I didn't realize that I have been away from cyberjournalling in this blog for so long (beside the last entry on my trip). Been busy juggling with a couple of stuffs. Three major events would be my boss leaving for her own country, closing my department and preparing for a wedding - mine. Haa.. (Don't mind this blog. It's gonna be LONG cause I'm just transferring things from memory to words)
After my training with NICA (National Institute of Circus Arts), I spent 8 days free and easy in Melbourne City and further down south. A friend came over from Sydney and all we had on hand was a car rented for 4 days 3 nights and an itinerary that heads us to Great Ocean Road. After Day 1, the rest of the itinerary is empty.
Yupz! And so, we collected the lovely Toyota Ascent on Monday. It was lovely! It's an auto car! I forgot how great it was to be driving an auto car. My blackie's on manual gear and it's most troublesome when there are jams! Anyway! Yup! We got our car from Hertz @ Franklin St and thought "Why don't we make enquiries to stay at a backpackers in the city?" We pop into one beside Hertz and it was only $2 above the cost of the existing one we were staying at. Yay! & we thought that staying in the city would have been a huge difference. Well, apparently not. I was SO glad to be out of Back of Chapel, for various reasons. :)
Before heading towards GOR, we went back to pick up our luggage and to cancel our reservations (upon return) and made our way to Safeway & Coles (2 largest supermarkets in Oz). Our plan was to stock up our food storage so that we can have sufficient food for 1 lunch and 2 dinners. (I will have another entry on our meals)
Navigating the GOR wasn't tough other than the winding roads and giving way to tailgating vehicles. It was totally free and easy so we did quite a slow-enough drive and stopped whenever we wanted to. We decided to skip Torquay and head direct for Apollo Bay, stopped by Split Point Lighthouse. When we finally arrived at Apollo Bay, we were undecided. To look for accommodation first as it was already 4ish pm? Or to enjoy the scenery of the 12 Apostles. We decided - Accommodation. However, the one place which we went to has its owner away so we drove off. I forgot how we made the discovery but we were astonished to find that Apollo Bay was not where the 12 Apostles were. Ok, I sound really silly here because any map would have told us that the 12 Apostles is at Princetown. Don't ask me what made 2 of us even think that Apollo Bay is it! Nonetheless, we laughed and we moved along another ~100kms more.
With more winding roads, less ocean scenery and one koala walking along the road, we arrived at the 12 Apostles lookout at about 7ish, I think. That was a total of 292km traveled in total! That was almost almost about the mileage I clocked in Singapore on ONE busy day!
Click click click and there goes my camera. At this stop was also where I found that I am lacking in space on my SD card! Thankfully, I have done my backup so can happily delete the photos. I realized that whilst everyone was busy taking shots of the scenery, I was busy taking photos of the irritating flies that bugged me each time I was out of the car, taking photos of people. I love candid shots. Oh yes, I have made another discovery on myself! I am more interested in taking photos of people than photos of nature. I love to capture "That moment!". I love expressions through eyes, through smiles and laughter. I love those crow lines beside the eyes. The look, a cuddle, a hug.
Now, this is where the highlight of the day/night came in. We stayed at the 12 Apostles for the sunset WHICH was at 8:30pm. Time just flew us by. We did not realize that it was already 8:30pm. Like mentioned, our itinerary mentioned nothing of accommodation. We really didn't know where we would be making our stop so we thought we would enjoy being slightly more adventurous. So yes, we were late. 8:30pm sunset and we reached the nearest town - Port Cambell close to 9pm. Other than the restaurants, we thought we had to sleep in the car. We went to the first motel and woah!!! It was $100, $30 more than our budget per night! Best, we can't cook in a motel. We cannot not cook! We bought food to cook! Well, even if we didn't buy food to cook, we were too broke to eat in any of those atas-looking restaurants. We were asked to make a 5-sec decision. We looked at each other, almost knowing the one thought in our mind - What if this was our last chance at an accommodation? Well, I guess we decided to trust that God will provide. We said our thank you and we left, frantic. Haa! Drove to a backpacker with no one around. Called the number, flew to an operator who wasn't around. Went to another motel and apparently, it was in partnership with the previous motel. Bumped into a Swiss couple and they too were looking for accommodation. We found solace!! We hopped opposite the road to ask a hotel and was told that they were running on a full house BUT, they recommended us to a new hostel - Port Campbell Hostel - that was just round the corner (which we thought was a dead end!) as they may JUST have space.
