Melbourne and The Great Ocean Road

Hi Guys

Firstly, we'd like to say that we do hope everyone is well? We miss you all and are often in our thoughts. Please do post a comment or email us directly if you have any news, or just to let us know that you're okay and enjoying our blog.

Right, let's get started telling you about Melbourne....

We flew in on Saturday 24th May and got a cab from the airport, our driver was from Ethiopia and liked to keep his cab set at his home temperature; very hot!

We checked into our accommodation, which we booked back in Perth and immediately took a dislike to it, both in location and smell.

We decided that the next day we would explore alternatives, which we did and found somewhere much nicer and nearer to the centre.

It meant that we had a lovely stroll into town every day through Fitzroy Gardens, which is shown in a couple for the photos.

The main difference from Melbourne to Perth, is all the fab old Victorian buildings and green parks everywhere. Plus everyone had a much more laid back attitude.

We visited Victoria Market and picked up lots of fresh goodies and we watched a live band perform, who were very good and incorporated a didgeridoo into a very chilled jazz style.

Andrew bought the CD they had to sell and Shivani calls it his 'Didgeridoo music'.

Whilst in Melbourne, we went and had a couple of Yoga sessions. It was a sorry state of affairs, as poor Shivani tried to get into the postures, couldn't and then after day 2 decided not to go back!

We did thoroughly enjoy Melbourne and it's relaxed atmosphere, but eventually had to leave. We got a car and after much deliberation we decided to go via a scenic route. We drove down the Mornington Penninsula, crossed over from Sorrento to Queenscliff and proceeded a little bit down the south coast on The Great Ocean Road. We stopped for the night at a beautiful seaside town called Lorne and stayed in a lovely B&B. That night was spent quietly reading our books by the open fire and relaxing from the days driving.

On the subject of driving we have to mention our Sat Nav. Before we left Sandip(Shivani's brother), with the assistance of Bhavini's(Sandip's Fiance) brother, downloaded onto memory card the TomTom map of Australia. This has proved to be a massive life saver and arguement stopper, so thank you!

Back to Lorne....

We woke up the next day and before our hearty breakfast we walked along the beach, which is one for the photos.

We then drove along to the Kennett River and stopped at a well known Koala spot. We arrived just as a bus of Chinese did. We spotted a Koala sleeping low down in one of the trees, which hopefully, you can make out in the photo. Surprisingly, even with all the Chinese taking photos and making noise, he never woke up.

We then started our drive to Canberra. All the Australians we have met along the way have told us there is not much to see and do in Canberra, but we wanted to visit, as it is their capital, plus we might be able to sort visas out whilst we are there.

We drove through a forest, then bush and arrived in a town called Albury, not much to say about it, so we left the next day and drove straight on to Canberra, which is where we are now.

Andrew's didgeridoo music was on repeat in the car for the 5 hour drives to Albury and then to Canberra, so we are a bit sick of it for now. Maybe we'll listen to the radio for our drive to The Blue Mountains and Sydney?!