Melbourne, Australia January 2010

We went to Australia for 2 weeks.  We usually like to travel in October or November, but a job change forced us to wait until January.  January is summertime in Australia and we were expecting it to be quite warm.  

Our itinerary included:  3 nights in Melbourne, 5 nights in Cape Tribulation (visiting the Great Barrier Reef), and 6 nights in Sydney (visiting the Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley).

We flew into Melbourne and out of Sydney on Qantas Airlines.  We also used Qantas for our domestic travel in Australia between Melbourne and Cape Trib and Cape Trib and Sydney.  We rented a car in Melbourne and Cairns using Avis.  We used Frommer's Australia guide book to help plan our trip. 

January is an expensive time to fly to Australia.  I checked airline prices almost daily for a year and the price never went down much.  We ended up booking 2 weeks in advance, as that is the required booking time for international flights, because I was hoping for a last minute deal that never came.  

3 Nights in Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne after a 14 hour flight from LA on a Saturday morning.  We went to pick up our rental car at Avis and the first thing I did was try to get in on the driver's side (since it's on the opposite side).  Mike was the designated driver and I was the navigator and the one constantly reminding him to KEEP LEFT.  We tried to go slow and it took a little time getting used to driving on the left, but eventually it started coming easier. I don't know that he ever got used to the turn signal being on the opposite side, however.  Most of the time when we made a turn, Mike turned on the windshield wipers.  We ended up with an Australian car, a Holden, that has their windshield wipers and turn signals on the opposite side than American cars.  Other European cars have them on the same side as American cars.  

After some backtracking, we finally made it to the St. Kilda area where our hotel was located.  I decided on St. Kilda and the Hotel Tolarno as I read that the area was beach-y and artsy and had great restaurants.  It wasn't as beach-y as I was expecting, but we liked staying there.  It was pretty quiet during the time we were there as Australians were still on holiday from Christmas and New Years and it wasn't as warm yet.  As soon as we left Melbourne, the temperatures started soring.  

LODGING

Hotel Tolerno (TA Review) - Lovely Hotel, Helpful Staff

This was a nice European type room.  The staff was very helpful when we needed directions or asked questions.  The tram also stops along the street in front of the hotel to take you downtown.

ACTIVITIES

Melbourne's CBD (downtown)

We hopped on the tram after arriving to Melbourne, checking into our room, and eating lunch to go visit the CBD.  The tram got us there in about 20 minutes.  We bought a ticket at the 7-11, but they have vending machines on the trams as well.  We got off at the Southern Cross stop and made our way to the free city tram.  We didn't really ride it but to get off a couple of stops down at Federation Square.  We checked out the area and then made our way to the Old Melbourne Gaol (jail).  We ended up getting there around 3:45pm and they tried to talk us into coming back the next day to do tours.  We opted to pay the concession fee to just check out the jail house.  This is where Ned Kelly was jailed and hanged.  After leaving the Gaol, we walked back to the Southern Cross stop to catch the tram back to our hotel.

The Great Ocean Road (GOR)

Our second day in Melbourne, we got up early, had some breakfast and left the hotel around 7:30am to drive the GOR.  Our plan was to get ahead of the tour buses that usually left the city between 8:30 and 9.  We were making good time, but missed an exit and had to back track a little.  We started on the GOR outside Torquay and made a couple of stops at Bells Beach and the Split Point Lighthouse.  As soon as we left the lighthouse and passed the GOR sign that goes over the road, we came to a stop in traffic.  People started turning their cars around and heading the other way, so we did also.  We stopped at a store to find out what happened and discovered there was an accident and the road was going to be closed for at least 4 hours. The GOR is a 2 lane road, so there was no way to go around that accident on that road. We decided to ask at the information centers to see what our options were to get around. 

The info desk in Anglesea gave us a map with a dirt road that went around and we got back on in Lorne. Driving on the dirt road was a little scary at first since: 1) we aren't used to driving on dirt roads; 2) it was the first full day Mike was driving on the opposite side of the car and road; and 3) cars coming from the other direction were flying past us.  We joked about our experience the whole way and finally made it back to the GOR.  It ended up being a 2 hour delay, but we continued on our trip.