We had such a warm welcome at Port Campbell Hostel. The place was HUGE. The receptionist was still around and they had a double room for us!!! It was $5 above our budget but it has all we wanted! Wonderful toilets/showers. Fantastic cooking equipments. Lovely dining area. And oh! Why was the welcome warm? The guy at the reception offered us 4 eggs! What awed me was God's providence in all of this. You see... We arrived on 9 Nov. The hostel was opened on 8 Nov!!! God must have, MUST HAVE, gone way ahead of us.
The dinner was goooooooood. Really really truly good... Took our shower and went to get something off the car. What was supposed to be a 5-min take-and-go became a stroll. We were awed by the stars in the sky. We stood there amazed for awhile. That night, we slept very well and woke up the next day - still with no plans in mind. Although, I must say that if the trip to the Grampians can be done within a day, we would do it. Haa! So that was just what we did after breakfast - We asked the reception. She said it can be done in 4 hours. Sounds good! So off we went!
We stopped by a place called Port Fairy, as recommended by the receptionist. She told us that it was a lovely place to swim but guess what? The water was freezing! However, we both enjoyed just dipping our feet into the clear blue water and admiring the lovely skies and enjoying watching families.
After Port Fairy, we got kinda lost. We thought we had to turn right into Expressway B140. However, the map we had wasn't clear. B140 was another Freeway. We kinda made a few U-turns and decided to turn into C178 towards Hamilton. ~200kms, passing lots of farms, stopped by for one ice cream break, lots of chips in our stomach and we reached Halls Gap at about 3:30pm. The weather was SCORCHING hot! After the fish and chips that we had, I felt faint from the heat so instead of roaming around, we decided to look for accommodation. Thankfully, there was an information booth at Halls Gap so we took the easy way out and asked them for directions. Found a backpacker that has one last room - for us! - and it was $5 lower than our budget! Seriously, pause for a moment, it just has to be God. Previous stay was $5 above budget. This stay was $5 lower. In total, we were right on DOT!
The sleep was wonderful. Again, I wanted to go to the car to grab my pen and was once again stunned by the twinkling stars up in the sky. This time, it seemed nicer cause the place was darker and I thought the stars looked as if they were bigger, maybe because we were in mountainous areas. The one thing I really miss seeing is stars. Singapore is too cloudy. It hides all the stars. Then again, Singapore is too well-lited. Stars can't be seen all that well. The vastness of it all is always breathtaking in my sight. If I could, I would photograph it down. If I could, I wish the night would be longer. (Hmm.. maybe that's why I love winter. The days are short, the nights are long.)
Next day, it was back to the city time - boring. Prior to returning back to city, we decided that since we were already at Grampians National Park and that the mornings are USUALLY not full-blasted hot yet, we can trek a little. We decided to go for The Balconies and the McKenzie Falls. My advice - NO Grampians in summer! Hahaha!!! I have to say that the view was okay. Yes, spectacular in its own ways but the weather was a tad too scorching for my liking, really. I was also surrounded by dried up trees. The colors were off, things looks dull. Fogginess seemed smoky. McKenzie Falls was a better choice for me cause it's water!!!!! We walked down to enjoy the feel of water next to skin. It was fantastic! Well, the walk back up nearly "killed" me. Makes me wonder why am I so weak. I do exercise! Hmmmph!!!
ANYWAY! After conquering the Falls, it was already nearly noon. For me, I just wanted to stay in the car and not walk anymore. Hahaha!!!! And so, we made our way back to Mel City. Even if we had wanted to extend another day (which I did thought of it since I do not like being in a city), I better be practical and know that we really didn't have anymore $$$$$$$$$$$$$ for car rental AND petrol. Haaaa!!! This time, the route back was very easy. North-East towards Ararat then East towards Ballarat and finally Melbourne City. We didn't really want to stop midway, don't ask me why. We two very feeling-driven people just didn't feel like making stops that day.
After 892km over the few days, after spending so much time looking at nature, farms, fields of greens, skies of blues, clouds of whites, I really hesitated being in the city, filled with people. I'm funny la... I love observing people. Yet, I struggle with having loads of people around. Well, needless to say, nothing too happening with the remaining days spent. Bought quite a bit of nuts and chocs and toys for family, friends & my P3 kids (funny how I started always not wanting to buy anything for anybody and I ended up buying nonetheless).
