The flight down to Avalon is simple enough on Jetstar - we make the 20kg luggage limit no problem, and pick up our car and head straight out along the Gt Ocean Road for some more stunning coastal scenery. Its St Patrick's Day, and the IRish people in our hostel in Apollo Bay are already in good spirits. After a bit of a mooch around the beach and little town, we're happy to lounge in front of the TV. Next morning we hit the road again checking out various lookout points and rock formations further west along the coast. There are great views at formations that look straight out of the geography text book, but also 1000s of tourists who we keep bumping into at various stops. There's also a good load of nature - lots of sleepy koalas in the trees, and even a snake slithering across one of the beach paths.
Next day we drive back into the city - we're a good 300km or so away, so its a bit of a journey. Distances in Australia are so much bigger than we're used to - travelling such distances for a couple of days would be a big deal in the UK, but here its pretty normal We've arranged with Liz, one of our new friends from Sydney to go and see a talk that she is arranging. The speaker is a chap called Pete Goss who has just recreated a journey first covered 150 yrs ago from Cornwall in a similar wooden boat. Its not the sort of thing that we would usually be interested in, but he's a fascinating guy with some great stories of his journeys, and equally as great pictures and videos of raging seas. Its in a great venue - the Royal Yacht Club, which has an amazing view back to the skyscrapers in the city at sunset. We've missed the nice events with canapes and booze from our London life, so its nice to be back amongst it, but also acts as a reminder of home.
Melbourne's much more rough around the edges than Sydney - including the people. Fortunately, its not all body beautiful sculpted as in Bondi, the people seem a little more down to earth and cool. The city centre lacks the wow factor of Sydney Harbour, but makes up for it in quirky cafes, bars and restaurants along lanes off the main streets. St Kilda, which sits on the beach is a really chilled place to hang out and watch the world go by - with some fantastic cake shops. After a good sit on the beach, we spend most of Friday afternoon in our hostel sitting in the sun on the terrace with a box of wine, enjoying what might be the last hot sunny weather that we get for a while.
Saturday we've hired another car, and Liz joins us for a day of siteseeing. First stop is Pin Oak Ct, a nondescript cul-de-sac in the suburbs, that is most recognisable for the fact that it offers the exteriors for Ramsay Street. Its hilarious being outside of the houses that were such a cornerstone of TV growing up. There's a security guard just sat around waiting for the tourists, which he admits are predominantly British!
Next stop is a drive over to Philip Island, a couple of hours around the bay. There's some great coastal views including Sunderland Bay, which is ever so slightly nicer than the North East. Philip Island is most famous for being the home to penguins. At the end of their day out fishing, they waddling up the beach back to their nests on the shore. They are the cutest things as they make their way waddling home calling out to each other. Back in the city, we pop into the Belgian Beer Garden for a night cap - a cool little bar that's full of Mebourne's young and beautiful. We fit right in.
And thats it for our 6 weeks in Australia. We've covered thousands of kilometres from Perth to Melbourne, and loved pretty much every metre. We've really got into the Oz culture of BBQs, and chilling out with a beer. We've also got accustomed to the lack of quality TV and the laid back approach to the news - the relaxed presenters on Sunrise winding each other up, and the colloquialisms on the news. Its also been great to see how the Aussies all pull together in the face of great adversity - the Victorian bushfires dominated the headlines for most of our stay. And the climate is something else. Beautiful blue skies, with sunny Autumn days. Its been a fantastic place to travel through, we've felt right at home here, and one of our top places to re-visit on tour. Next stop Auckland, New Zealand and the furthest point on our trip away from home
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