My family had visited Australia many times when the children were younger. Places and cities we visited include Perth, Albany, Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, Port Douglas and the Daintree Rainforest, Fraser Island, Daydream Island and Atherton Tablelands with fishing at Lake Tinaroo. These were places we visited before I started this travel blog.
But we have missed out Melbourne, one of the world’s most liveable city!
Lured by what we saw in the MasterChef Australia TV show, we planned a 12-days trip to Melbourne in May (late autumn) 2019.
After 5 days at Melbourne seeing the sights and savouring the food, we embarked on a road trip from Melbourne to Phillip Island, Dandenong Ranges National Park, Grampians National Park and ending with 3 days along the scenic Great Ocean Road before heading to the airport for our flight home.
The Great Ocean Road, one of the world's most scenic coastal drives, extends over 200 km between Torquay and Allansford near Warrnambool.
We chose to drive the Great Ocean Road starting from Warrnambool and proceed down south and east towards Torquay, with overnight stays in Port Campbell and Lorne before heading to the Melbourne International Airport on the 3rd day for our flight home.
By going the reverse direction from Warrnambool to Torquay, we succeeded in avoiding the bus tours at the popular attractions along the route.
This is the overview of our trip:
Day 1 (6 May 2019) – Arrival Day in Melbourne City
We flew from home to Melbourne Airport via Qantas arriving in the early morning and took the Skybus to Southern Cross Station. Our “home” for the next 5 nights was an Airbnb studio apartment, located right across the Southern Cross Station, along Spencer Street.
We did a walking tour of Melbourne, checking out places like Federation Square, Yarra River and the Southbank, Saint Paul Cathedral and the street art at Hosier Lane and AC/Dc Lane.
Melbourne is well known for the street art.
We also checked out the Melbourne food scene with brunch at Hardware Société, ate gelato at Pidapipó Gelateria and fusion food at Rice Paper Scissors.
Trip report: Exploring Melbourne – Southbank, Federation Square, Hosier Lane and yummy delights.
Day 2 (7 May 2019) – Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
A sunny day was forecasted for our second day in Melbourne. This was ideal weather for a visit to Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria located next to it.
Trip Report: Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance
Trip Report: A walk through Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
Day 3 (8 May 2019) – South Melbourne Market, Brighton Beach and St Kilda Beach
We spent the morning enjoying the food at South Melbourne Market.
This market is a lively indoor market with stalls for local produce, meat and seafood. Most important for us, there are cafes serving local and global fare.
Must try: freshly shucked oysters and the freshly baked croissants.
First time visitors to Melbourne should include a visit to Brighton Beach to see the iconic and colourful wooden beach huts, or “bathing boxes” lining the beach. Not commonly seen in other countries, the colourful boxes make quite nice travel photos.
Wild fairy penguins could be observed after sunset at the breakwater in St Kilda Pier.
We ended the day at St Kilda Beach and saw the cute little fairy penguins at the pier.
Trip Report: Morning at the South Melbourne Market.
Trip Report: Brighton Beach Bathing Boxes and penguins at St Kilda Beach.
Day 4 (9 May 2019) – Yarra Valley
We did a day trip to Yarra Valley, Victoria's oldest wine region dating back to 1838. The Yarra Valley is about a one-hour drive north-east of Melbourne. There is no public transport to the Yarra Valley, so the best way to get there is on an organised tour or by self-drive car.
We decided to join a wine tour to Yarra Valley since we wanted to do wine tasting at the vineyards.
Trip Report: Wine tasting at Yarra Valley with a wine tour.
Day 5 (10 May 2019) – Queen Victoria Market, shopping malls, arcades in the Melbourne CBD area and also the State Library Victoria
A rainy day was forecasted. We visited the more famous and larger Queen Victoria Market (QVM) with plenty of yummy food stalls in the morning.
Must try: Steamed mussels and the freshly baked doughnuts from a food-truck.
State Library Victoria.
We spent the afternoon exploring the shopping malls, arcades in the Melbourne CBD area and also the State Library Victoria.
Note: QVM is closed on Monday and Wednesday. On Friday, many shops in the CBD and suburban shopping centres remain open until 9:00 PM.
Trip report: Morning at Queen Victoria Market.
Day 6 (11 May 2019) – Road trip to Phillip Island
This was the start of our 7-day road trip to visit Phillip Island, Dandenong Ranges, Grampians National Park and the Great Ocean Road.
We collected our rental car from Avis at the Southern Cross Station.
Daily pelican feeding at San Remo.
We drove to San Remo (2 hours journey) to see the pelican feeding that takes place on the beach next to the San Remo pier daily at noon.
Hiking at Cape Woolamai, Phillip Island.
Thereafter, we did a 4 km hike to the Pinnacles Lookout at Cape Woolamai on Phillip Island, followed by an easy walk at the Nobbies Boardwalk before ending the day at Cowes.
We skipped the famous Phillip Island Penguin Parade!
Where we stayed:
We stayed at the Seahorse Motel, a clean and well maintained motel located in Cowes, Phillip Island.
