On the road home.

Sanna and I got up pretty early and got on the road to Sydney. To be honest, this portion of the trip is the most uneventful part of this whole road trip. Essentially, below was the majority of what happened the last two days.

Yep. Driving. Just driving.

We did however stop in Albury and take a quick look at the mighty Murray River. The Murray River is the longest river in the country, touching three Australian states while creating a border between two of them.

We drove as much as possible on New Years Day since the van was due in the next day. The last night of the road trip was spent at a basic road stop past Goulburn.

The next day, Sanna and I raced over to Sydney and made it to IKEA for breakfast and shopping. As Sanna is a proud Swede, a trip to IKEA always makes her day.

Other than that, we quickly cleaned up and returned the van and relaxed the rest of the day.

Upon quick reflection of the whole trip, a few things come to mind:

1. Even though Australia is a large country (6th largest in the World), this has been the best way to see the country.
2. There is an interesting and international community of travelers who drive around in RVs and camper vans and go on these long excursions. A lot of personalities you run into.
3. I don’t like “Waterless” or “Drop” toilets. I try to keep use of those to a minimum.
4. The Great Ocean Road is well worth the time and effort.
5. Sanna and I agree in our opinion that Melbourne is nicer than Sydney
6. Again, I really don’t like “Waterless” or “Drop” toilets. I suggest using them when only necessary.

 

Summary of our travels:

Part 1 – 1,430 Kilometers (888.5 Miles) Travelled

 

Part 2 – 1,354 Kilometers (841.3 Miles) Travelled

 

Total – 2,800 Kilometers (1,739.8 Miles) Travelled

Melbourne: Australia’s Second City

I made a overall Melbourne post because the weather was not that great on the first two days so I didn’t take a lot of shots on those days. However, as New Year’s Eve was a great day weather wise, I got more pictures then.

The first day in the Melbourne area was my birthday. We woke up in Geelong and went into central Geelong for breakfast. Before we left, Sanna surprised me with lovely birthday gifts which were a Fitbit and a book about my favourite football Club Tottenham Hotspur and the current manager there Mauricio Pochettino. Sanna found this nice little French cafe called Casse-Croute. Sanna got a meal that included a “bowl of coffee” and she thought it was still a cup of coffee. But behold, literally it was a bowl of coffee.

From there we drove into Melbourne and went to the park where we reserved a spot for our camper van. Luckily, we were only a short walk to a tram stop that took us into central Melbourne in roughly 45 minutes.

The first day in Melbourne was rainy and unfortunately un-inviting. Sanna and I walked a little around Melbourne before finding a Greek restaurant for my birthday dinner.

The next day was New Year’s Eve eve and the weather was a little better but still quite unpredictable. We had brunch with one of Sanna’s lovely former colleague Lisa at the Arbory on the Yarra River. We walked across the river to the Southbank of Melbourne and explored the area a little bit and had coffee. Next stop was the Botanical Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance. In the shrine was a museum about Australia’s history in significant wars including great displays about the Australian participation in both World Wars. We recommend you take a moment and look around the crypt and go up to the balcony where you get a great view of the Melbourne Skyline.

We walked through the Botanical Gardens and took a look at the St. Patrick Cathedral which is a beautiful church.

Later that night we found a BBQ place called Fancy Hank that had some very good brisket and pulled pork shoulder with cornbread and mac n’ cheese. They even had Arnold Palmers as a drink option only to our dismay that they used sparkling lemonade instead of traditional lemonade. The Arnold Palmer was good but I still prefer the traditional mix of lemonade and sweet tea.

The last day in Melbourne yielded the best weather of the three days while also being New Year’s Eve.

We slept in because we knew that we would be up late tonight. We came back to town and had coffee with my former colleague and boss, Chris and it was great to catch up with him.

We went to the Queen Victoria Market for a little bit before going by the Old Melbourne Gaol which was the first jail in Melbourne when it was a growing frontier colonial port town. From there we explored Federation Park, St Paul’s Cathedral and strolled along the Yarra River in Yarra Park. We listened to the Federation Bells for a little then we meandered back to central Melbourne for dinner.

We went back to the BBQ restaurant because there was an open air bar above it. We went there for a our annual end of the year scotch whisky and reflected on the past and planned and predicted the new year.

Sanna figured out that the same Shrine of Remembrance we were at earlier would be a great viewpoint of the midnight fireworks. So we went out there a little early to get a good spot. Man, we were not disappointed by Melbourne’s way of ringing in the new year.

Boxing Day.

Today was mostly driving as we wanted to get to the other side of Melbourne and be at the eastern edge of The Great Ocean Road.

We departed McLaughlin Beach and headed west for Melbourne via Phillips Island.

We stopped by Meeniyan where we had coffee and bought locally made cider and marmalade.

We made to Phillips Island before lunchtime and decided to see the Koala Conservation Centre near Cowes. At the centre, we saw more Koalas, a wallaby and a another echidna. Think Sanna enjoyed this more than most other activities so far. Also, Sanna bought me a new book mark as an early birthday gift.