It's funny really.. On Friday when I woke up, I went "Yay!! It's Friday! I am flying home tomorrow!" And when I woke up on Saturday, I went "Huh? I am flying home today? Gosh!" No, I was not dreading home. I was dreading NOT knowing what to do before I take off at 5pm. :S I hate waiting.
Ok, post is way too long. I doubt anyone who survived here would have understood my itinerary inside out. Thanks for reading though. Haa! This entry is more to retain my memories... :D Next would be our menus.
Before heading towards GOR, we went back to pick up our luggage and to cancel our reservations (upon return) and made our way to Safeway & Coles (2 largest supermarkets in Oz). Our plan was to stock up our food storage so that we can have sufficient food for 1 lunch and 2 dinners. (I will have another entry on our meals)
Navigating the GOR wasn't tough other than the winding roads and giving way to tailgating vehicles. It was totally free and easy so we did quite a slow-enough drive and stopped whenever we wanted to. We decided to skip Torquay and head direct for Apollo Bay, stopped by Split Point Lighthouse. When we finally arrived at Apollo Bay, we were undecided. To look for accommodation first as it was already 4ish pm? Or to enjoy the scenery of the 12 Apostles. We decided - Accommodation. However, the one place which we went to has its owner away so we drove off. I forgot how we made the discovery but we were astonished to find that Apollo Bay was not where the 12 Apostles were. Ok, I sound really silly here because any map would have told us that the 12 Apostles is at Princetown. Don't ask me what made 2 of us even think that Apollo Bay is it! Nonetheless, we laughed and we moved along another ~100kms more.
With more winding roads, less ocean scenery and one koala walking along the road, we arrived at the 12 Apostles lookout at about 7ish, I think. That was a total of 292km traveled in total! That was almost almost about the mileage I clocked in Singapore on ONE busy day!
Click click click and there goes my camera. At this stop was also where I found that I am lacking in space on my SD card! Thankfully, I have done my backup so can happily delete the photos. I realized that whilst everyone was busy taking shots of the scenery, I was busy taking photos of the irritating flies that bugged me each time I was out of the car, taking photos of people. I love candid shots. Oh yes, I have made another discovery on myself! I am more interested in taking photos of people than photos of nature. I love to capture "That moment!". I love expressions through eyes, through smiles and laughter. I love those crow lines beside the eyes. The look, a cuddle, a hug.
Now, this is where the highlight of the day/night came in. We stayed at the 12 Apostles for the sunset WHICH was at 8:30pm. Time just flew us by. We did not realize that it was already 8:30pm. Like mentioned, our itinerary mentioned nothing of accommodation. We really didn't know where we would be making our stop so we thought we would enjoy being slightly more adventurous. So yes, we were late. 8:30pm sunset and we reached the nearest town - Port Cambell close to 9pm. Other than the restaurants, we thought we had to sleep in the car. We went to the first motel and woah!!! It was $100, $30 more than our budget per night! Best, we can't cook in a motel. We cannot not cook! We bought food to cook! Well, even if we didn't buy food to cook, we were too broke to eat in any of those atas-looking restaurants. We were asked to make a 5-sec decision. We looked at each other, almost knowing the one thought in our mind - What if this was our last chance at an accommodation? Well, I guess we decided to trust that God will provide. We said our thank you and we left, frantic. Haa! Drove to a backpacker with no one around. Called the number, flew to an operator who wasn't around. Went to another motel and apparently, it was in partnership with the previous motel. Bumped into a Swiss couple and they too were looking for accommodation. We found solace!! We hopped opposite the road to ask a hotel and was told that they were running on a full house BUT, they recommended us to a new hostel - Port Campbell Hostel - that was just round the corner (which we thought was a dead end!) as they may JUST have space.
We had such a warm welcome at Port Campbell Hostel. The place was HUGE. The receptionist was still around and they had a double room for us!!! It was $5 above our budget but it has all we wanted! Wonderful toilets/showers. Fantastic cooking equipments. Lovely dining area. And oh! Why was the welcome warm? The guy at the reception offered us 4 eggs! What awed me was God's providence in all of this. You see... We arrived on 9 Nov. The hostel was opened on 8 Nov!!! God must have, MUST HAVE, gone way ahead of us.
