Australia is a place I'd wanted to visit since being a little kid. It seemed so far away (it is), but luckily when there was a seat sale on Air Asia we scooped up the 2 for 1 tickets and were on our way from Vietnam (still far away, but not too bad)! We had a short flight to KL, then flew to Adelaide which was about 8 hours away.
Upon arrival in Adelaide we rented a car with Thrifty at the airport and drove into town. I forgot my license so John had to do all the driving. Australians drive on the "wrong" side of the road so at first it felt weird. Adelaide is a small city and we didn't have a lot of time to explore it. Our guest house was within walking distance of Central Market in China Town and a nice street with many restaurants on it. We ended up having our first dinner in Australia at the famous "Hog's Breath Cafe" and ordered Angus steak burgers which came with "chips" (aka fries). Yum!
In Adelaide we also visited Cleland Wildlife Park, where we got to see animals roaming free in the park. We were given some kangaroo food (a pack of pellets) and although some kangaroos seemed shy, most of them came right up to eat out of our hands! Some of the emus even liked the food. We also got to pet a koala. Apparently koalas sleep for 20 hours a day and the koalas at the park were feeling tired since it was the end of the day. We only got to see one up close for a short period of time before it went back to sleep again.
On the second day of our trip we began the official road trip to Melbourne. We rented an orange Nissan Micra and took to the empty country roads. Honestly there were times where it felt like we were the only car on the road. We took a wrong turn and backtracked on a side road at one point, and it was so empty except for a tumbleweed that blew by... we actually had time to get out of the car and do a photo shoot in the middle of the road without any traffic whatsoever! One cool stop we did on this leg of the trip was to a lookout where we could see pelicans flying overhead. They were huge! It was peaceful there, and of course no one was around.
After several hours of driving we reached the town of Robe, a sleepy town on the southern coast. Robe only has a population of less than 2000 people but apparently during the Australian summer months they have around 15000 people with the influx of tourists and seasonal workers. There is a beach in Robe where cars drive on. We tried it out but our car wasn't the best and got stuck in the sand near the ramp down, so we decided to go back up to the parking lot!
The second day of our trip we drove to the town of Port Campbell. Along the way we made a stop in Mount Gambier to see the famous "Blue Lake." It was pretty blue! It is a crater lake with the deepest point being 77 metres. There is some scientific explanation behind the colour, but I couldn't tell you what it is! After visiting the Blue Lake, we made a few pit stops in cute towns before making it to the official "Great Ocean Road." We expected the GOR to be along the coast the whole time, but this was not the case. When we reached the section of the road around Port Campbell we had finally found what we were looking for... the coast! We saw several scenic points such as "London's Arch" (an arched rock bridge in the water), "The Grotto," and finally the famous "12 Apostles." Although not all 12 rock formations remain today due to erosion, it was still amazing to see. We came at the right time... the sun was going down and the colours were beautiful.
We liked the 12 Apostles so much that we went back the next morning (a short drive from our hotel) and descended the "Gibson Steps" down the rock cliff to a large beach area. Swimming down there is not recommended due to currents, but there was a large stretch of sand and it was a nice place to take some photos.
The third day of our road trip took us from Port Campbell to Melbourne. There was a stretch of the GOR that was very scenic, as it followed the coast for a long time, with views of beautiful beaches around every turn on the winding road. It was sad when the GOR ended and we had to get on a highway to Melbourne!
Stay tuned for part 2 of the trip...
Upon arrival in Adelaide we rented a car with Thrifty at the airport and drove into town. I forgot my license so John had to do all the driving. Australians drive on the "wrong" side of the road so at first it felt weird. Adelaide is a small city and we didn't have a lot of time to explore it. Our guest house was within walking distance of Central Market in China Town and a nice street with many restaurants on it. We ended up having our first dinner in Australia at the famous "Hog's Breath Cafe" and ordered Angus steak burgers which came with "chips" (aka fries). Yum!
In Adelaide we also visited Cleland Wildlife Park, where we got to see animals roaming free in the park. We were given some kangaroo food (a pack of pellets) and although some kangaroos seemed shy, most of them came right up to eat out of our hands! Some of the emus even liked the food. We also got to pet a koala. Apparently koalas sleep for 20 hours a day and the koalas at the park were feeling tired since it was the end of the day. We only got to see one up close for a short period of time before it went back to sleep again.
On the second day of our trip we began the official road trip to Melbourne. We rented an orange Nissan Micra and took to the empty country roads. Honestly there were times where it felt like we were the only car on the road. We took a wrong turn and backtracked on a side road at one point, and it was so empty except for a tumbleweed that blew by... we actually had time to get out of the car and do a photo shoot in the middle of the road without any traffic whatsoever! One cool stop we did on this leg of the trip was to a lookout where we could see pelicans flying overhead. They were huge! It was peaceful there, and of course no one was around.
After several hours of driving we reached the town of Robe, a sleepy town on the southern coast. Robe only has a population of less than 2000 people but apparently during the Australian summer months they have around 15000 people with the influx of tourists and seasonal workers. There is a beach in Robe where cars drive on. We tried it out but our car wasn't the best and got stuck in the sand near the ramp down, so we decided to go back up to the parking lot!
The second day of our trip we drove to the town of Port Campbell. Along the way we made a stop in Mount Gambier to see the famous "Blue Lake." It was pretty blue! It is a crater lake with the deepest point being 77 metres. There is some scientific explanation behind the colour, but I couldn't tell you what it is! After visiting the Blue Lake, we made a few pit stops in cute towns before making it to the official "Great Ocean Road." We expected the GOR to be along the coast the whole time, but this was not the case. When we reached the section of the road around Port Campbell we had finally found what we were looking for... the coast! We saw several scenic points such as "London's Arch" (an arched rock bridge in the water), "The Grotto," and finally the famous "12 Apostles." Although not all 12 rock formations remain today due to erosion, it was still amazing to see. We came at the right time... the sun was going down and the colours were beautiful.
The third day of our road trip took us from Port Campbell to Melbourne. There was a stretch of the GOR that was very scenic, as it followed the coast for a long time, with views of beautiful beaches around every turn on the winding road. It was sad when the GOR ended and we had to get on a highway to Melbourne!
Stay tuned for part 2 of the trip...
Such stunning scenery!
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