little things that happened along the way, because, well, heck, I’ve forgotten all the little stuff.  Sigh…here goes:

 

I do remember that we are up bright and early today with a 7:20 pick up for our Great Ocean Road tour.  Fortunately the pick up is across the street from our apartment, so we don’t need to rush.  We’re there early – the tour bus is there late – but it all works out in the end.  We’re the 4th people on the bus, and we’re able to grab the front seats, right behind the driver.  Good for the views and since that’s what this tour is all about – we’re in the cat bird seat….literally!

The Great Ocean Road is heralded as one of the most spectacular scenic coastal drives in the world.  It is over 250K long and our total tour today will cover close to 600K in driving.  Thus – the tour!  We don’t have to drive, just sit.  14 hours from start to finish, but, at the end of the day? Worth every hour.  Fantastic!  Ok – so back to the beginning….

….We end up with a pretty good bus load of folks, 22 in all.  Mostly Asian, Korean being the majority.  The tour company had ipods with tour translations, and they were in short supply. The driver actually ran out of Korean language ones and asked that they share them.  There is a girl, Alison, from Kailua, HI, and another Maria, from Buenos Aires but living in Santiago Chile at the moment, who we talk to through the whole trip (and who both take great pictures!).

The drive to the ocean takes about an hour and a half and isn’t very scenic.  The driver, Alan, gives us a pretty good overview of the area (including the stadium where one of the big Aussie football teams play), and heck, there’s wi-fi on the bus – so we can keep ourselves occupied if we get bored!  We finally hit the Great Ocean road and our driver deposits us at a beach for our tea and cake break (I can’t remember which beach, but I know it was not on our itinerary because we were running late, and it was better to stop there to snack).  There is coffee and tea and great pound cakes and banana nut breads.  It’s a gorgeous cloud free day again, so we all enjoy the quick break. 

Next up is Bells Beach, the big surfing beach in Australia.

Next we head to the World War II memorial arch – a bridge of wood built over the road.

The road was constructed by returning servicemen who needed jobs.  They were so traumatized by the bombing in the war, though, that couldn’t use dynamite to blast the rock out of the way, so they used picks and chiseled it out by hand. 

You can see how rocky the terrain is – amazing they did all this by hand!

We continue to drive along the road stopping at a couple of beaches – great photo opps…

…then to some little camp ground area to see Koalas and some guy feeding birds….

…then through the cute little town of Apollo Bay, an onto the Great Otway National Park, where we get to stretch our legs walking through the forest with giant Eucalyptus trees.

Then it is on to lunch at a cute little Thai restaurant—“ThaiHouse” in Apollo Bay.  We had pre-ordered our meals, and they were fantastic – pad thai with tons of chicken – and sauteed chicken with vegetables.  Both excellent – and who knows what I was thinking because I have no pictures!  Oh well!  Suffice it to say, it was really very good.  And they gave it to us in takeaway containers so we could have gone down to the beach if we wanted. But instead, we just sat outside at the little sidewalk tables and enjoyed our food.

After lunch we finally go to the piece de resistance of The Great Ocean Road – the 12 Apostles.  This is an area of the coast where there are huge limestone stacks, caused by erosion, standing along the coastline.  There are really only 7 Apostles (don’t ask!0 but they are all incredible to view.  We wander out to the coastline and take as many pictures as possible – unfortunately they are mostly back lit – this should be a morning stop, but that would mean staying out here overnight – so you get what you get – and you still get pretty fantastic!

Next it is onto Port Campbell national park, which we actually think is better than the Apostles.  The formations here are bigger and you can see more of the rock striations.  There are a lot more trails here too and view points.  

This is also where the famous Loch Ard shipwreck occurred during the gold rush years. Only 2 people of 54 survived, the ship’s apprentice and an 18 year old girl.  The apprentice floated until daylight on an overturned lifeboat, then managed to drift into the bay and onto the beach here.  He heard the girl yelling for help and went back into the water to save her. The community thought they should marry – since it was such a heroic almost love story, but the girl wanted nothing to do with it. So they went their separate ways – and now Loch Ard is just a gorgeous little beach in the middle of a gorge with a lot of history.

 

The next and last stop is London Bridge – well, now London Arch - which was a natural bridge over the water for years until it collapsed in 1990.   Allegedly there were 2 people on the ocean-side of the bridge when it collapsed.  They had to be air lifted off by helicopter after hours of waiting on the rock promontory.  The urban legend has it that it was a couple who refused to be interviewed after being saved, and who rushed off in their car.  Allegedly they were having an affair and didn’t want their identities to be revealed.  That’s not actually the truth, but it makes for a great story!

Back home we head – after a very long, but very fun day.  We stop in Colac for a quick dinner of KFC – then back into Melbourne we go.  We get back to the hotel at 9:30pm.  Wow!  14 hours!  But we were never once bored (thank you wi-fi and kindles) and it really didn’t even seem like that long a trip.  Great, great day – one we’re very glad we didn’t miss!