Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road

It was time to get out of Sydney, so a few of the girls and I decided to go to Melbourne for a few days. With a population of 4 million people, this is Australia's second largest city. That's approximately 80% of Norway! It is located in the state of Victoria, which is in the south-east part of Australia. 

This weekend's travel companions included Devan, Isabelle, Sydney, Omi and Kaley. Omi is originally from Columbia, but goes to school in Canada, while Kaley is an American from New Hampshire. All of us (except for Sydney who flew down on Friday) headed for Melbourne on Thursday (March 20th) after our lectures; Sydney had tutorials she couldn't miss.

Melbourne is only a 1,5 hour plane ride from Sydney, so it was a convenient destination. We got in at around 5:30pm, and after a relatively short cab ride we were at our hostel. We stayed at a hostel in Flinders St named United Backpackers. It was right in the city center, within walking distance of everything. This was likely the nicest hostel I've ever stayed at (this was a 5-star hotel compared to some of the places in Thailand). We stayed in a 12 bed mixed dorm, and the experience was great. Nice, clean, and pretty new. As Devan would say, "That's perfect for you!". Yes, it was, indeed! 

Our dorm mates could have been a little tidier… 

Clean communal bathroom/showers

They also had something I had never seen before: a communal kitchen with communal fridges! We've come across small kitchens that have a small fridge and a toaster, but this was so much nicer. And people actually used this area! Apparently this is very common in Australia/New Zealand, but this was the first time I had seen the hostel kitchen being used so avidly. When we stopped by in the evening, it was packed with people cooking, drinking, and socializing. 

We went out for dinner and a few drinks the first night. A friend of Omi goes to school in Melbourne, and he took us to a nice rooftop bar after dinner. He said that there are lots of rooftop places all around town. I wish I could tell you where this one was, but alas, due to my terrible orientation skills I don't remember where it was located. All I know is that it was only about a 7 minute walk from our hostel.

Lovely rooftop bar. 

Isabelle and I woke up early on Friday morning, and decided to go have breakfast while the other girls slept a little longer. Our hostel was right next to Degraves Street, a street with lots of restaurants and cafés. A cozy street that I would definitely recommend. The pizza at Adiamo was delicious! (We didn't have pizza for breakfast. Isabelle and I went back the next day for dinner before heading to the airport).

Degraves Street by day

Neither of us had done much research on things to do or see in Melbourne, so the majority of the day was spent just walking around the city. We occasionally stopped to eat something or have a glass of wine. We heard that Melbourne was known to be a great shopping destination, so we naturally had to pop into a few stores, too. We also crammed into the free tram that went around the city for a little bit. A nice option to get around, but we would rather walk. Aside from the overcast weather, it was a great day! You get a feel for the city when you just walk around and don't just focus on all the touristy stuff. I guess it pays to not to do research at times. 

Southbank is an area by the Yarra River, and this was a very nice place to walk around. Lots of restaurants, cafés, and bars along the way. Some eccentric art, too. 

The worldwide phenomenon of locking padlocks to bridges has made its way to Southbank. This started happening in 2013, so it's relatively new here. People lock padlocks on the bridges to signify their love (awww). 

Sydney (the person) got to Melbourne on Friday evening. We went out for a quick bite to eat before a few of us headed to the Eureka Skydeck 88. Eureka is 300 meters/984ft in height, and is the highest public vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere. There are 3680 stairs, 92 floors, and 52,000 sq meters of windows. The elevators travel at more than 9 meters per second, so we were up at the top in a jiffy. (Aren't you glad I saved the brochure so I could share those nifty details with you?) 

Sydney, Devan, me, and Isabelle

Though many cities look the same from above and at night, there's still something about being so high up and seeing all the cars/people down below. I just love it. The entry fee was $18, so a little bit pricey. To me it was worth it though. There was a little café at the top, and you could see all angles of the city. You could also go out on "The Terrace", and be exposed to the outside elements almost 300 meters above the ground. Chilly! For an additional cost ($12) you could also visit "The Edge", an observation deck consisting of a glass cube that projects 3 meters out of the building. 

One of the main reasons we decided to go to Melbourne was to visit the Great Ocean Road. This is a 243km/151 mile scenic coastal drive that streches along the South-Eastern coast. We would have loved to have been able to spend a few days driving it ourselves, but because of time constraints, we opted for a full one-day tour in this spiffy van on Saturday (March 22nd). 

There was a total of 26 people on the tour (including the guide and the 6 of us). The van was spacious, and the young guide was really nice. 

Our first stop was Anglesea. We stopped here for coffee and tea. Seemed like a nice little area with cute shops. I was still a little tired from waking up so early, so the coffee was highly appreciated. Fun fact: The founders of the world renowned brand Rip Curl started up here. 

