Day 1 - Flew from Sydney via Jetstar to Avalon in the Geelong region, we had already booked a car via Budget. We were surprised that we got a Nissan TIIDA as a our rental car - I was expecting at least a Corolla.Anyways we took off for our first stop at Port Campbell , after a long struggle with our NAVMAN we stuck to the route inland towards Port Campbell passing by the towns of Winchelsea and Colac.Reached our hotel at Port Campbell by 12 pm , were happy to see the location of the hotel at it was right on the beach and had a small wharf adjoining it.We unpacked and immediately took for the 12 Apostles which is situated 12 kms from Port Campbell.All though the apostles have made the southern coast of Australia world famous there are other scenic lookout points and rock formations i.e - The Grotto,London Bridge,The Arch,Loch Ard Gorge,Moonlight Head and Gibson steps.Each one of the the above hold breathtaking views. We ended our first day with a nice Italian dinner at Port Campbell along with a nice bottle of Shiraz.
Day 2 - The next day we woke up at our leisure and got ready by 11 am , we did not have anything specific planned and just wanted to visit Warnambool.Warnambool is a prosperous regional town on the south coast of Victoria and is at a distance of 65kms from Port Campbell.The coastline from Port Campbell to Port Fairy is also called the Shipwreck coast with close to 100 recorded shipwrecks.Along the way some of the must stop at scenic points are - Bay of Islands,Bay of Martyrs,Children's cove etc.
12 Apostles London Bridge
We reached Warnambool at around 2pm and had a lunch and walked around the central street. Post that we headed towards the Flagstaff Hill Museum.As you stand atop Flagstaff Hill , the picturesque Lady Bay stretches before you.The museum also holds the Maritime village.Representing a typical seaport including businesses and trade indicative of late 19th century.Some the highlight building for my wife and I were the late 19th century classroom (out ling the strict rules which the student and the teacher had to abide by),the bar and blacksmith / undertaker shed.The buildings have been recreated using original and replicated material.The whole hill precinct comes to life each night as the tragic tale of the wreck of Loch Ard is retold in a spectacular world class multimillion dollar sound and laser should - SHIPWRECKED Sunset from hotel at Port Campbell
Day 3 - We had a long drive back along the picture perfect coastline of the Great Ocean drive , the drive is something I will remember for my life as each bend and turn had a beauty greater than the previous one.The day was ideal with deep blue sky ,scorching sun and a rough sea.Being the Australia Day weekend all the beaches were packed.On the way we took a detour towards Cape Otoway for the famous lighthouse and also saw Kaola's in there natural habitat.We had a lunch at Apollo Bay - what a fantastic place.The lunch was light and the name of the joint was L.U.V - Living Unearthed Vitality.
Our plan was to drive straightaway to Phillip Island however wife was at her shirpy best along the winding ocean drive and after 1 hour post lunch was feeling miserable.I was keeping quiet the whole way.Anyways we decided to stay in Geelong at Mercure Geelong.Now Geelong reminded me a lot of the outer precinct area of Christchurch and was practically dead at 4pm in the evening.We took complete rest and were gearing up for our final day for a trip to Melbourne and Phillip Island. By the way during this time the Federer vs Hewitt clash was finalized.
Day 4 - woke and treated ourselves to a king size buffet breakfast at Mercure , both of us were dallying on whether we should watch the touted epic clash between Hewitt and Federer or spend more time at Phillip Island.Anyways we never were in with a chance for the tickets hence drove straight to Melbourne CBD / MCG. We took the MCG day tour and I was awed by the history associated with the stadium , did you guys know that Shane Warne still has not been made an honorary member of the SCG as he played his county cricket for Black rock. Can you believe Victoria's most famous son being denied membership at the mecca of Australian cricket.The MCG also has a world class museum which has all the original world cup trophies which Australia has won. Anyways post MCG we roamed around Melbourne CBD , showed wifey around Federation square , had lunch by the Yarra etc.
The last leg of our trip was Phillip Island and we started off towards it around 3 pm , reached Phillip Island around 6pm and booked ourselves in for the private show of the Penguin March.The Little penguins which are 1 feet tall came ashore at 9pm in hundreds and started of their march in batches of 5-6.It was ethereal experience , there was a Wallaby also which was trying to get the attention of all..anyways came back from Phillip Island and reached back Geelong around 2am.Our flight back to Sydney was at 5am and we barely slept and dropped of our car at Avalon airport.
It was a great trip...