We had lunch in Cowes before pretty much solely driving the rest of the day. We drove past Melbourne and Geelong and arrived at the Big Hill Campground near Lorne in The Great Otway National Park. Next to a winding country road, we spotted two kangaroos. Sanna tried to get a picture, but wasn’t stealthy enough so they hopped off as soon as they saw her. We will stay there the night before embarking on The Great Ocean Road in the morning.

Daily Progress Report

Christmas Day!

I hope everybody is having a merry Christmas.

Sanna and I celebrated Christmas morning with mimosas and cheese sandwiches.

We stayed in a very nice campground In Mallacoota. As you can see, we had one of the more basic or Spartan setups in the camp.

Due to it being Christmas Day, the roads were seemingly more quiet and a lot of towns on the way to Melbourne were pretty much shut down. But we did get some good shots on the road.

We did mostly driving today as we want to be on the Great Ocean Road in a couple days. We also decide to take an hour detour and go by Phillip Island on the way to Melbourne.

But first from Mallacoota we went by Cape Conran and walked around there.

Next we drove down to a small resort town called Lakes Entrance. We stopped for lunch (Christmas Fish and Chips – we’re thinking about making it a tradition) and explored a little bit before driving down to McLoughlins Beach.

In McLoughlins Beach we decided to stay there for the night. On the way we saw an Emu, Kangaroos and an Echidna. We found this remote area on the Victorian coast with wetland and beaches. There is a long walk through an inlet, wetlands and bush before you reach the actual beach but the beach itself is untouched and very beautiful.

As I write this, Sanna is making dinner and the sun is setting.

We plan to turn in early and watch It’s a Wonderful Life since it is Christmas.

Daily progress report.

(Due to lack of internet on the night of day 2, I am posting for both day 2 & 3)

Day 2

Our adventure has already had some interesting moments.

Someone decided it will be fun to light firecrackers last night from 11 pm to around 3 am. On top that, the van warmed up pretty fast the following morning so we got up and started the day around 8 am. Even with the lack of sleep, neither one of us felt tired the whole day.

Randomly while Sanna and I were walking to our camper van after paying for the night, another person staying on the campground gave us a bottle of red wine and a teddy bear. We initially attempted to refuse the generous but obviously suspicious gift but it would have been even more awkward and difficult to say no. We accepted it graciously and slightly begrudgingly.

With our new “gifts” in tow, we decided to take a look at the shops in Berry. Sanna found a lovely new Christmas tree ornament of a silver bird for our collection. But the highlight of Berry was trying out the homemade donuts from the Donut Van. I got two cinnamon donuts with a flat white and I think I had some of the best donuts in a while.

From Berry we drove south to Shoalhaven Heads where stopped at Seven Mile Beach for a short swim and walkabout.

The weather was very warm and humid so we were stopping by numerous beaches as we travelled down A1. We heard good things about Jervis Bay and Hyams Beach. We didn’t swim while there but we walked around and took in the views. There were a lot of people at this beach compared to Seven Mile Beach and parking showed as such. Lastly the sand at Hyams Beach was very powdery and reminded me of sands of some beaches back home in Florida.

As it was getting dark, Sanna found a rest stop where we could sleep for the night. Rest stop was an adequate description of the location as the only thing there was restrooms and picnic benches with parking spots.

It wasn’t the greatest but the coolest thing about that night was the ability to sit there in the darkness and see the stars above. Before falling asleep in the back of the van, I sat there and just looked through the window stared into the Aeneas and beauty of the stars above me.

Day 3: Christmas Eve

This is probably the first time ever where it was Christmas Eve and didn’t feel like it was the day before Christmas.

We obviously slept in a little due to the fireworks fiasco in Berry and the resulting lack of sleep.

We quickly washed up and continued south until we reached Narooma. We stopped there and did a short video chat with my family after watching some local fishers guy fish and throw scraps to waiting pelicans and stingrays.

We walked up to Bar Rock Lookout and also saw Australia Rock (a rock formation with a hole in it). Sanna and I saw a sleeping seal when we strolled down Wagonga Head.

Weather wise, today was a lot cooler and greyer than any of the previous days.

We stopped in Merimbula for lunch and looked around a little bit. Sanna and I get the impression that this town is very much a beach resort town.

After lunch we went to the town of Eden where they have a history in whaling and beautiful views.

That was the last town we stopped in before driving into the State of Victoria. We picked the town of Mallacoota to stay for the night. We were able to park not to far from the ocean.

We had a basic dinner after walking around “downtown” Mallacoota. The temperature got pretty cool and we decided to have tea and cookies for dessert.

We don’t know what we will do exactly for Christmas other than continue to drive to Melbourne. The weather tomorrow will dictate what activities we will do. We will see.

Let me give you and idea of how much we travelled so far.