Day 03: Great Ocean Road

Checked out our hotel early in the morning and we went off for our road trip to the Great Ocean Road! The Great Ocean Road is a total of 243 km drive, along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool, it's one of the world's most scenic coastal drives. The road wind its way around rugged cliffs, through lush rainforest and windswept beaches. 

"The road was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world's largest war memorial; dedicated to casualties of World War I. It is an important tourist attraction in the region, which winds through varying terrain alongside the coast, and provides access to several prominent landmarks; including nationally significant Twelve Apostles limestone stack formations."

The road wind around rugged cliffs, through lush rainforest and windswept beaches. I'd say the drive along the Great Ocean Road can be quite a challenge to inexperience drivers even experienced drivers need to be extra careful too. The views are great and definitely worth the drive. Started off as a bright sunny day and left St Kilda at around 9AM, but as the day went on it slowly became overcast and started pouring..

Our route of the day from St Kilda to our destination, Warrnambool. 
Probably the best (double) rainbow captured through my lens. 
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Stopped by at Lorne Pier to settle our hungry tummies. This Lorne Pier Seafood Restaurant we went turned out to be surprisingly good! AUD57 for our garlic bread, oysters, scallops, seafood pasta and tea. For the big portion and yummy food, I thought it's really worth it! The restaurant also served the best garlic bread I've ever had. No joke! It was really that good! But we were too hungry and gobbled down the bread before snapping a photo of it. Anyway, two extremely satisfied customers here! :) 

Look at the gloomy sky! :(
Very interesting blackboard menu of the restaurant. 

*DROOLS*
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The Great Ocean Road is also the home of the famous The Twelve Apostles, a popular tourist attraction. The Twelve Apostles is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park. Planned to arrive at the Twelve Apostles for the sunset but unfortunately, it was raining and we couldn't walk down to admire the beauty of the famous icon of the Great Ocean Road. What a pity! 

"Created by constant erosion of the limestone cliffs of the mainland beginning 10-20 million years ago, the stormy Southern Ocean and blasting winds gradually eroded the softer limestone, forming caves in the cliffs. The caves eventually became arches and when they collapsed rock stacks up to 45 metres high were left isolated form the shore."

The wind and rain showing no mercy to us. 
Didn't get to see the Twelve Apostles but here's a photo of it from Google

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Warrnambool marks the end of the Great Ocean Road and it was also our destination. Checked in  the (pre-booked on Booking.com) City Central Apartments that was hosted by an extremely friendly host. We even got a free upgrade from a Budget One-Bedroom Apartment (AUD80/ night) to an Executive One-Bedroom Apartment,  also comes with complimentary WiFi and parking. Service was good, value for money, clean and spacious, basically no complaints about our stay there. Definitely recommend it! 

Full set of kitchen equipment and cutleries.
Separated laundry and bathroom.
Looking cosy isn't it?
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After being very happy with our apartment, we drove to the nearest supermarket to do our groceries shopping for dinner and next day's breakfast. First cooking session for our adventure! 

Chef Young and our not very appetising and nice looking dinner.
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Information you might be interested in:

Lorne Pier Seafood Restaurant
Lorne Pier
Lorne VIC 3232 Australia

Port Campbell National Park
Great Ocean Road
Port Campbell VIC 3269 Australia

City Central Apartments
14 King Street
Warrnambool VIC 3280 Australia

Woolworths Warrnambool East
Corner Princes Hwy & Gateway Road
Warrnambool VIC 3280 Australia

Day 02: Melbourne City Tour II

Chilly Monday morning
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Had our brunch over at MART130 Restaurant, a very cozy cafĂ© located right next to the Middle Park station tram track. Found about its existence while researching on food in Melbourne. Enjoyed the food and watched the trams went by. How I miss the place! Definitely something you can never find in Singapore. Everything was good from the food to the staff and even the location. Prices are a little steep though, AUD40.80 for ours. 


Loved the vintage teapot set!
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Flinders Street Station, the most used metropolitan railway station in Melbourne, is one of the city's most recognisable landmarks for its prominent dome, arched entrance, tower and clocks. It is frequently used to symbolise the city and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The station is also responsible for two of Melbourne's busiest pedestrian crossings, both across Flinders Street. Definitely have enough reasons to list it on the must go list in Melbourne.