Trip report: Melbourne Road Trip Day 1 – Phillip Island
Day 7 (12 May 2019) – Road trip to Dandenong Ranges
Day 2 of road trip started with an easy 120 km drive to the Dandenong Range National Park from Phillip Island.
Interesting clay figures in the forest at William Ricketts Sanctuary, Dandenong Ranges.
We had tea at the famous Miss Maple’s Tearoom in Sassafras, visited William Ricketts Sanctuary and Dandenong Ranges Botanical Garden at Olinda.
Autumn foliage at Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden.Where we stayed:
Nightcap at Ferntree Gully Hotel Motel, located along Burwood Highway, is a 2-minutes drive from the Dandenong Ranges National Park. This is a convenient place for an overnight stay for visitors to the park. There are eateries onsite and within 5-minutes drive from the hotel.
Trip report: Melbourne Road Trip Day 2 – Dandenong Range National Park.
Day 8 (13 May 2019) – Road trip to Grampians National Park with visits to Mackenzie Falls, Reeds Lookout, The Balconies and Boroka Lookout
Renowned for rugged mountain ranges, rich cultural heritage and breath-taking views, the Grampians National Park is one of Victoria's most popular destinations. We planned to spend 2 days at the National Park to do some hiking and be close to nature.
The drive from Dandenong to Grampians took about 4 hours, excluding a stopover for lunch and some shopping at Ballarat.
We arrived at Halls Gap, the village located in the heart of Grampians National Park, at about 2 PM.
View from one of the lookout points in Grampians.
We spent the rest of the day exploring the sights in Grampians:- Mackenzie Falls
- Reeds Lookout
- The Balconies
- Boroka Lookout.
Where we stayed:
The best place to stay when visiting the Grampians National Park is at Halls Gap, the village at heart of the park. We stayed at the Kookaburra Motor Lodge.
Trip report: Melbourne Road Trip Day 3 – Grampians National Park with visits to Mackenzie Falls, Reeds Lookout, The Balconies and Boroka Lookout.
Day 9 (14 May 2019) – Hike to The Pinnacle in the Grampians
We hiked to The Pinnacle from the Wonderland car park on our second day in the park. The Pinnacle at Grampians is one of the most spectacular vantage points in the Grampians National Park.
The hike took about 3 hours, covered a distance of 4 km return.
We spent the afternoon strolling around the village of Halls Gap. Halls Gap is a quiet place during the weekday afternoon in May.
There were quite a lot of wildlife to be seen and photographed. This included a field full of kangaroos, emus, deer and lots of birds.
Trip report: Melbourne Road Trip Day 4 – Hike to The Pinnacle in the Grampians.
Trip report: Melbourne Road Trip Day 4 – Free and easy in Halls Gap.
Day 10 (15 May 2019) – Driving the Great Ocean Road near Port Campbell
Leaving Halls Gap after breakfast, we arrived at Warrnambool for early lunch before seeing the sights along the Great Ocean Road around Port Campbell.
Bay of Islands, along Great Ocean Road.
Places visited are
- Bay of Islands
- The Grotto
- The Arch
- The London Bridge
- 12 Apostles.
Where we stayed:
Port Campbell is a small coastal town along the Great Ocean Road. It is an excellent location to explore the nearby attractions along the Great Ocean Road, namely Bay of Islands, Grotto, The Arch, London Bridge, Loch Ard Gorge, Tom and Eva Lookout, 12 Apostles and Gibson Steps. We stayed at Port Campbell Motor Inn.
Trip report: Melbourne Road Trip Day 5 – Driving the Great Ocean Road near Port Campbell.
Day 11 (16 May 2019) – Driving the Great Ocean Road from Port Campbell to Lorne
The famous Twelve Apostles, along Great Ocean Road.
On the second day of our drive along the Great Ocean Road, we visited:
- Loch Ard Gorge
- 12 Apostles
- Gibson Steps
- Otway Lighthouse
- Apollo Bay
- Kennett River
We spent the night at Lorne.
Besides awesome seascape and landscape along the scenic drive, see wild koalas and birds at Kennett River.
Wild koalas spotted at Kennett River.
Where we stayed:
We stayed at the Chatby Lane Lorne. This luxurious condo hotel offers studio rooms with a spa bath. We even had cockatoos visiting us at the terrace in front of our room.
Trip report: Driving the Great Ocean Road from Port Campbell to Lorne.
Day 12 (17 May 2019) – Driving the Great Ocean Road from Lorne to Torquay
This would be the 3rd day of our road trip along the Great Ocean Road. It was also our last day touring Melbourne and the surrounding attractions.
We had to be at the airport by 2.15 PM to return our rental car, do the flight check-in and have lunch. We had the whole morning to complete our Great Ocean Road drive from Lorne to Torquay before heading to the airport, about 1.5 hour driving time from Torquay.
We visited:
- Teddy’s Lookout
- Memorial Arch
- Split Point Lighthouse
- Bells Beach.
Trip report: Melbourne Road Trip Day 7 – Driving the Great Ocean Road from Lorne to Torquay.
No comments:
Post a Comment