The dinner was goooooooood. Really really truly good... Took our shower and went to get something off the car. What was supposed to be a 5-min take-and-go became a stroll. We were awed by the stars in the sky. We stood there amazed for awhile. That night, we slept very well and woke up the next day - still with no plans in mind. Although, I must say that if the trip to the Grampians can be done within a day, we would do it. Haa! So that was just what we did after breakfast - We asked the reception. She said it can be done in 4 hours. Sounds good! So off we went!
We stopped by a place called Port Fairy, as recommended by the receptionist. She told us that it was a lovely place to swim but guess what? The water was freezing! However, we both enjoyed just dipping our feet into the clear blue water and admiring the lovely skies and enjoying watching families.
After Port Fairy, we got kinda lost. We thought we had to turn right into Expressway B140. However, the map we had wasn't clear. B140 was another Freeway. We kinda made a few U-turns and decided to turn into C178 towards Hamilton. ~200kms, passing lots of farms, stopped by for one ice cream break, lots of chips in our stomach and we reached Halls Gap at about 3:30pm. The weather was SCORCHING hot! After the fish and chips that we had, I felt faint from the heat so instead of roaming around, we decided to look for accommodation. Thankfully, there was an information booth at Halls Gap so we took the easy way out and asked them for directions. Found a backpacker that has one last room - for us! - and it was $5 lower than our budget! Seriously, pause for a moment, it just has to be God. Previous stay was $5 above budget. This stay was $5 lower. In total, we were right on DOT!
The sleep was wonderful. Again, I wanted to go to the car to grab my pen and was once again stunned by the twinkling stars up in the sky. This time, it seemed nicer cause the place was darker and I thought the stars looked as if they were bigger, maybe because we were in mountainous areas. The one thing I really miss seeing is stars. Singapore is too cloudy. It hides all the stars. Then again, Singapore is too well-lited. Stars can't be seen all that well. The vastness of it all is always breathtaking in my sight. If I could, I would photograph it down. If I could, I wish the night would be longer. (Hmm.. maybe that's why I love winter. The days are short, the nights are long.)
Next day, it was back to the city time - boring. Prior to returning back to city, we decided that since we were already at Grampians National Park and that the mornings are USUALLY not full-blasted hot yet, we can trek a little. We decided to go for The Balconies and the McKenzie Falls. My advice - NO Grampians in summer! Hahaha!!! I have to say that the view was okay. Yes, spectacular in its own ways but the weather was a tad too scorching for my liking, really. I was also surrounded by dried up trees. The colors were off, things looks dull. Fogginess seemed smoky. McKenzie Falls was a better choice for me cause it's water!!!!! We walked down to enjoy the feel of water next to skin. It was fantastic! Well, the walk back up nearly "killed" me. Makes me wonder why am I so weak. I do exercise! Hmmmph!!!
ANYWAY! After conquering the Falls, it was already nearly noon. For me, I just wanted to stay in the car and not walk anymore. Hahaha!!!! And so, we made our way back to Mel City. Even if we had wanted to extend another day (which I did thought of it since I do not like being in a city), I better be practical and know that we really didn't have anymore $$$$$$$$$$$$$ for car rental AND petrol. Haaaa!!! This time, the route back was very easy. North-East towards Ararat then East towards Ballarat and finally Melbourne City. We didn't really want to stop midway, don't ask me why. We two very feeling-driven people just didn't feel like making stops that day.
After 892km over the few days, after spending so much time looking at nature, farms, fields of greens, skies of blues, clouds of whites, I really hesitated being in the city, filled with people. I'm funny la... I love observing people. Yet, I struggle with having loads of people around. Well, needless to say, nothing too happening with the remaining days spent. Bought quite a bit of nuts and chocs and toys for family, friends & my P3 kids (funny how I started always not wanting to buy anything for anybody and I ended up buying nonetheless).
It's funny really.. On Friday when I woke up, I went "Yay!! It's Friday! I am flying home tomorrow!" And when I woke up on Saturday, I went "Huh? I am flying home today? Gosh!" No, I was not dreading home. I was dreading NOT knowing what to do before I take off at 5pm. :S I hate waiting.
Ok, post is way too long. I doubt anyone who survived here would have understood my itinerary inside out. Thanks for reading though. Haa! This entry is more to retain my memories... :D Next would be our menus.
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