Day 1) Sun 28 Feb – Landed in Mel at 17:20, on time. Did the customs stint, which went pretty fast, grabbed my small bag from the carousel and took the Skybus to Southern Cross Station. Excellent way and reasonably priced at $18 to travel from/to the airport. Quick two minute walk down Spencer Street and I was at the Grand Hotel MGallery, my home for the week. It is a grand old dame, who honestly needs a bit of a face lift, but is in a great location and has wonderful, helpful staff. My room was on the 6th floor facing Southern Cross and had a small balcony, which was great to relax on. No complaints.
Day 2) Mon 29 Feb – Started out cloudy, but improved over the day. First thing I did was get my Myki Visitor Value Pack ($14 and includes pre-loaded card and discount coupons) at Southern Cross, then walked around for a bit to get my bearings. Had to get used to all the hustle and bustle after being in much quieter areas of New Zealand! In the afternoon I took a ferry ride along the Yarra to Williamstown ($18). As I was chugging along the Yarra, I noticed the still very busy docklands with all the cranes and container ships being unloaded. The first thing that popped in my head was ‘I saw this on the documentary televised at home called Coast Australia, and here I am seeing it in person. Woohoo!’ Many more of the same came to be true while I was travelling. Williamstown is a busy maritime town with a fair amount of old preserved buildings and lovely homes, and a nice place to walk around. Grabbed a quick pizza for lunch and continued on, enjoying some of the self-directed historical walks along the waterfront. Where possible I tried to travel different routes, so I headed back by train as I had some more chores to do before things closed for the day. Most important was I picked up my prepaid SIM card with Telstra, and some groceries for the week. Enjoyed a glass of wine on my balcony. Great way to close the day.
Day 3) Tues 1 Mar – Lovely sunny day so took the 20 minute ride by tram to St. Kilda for the morning. This is the first time I really noticed the graffiti as it was everywhere; some really talented wall art, some not. I arrived at the beach before 10am, so it was pretty deserted, which was nice. Walked along the water and enjoyed the quiet for a while. Took another tram line back to town in front of Luna Park because I had to disembark at Flinders Street Station this time for a train connection to take the afternoon Puffing Billy steam train ride ($40.80 with discount) from Belgrave. Puffing Billy takes about one hour to travel roughly 29 kms, then there was a small break, and returned to the original station. The coaches are open sided so you can enjoy the view while puffing along in the Dandenong ranges, a low mountain range with temperate forest. After NZ I found it is more like hills with very dry conditions throughout the region. I could see what the dry summer had done to the forests. Headed back via train to Melbourne and took a stroll along Flinders Street to my hotel. All around another good day, with a glass of wine on my balcony to finish it.
Day 4) Wed 2 Mar – Another clear day so it started out as a garden day. I took the free tram to Flinders Street Station, then walked across the Yarra along St. Kilda Road. First garden I entered was Alexandra Gardens, then continued along through the Queen Victoria Gardens, Kings Domain, and finally to the botanic gardens. Much to see, with amazing tree specimens and floral displays. I then stopped at the visitor centre near the Shrine of Remembrance and joined the Aboriginal Heritage Walk ($30), a 90 minute tour held most days in the gardens. An indigenous guide will tell you about the original people that lived around Melbourne, do a traditional smoking ceremony welcoming you to their land, and he showed our group of 5 their uses of plants and trees for food, tools and medicine. Very informative. After a quick bite at the garden café, I crossed over the street to visit the Shrine of Remembrance, along with the other monuments dedicated to the fallen. Very touching. I then walked through the gardens again back to Flinders Street Station and hopped on the tram to visit the Melbourne Museum ($11.20 with discount) to see the First Peoples exhibit. It was well laid out and very interesting to see another perspective on what has happened in the last couple of centuries. Resonated with what I see here going on with our indigenous peoples. I regrettably didn’t leave myself enough time to fully enjoy the exhibit, but what I saw before the museum was kicking me out was worth the time spent. Back on the tram I went to the hotel and a nice relaxing salad along with my glass of wine on the balcony. Phew, busy day and my feet were complaining!