The mandatory tourist shot of Melbourne. 
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St Paul’s Cathedral (diagonally opposite Flinders Street Station), one of Melbourne's oldest and largest churches, another major landmark of Melbourne. I love the little unique details on these aged buildings that you don't find on modern skyscrapers.

Interior design of St Paul's Cathedral. Stunning stained glass windows up there! 
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Melbourne Visitor Centre (opposite Flinder Street Station and St Paul’s Cathedral, located at Federation Square), the one-stop solution for all visitor information needs. Services provided include free brochures and maps (take only those you really need), public transport information, free Wi-Fi, accommodation and tour booking service, souvenirs and gift.


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Look out for the City Circle Tram! It’s a free ride (targeting at tourists) and the tram basically goes around the Melbourne city, operates in a circular route passing major tourist attractions, as well as linking with other tram, train and bus routes in and around Melbourne's central business district.

City Circle Tram route map available for download here.
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Block Arcade, known to be one of the finest examples of a 19th century shopping arcade, richly decorated interior spaces, replete with mosaic tiled flooring, glass canopy, wrought iron and carved stone finishings.


Pretty desserts window display in the mall. 
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Random street shot

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Chinatown Melbourne. The name says it all.


Gloomy sky. 
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Parliament HousePublic tours to the Parliament are conducted on days when Parliament is not sitting, no booking is needed for groups of less than 6 people, take place at 6 different timings (9.30AM, 10.30AM, 11.30AM, 1.30PM, 2.30PM, 3.45PM).

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Victoria State Library, another landmark and cultural icon of Melbourne.

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Another set of random street shot.

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Collected our car at Alpha Car Rental. Affordable, great service, nice and clean cars! Everything was so easy and convenient. Picked up our keys at the counter and the lady told us where is our vehicle and you are ready to go! I like the way they make it so convenient for us. No need for the trouble of inspection of the car etc because there was something call the mutual trust. 


Say hi to our Nissan Tida for the next 3 days. 
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Grocery shopping for the next day's breakfast.
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Ponyfish Island for second night’s dinner. It's located in the middle of the Yarra River, right underneath the Southbank Pedestrian Bridge. There were no crowd when we were there probably because it was a Monday. Great place to hangout for a quite drink and chat. Definitely not quite an ideal choice if you are looking for a place to fill your stomach as they have pretty limited choices on their food menu.

Finding a good parking slot can be such a chore in the city. We parked our vehicle over at one of the city's skyscraper - Eureka Tower, Skydeck 88 just minutes away from Ponyfish Island. The cheapest carpark we found which was AUD7 for the night.

Yes, you read it right. AUD7 is the cheapest. That is almost SGD8.50 for car park. It is that expensive. I can have my chicken rice add on egg and probably another glass of ice teh. So please stop complaining about expensive car parks in Singapore. Sorry guys, just me being whiny about the expensive car parks in Melbourne.


AUD26 for our (not very filling) quesadilla. 
Ending off with the cutie ducky on the Yarra River.
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Information you might be interested in:

MART130
107 Canterbury Road, Middle Park
Melbourne VIC 3206 Australia
Opening Hours: 07:30 - 15:00 Daily

Urbanspoon Melbourne
Reviews about Melbourne restaurants and cafes

Flinder Street Station
Swanston St / Flinders St
Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia

St Paul’s Cathedral
198-206 Flinders St
Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
http://www.stpaulscathedral.org.au

Melbourne Vistor Centre
Corner Swanston and Flinders St
Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
(Opposite Flinders Street Station)

City Circle Tram
http://ptv.vic.gov.au/route/view/1112

Block Arcade
282 Collins St
Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia

Victoria State Library
328 Swanston St
Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
(Opposite Melbourne Central)

Alpha Car Rental (Melbourne CBD)
58 Franklin St
Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

Ponyfish Island
Southgate Pedestrian Bridge/ Southgate Avenue
Melbourne VIC 3006 Australia

Eureka Skydeck 88
Riverside Quay, Southbank
Melbourne VIC 3006 Australia