We stopped in Lorne, a cool little town, to get some coffee and stretch our legs.  We also stopped and visited the Maits Rainforest Walk, The Twelve Apostles, and other stops along the way. We grabbed dinner in Colac at Cafe Nu-Deli and headed back to Melbourne. We didn't get back until 11:30pm to our hotel.
It ended up being a really long day due to the back tracking, the detour and all the stops, but the Great Ocean Road was beautiful. I'm glad we drove ourselves, so we could stop and go whenever we wanted.  I think it probably would have been a good idea to stop somewhere for the night and relax a little, soak in the scenery, and then drive back to Melbourne.  That's something we talked about doing different after our trip.

Phillip Island Penguin Parade

We slept in a little before making our way to Phillip Island to watch the penguin parade.  We weren't supposed to be there until about 7:30pm as that was about the time the sun would start setting and the penguins would come out of the ocean from hunting all day.  


We ended up leaving our hotel around 11am and made it close to the island's turn off about 12:30pm.  We hit traffic and thought, oh no, not again.  Well, there was another accident, unfortunately a fatal one involving a family, that closed the entrance to Phillip Island.  


At first, no one knew if or when it would open back up.  We found Kilcunda beach down the road and spent some time hanging out there.  We also drove into Wonthaggi to go to the visitor's center for ideas of what to do in the area and to get some lunch.  We were heading back to Kilcunda about 5pm when we hit traffic and thought the island must be open again.  We slowly moved towards the round about to Phillip Island and got to the Penguin Parade a little after 7:30pm.  We made it!  It was worth all that waiting, because watching these little fairy penguins get out of the ocean in little huddles and then waddle along the beach back to their burrows was absolutely amazing.  We wished we could have seen more of Phillip Island, we had planned on going to the Koala sanctuary as well, but I'm glad we made it to the penguin show!

After the show, we headed back to Melbourne and made it to our hotel after 12:30am.  

RESTAURANTS

Chinta Blues - Great Malaysian Food

Our first meal in Australia ended up being one of our favorites.  When we got to the restaurant it was completely empty and that made me a little nervous.  However, once we got our food and tasted it, I was not disappointed!  I ordered the Ayam Ria Chicken (diced chicken fillets, wok-tossed in a blend of spices, fresh ginger and dry red chilli, finished with crisp carrot slices and peanuts) based on Frommer's recommendation in his guide.  Mike ordered the Hokkian Char Fried Noodles (soft hokkien noodles gently simmered in a dark soya sauce with fishcake, bok choy, prawns and calamari).  This place was delicious.  Our meal was about $50 which included 2 beers.

Cacao 

This place was a couple of buildings down from our hotel and we went in one morning for coffee.  The lady working the counter was from the U.S. and was really friendly.  

The Angahook Cafe (in Anglesea on the GOR) 

We stopped in here for a quick bite before attempting the detour around the accident on the GOR.  I ended up with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich although I tried to order something that looked better in the display case.  I guess I didn't say the right thing.  Mike had a pastry filled with stuff that he saw someone else order.  We had a small lunch for about $10.

Cafe Nu-Deli (in Colac on Murray St.) - Good Local Meal 

We stopped here on our way back to Melbourne from the GOR.  We made it to Colac with less than 1/4 of a tank of gas and was really starting to wonder if we were going to make it to a station before running out.  The first gas station in Colac we came to had just closed and we were hoping it wasn't the only one in town.  We finally found one and asked the attendant for a recommendation for food.  We didn't really want to eat at McDonald's in Australia.  She recommended a pub down the street that we never found, but came across this place instead.  It looked like a nice casual place.  We walked in and immediately felt under dressed.  We had been in the car for about 12 hours and were tired and might have looked a little run down.  There were two older couples dressed up and having a nice evening out.  We almost missed dinner as our server had to check to see if the kitchen was still running.  We were in luck and ended up having a pretty decent meal here.  I ordered the special which was chicken and shrimp sauted in peanut sauce, which was pretty good.  However, it came with an Asian salad which was drenched in dressing.  Mike ordered a ribeye steak and it was very nice as well.  After such a long day of driving we were even more tired after our meal here, but had to drive another hour and a half to Melbourne.  Our dinner was about $50 which included 2 beers.

Leo's Spaghetti Bar - Quick Egg Breakfasts

We went here for breakfast the morning of our trip to Phillip Island.  It was across the street from our hotel.  They serve fried eggs over bread and it was pretty good.  I had fried eggs and ham on toast and Mike had Leo's breaky.  Yes, in Australia, they refer to breakfast as "breaky".  Mike's breaky came with some strange looking sausage, otherwise it was a good breakfast for about $20.

Continue Reading About Our Trip:

5 Nights in Cape Tribulation

6 Nights in Sydney