Day 5) Thurs 3 Mar – Sunny again. Off to Wendouree first, a suburb of Ballarat, to see the Ballarat Botanic gardens there (est. 1857), which entailed a train ride ($28 return) of 90 minutes and a walk of ten minutes. Each year they have a Begonia festival that is very popular. Alas, I was a bit too early to see it and that section of the garden was closed for renovations. But I did enjoy walking around this more formal style garden that has many statues. They have some amazing trees that are hundreds of years old. Sadly most are not indigenous to Australia, but transplants from Britain and other parts of the world, similar to what I saw in NZ. Interesting to be walking around and see oaks, maples, redwoods or sequoias and the like, all three to four times as wide as me! After that I backtracked and visited Ballarat (thought to mean "resting place" in local language). A very interesting city with lots of history and preserved Victorian era buildings. It was a gold town at one point, but that lasted only for a while. I had walked a little too much over the last couple of days, so I had some nasty blisters to contend with and kept my walking this day to a minimum. After strolling around town, I hobbled back on the train to Melbourne and my glass of wine.
Day 6) Fri 4 Mar – Questionable weather, so I decided to do some chores in the morning. In the afternoon I took the free tram again to the Ian Potter Museum of Art (free admission) to view indigenous art. I should have looked into this more as it was modern designs and not my interest, so I did not stay long. Rain was starting and in the mid-30’s, so I decided to head back to the hotel, stay in and order room service. Had a very tasty chicken sandwich on Turkish bread with fries, and my glass of wine. Hit the spot. Oh, and I encountered my first big spider! No idea what type, but it was all brown with no white or red spot, and it blended in with the curtains. We decided to ignore each other and got along well for the rest of my stay. No, I did not name it.
Day 7) Sat 5 Mar – Great Ocean Road! As I didn’t have a car it left me with few choices to see things. I ended up taking a day tour with A Tour with a Difference (ATWAD). The bus was full, but it was a small van, thank goodness, and there were 12 total. We were on the road by 7:30am and heading to the most popular tourist spots along the way. We stopped for tea after about a 90 minute drive, around Torquay. We did not stop at Bells Beach since there was an upcoming surfing competition and access was closed. Our next stop was at the Memorial Arch. Not too busy as we were there before the big busses. The monument gives a good story of the road construction. While driving along the road heading to Lorne I could see the recent wildfire damage that went right down to the ocean. Luckily some regrowth was already visible. We were able to stop and see koalas in the wild. I felt a bit sorry for them as there were lots of people rummaging around trying to get the best photo. What they must think of us humans! Back in the bus and off to Apollo Bay for lunch. Then a stop in the Rait’s Rest Rainforest Walk for a short walk, located in part of the Cape Otway National Park. The ferns reminded me of NZ. Then it was off to Gibson Steps to get a close up view of two of the Twelve Apostles. Only four of us went down the steep steps to the beach, but worth it. And of course, waiting down the road for us are the rest of the limestone stacks. What a sight to see! By the time we got to the stop some busses were there, but I was still able to get some great pictures of these amazing structures. Then off to see Loch Ard Gorge and walking along the trails that take you to the beach and to the London Bridge and Island Arch. More wonderful views. I could go on and on about this part of the GOR, but enough said. We then headed to Port Campbell for an evening meal, and a return ride via the highway back to Melbourne. I was back at the hotel at 9:15pm. A wonderful day, and as you have all said on TA, just a small taste of the wonders along that stretch of road.
Day 8) Sun 6 Mar – Leaving Melbourne and off to Kangaroo Island. To be continued…..
Personal observations about Melbourne
- Very busy, vibrant, clean cosmopolitan city.
- Free tram zones. What a concept!
- Visitor friendly with kiosks, volunteers and signage everywhere you look. Blue signs indicating direction to attractions on street poles was helpful.
- You could ask anyone for assistance and they would try their best.
- Excellent public transit system. Loved knowing to the minute when the tram was going to arrive.
- Would not drive in the city as it’s just too different, especially if not familiar with tram lines cutting the street in half and street/tram light signals. Did appreciate the directional indicators on the ground.
- Eating out is expensive. A cup of tea, which is what I drink, should not cost the same as a cup of coffee.
- Had to make sure I looked both ways before crossing the road as most times I glanced the wrong way and had to backtrack or get run over!
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