Our next stop was Memorial Arch. The road was built from 1918 to 1930, and the Arch was dedicated to those who served in World War I and built this great road. Building the road was difficult and physically demanding, but keeping preoccupied with the road was seen as beneficial for the men that had served in WWI. 

The weather wasn't very cooperative on Saturday. It was really chilly (compared to Sydney), but luckily it only rained a little at the beginning of the day. It cleared up a little as the day progressed. 

Beach near Memorial Arch

A tour in Australia isn't complete without stopping to see some wildlife. We stopped at Kenneth River, and saw lots of colorful birds and an adorable wild koala. 

Unfortunately I don't know the name of this pretty bird 

This koala was similar to the other koalas we've seen (i.e. sleepy). 

The tour started at 7:45am, so we were very ready for lunch by the time we reached Apollo Bay at around 12pm. After restoring our energy levels, we headed for the Mait's Rest Rainforest Walk which was located close to Apollo Bay. This walk was great! It should've been longer; we wished we could've hiked all day. 

There were giant rainforest trees that were up to 300 years old. These are some of the tallest trees in the world. The tree trunks were hallow due to rain, weather, and termites, and when we walked through them, we could see the sky when we looked straight up. 

The stop I was looking forward to the most, was the iconic Twelve Apostles. The Twelve Apostles is a collection of limestone stacks near the shore of the Port Campbell National Park. Despite the name, there were only ever nine stacks. There are currently only 8 left standing.

While in Australia, I have decided I am going to say yes to as many adventurous things as possible (within reason, of course. I'm not bungee jumping again). When our tour guide informed us that you could take a helicopter ride and see the Twelve Apostles from the air, three of the girls and I decided to do it. I've realized that if I just say yes without thinking about how nervous I actually am helps a lot. So we went on a helicopter ride. 

Helicopter crew: Kaley, Sydney, me and Isabelle

Looks can be deceiving. I was SO nervous. Flying in a helicopter is statistically less safe than flying in a plane; ergo, I was a little (read: VERY) nervous. We paid $95 (537kr) for a 15 minute ride, but it felt like a lot less. Oh well, we survived though (wohoo!), and it was an exhilarating experience. Yet another thing to cross off my bucket list! 

You can see some of the Twelve Apostles off in the distance. I was in the middle, and I couldn't get too many good shots with my camera. I was also very preoccupied with making sure I was still inhaling and exhaling. 

After the Twelve Apostles, we made our way to Loch Ard Gorge. It is said that over 700 ships have been wrecked along the Victorian coast, but less than a third of these have been discovered. One of the best know shipwrecks is that of Loch Ard, an iron-hulled clipper ship that was lost in 1878. Only two people of the 54 passengers and crew survived: a cabin boy named Tom Pearce and a young woman named Eva Carmichael. After spending the night in a cave, Pearce managed to climb the gorge's cliffs and find help. Talk about heroic! No wonder they decided to name the gorge after the ship he was on. 

Our last stop for the day was Gibson's steps. We walked down the 86 steps down to the beach below, and felt dwarfed by the 70 meter/230 high vertical cliff line. In the background you can see one of the Twelve Apostles (I believe the name was Gog or MaGog. Hm…). 

The waves got pretty intense at the beach here. Once we had started making our way up the steps to get back on the bus, a massive wave came ashore. Several people fell over and got drenched. A lady even lost her shoe! Though it sounds pretty dramatic, it wasn't. No one that we saw got hurt… Just a little wet. 

It was a long, but great day. According to Google maps, it took us 7 hours to drive one way (we drove a quicker, less scenic route back to Melbourne). I felt like we got to see all the things we wanted to, and didn't have to risk our lives driving by ourselves on the super windy roads. Always a plus when someone else drives! 



Isabelle and I have class today, so we had to leave Melbourne Sunday morning (March 23rd). After being dropped off in Melbourne, Isabelle and I went to dinner and tried to spend as much time eating as possible. We thought it would be a good idea to save some money and not get a hostel room for the night. Our flight left at 6:35am, so it was "only" a few hours. We've done this before, and every time we regret our decision. It's never fun having to sleep on the hard tile floor, but that's what we did… Just to save some cash. When we were sitting there, on our towels, with clothes wrapped around us, we couldn't stop laughing at how silly we were. Here we had just paid $95 for a short helicopter ride, but we wouldn't pay $30 dollars each to sleep a few hours before departure. We have learned our lesson now though. It never sounds like a horrible idea to sleep at the airport, but it almost always is. Haha! 

The rest of Sunday, was spent being as productive as possible when one has only gotten a few hours sleep. I think this has been one of the more productive days while in Australia. Laid out in the park, listened to some online lectures, cleaned my room, and even went for a run. Hello, productive Sunday! It is supposed to rain the next few days, and I'm actually looking forward to it. Time to lock myself in the library and get this term paper done!

Time to get to my tutorials! Have a good day, everyone! 

Love, 

Suzy