11th – 16th May

Day 1 – AFL

We arrived with Richard and Hazel Smart at 3am with an Uber from the airport. Shattered, we whispered hello to Richard who let us in, showed us the kitchen, bathroom and then to our room. Gladly we fell asleep.

The next morning at around 10am we woke and said hello properly! A breakfast of our left over crunchy nut and croissants was eaten whilst we told them of our travels to date. Andy used to work with Richard in Leeds before he and Hazel moved to Melbourne 18months ago. Hazel works for Arup (small world eh) and we had met once in SF. Despite being a stranger to one half of the couple, awkwardness was never apparent as they welcomed us into their home, and again we feel so lucky to know wonderful people living in amazing places!

We discovered R&H lived a 10minute train ride from the world famous MCG which this afternoon would host AFL with Collingwood vs Carlton (a strong rivalry). We soon learnt that AFL was something we needed to quickly get into. Everyone was talking about it, so might as well immerse ourselves in Australian culture! The tickets were cheap at $27 and there were 69,000 people watching in the stadium! The atmosphere was friendly and the game close, exciting! I was on the edge of my seat, mainly because I was struggling to see long distance but even so. It was a thrilling game! We drank a few pints of Carlton beer and ate a meat pie with ketchup. Proper Ozzie style.

After the game we went for a walk to Federation Square, through the graffitied streets of AC/DC lane, and finished at the Arbury Afloat waterfront bar for a glass of wine.

We had food back in South Yarra and it was very tasty. Melbourne, we’ve decided, is pretty cool.

Day 2 – Brighton to St Kilda Pier

The day started by going to the very nice, organic, Prahan market to pick up some food. We were having a bbq later (despite the chilly weather). I popped into specsavers (it’s apparently a thing here too) whilst the others were shopping. I left purchasing a pair of clear glasses and a pair of sunnies (up sold to polarised..) with the promise that they would be in Sydney by the end of our stay in Australia! Fingers crossed.

Met up with R&H at the market and had a coffee. Gosh it’s lovely here. This afternoon the plan was to get the train to Brighton Beach (sounds familiar) and walk to St Kilda Pier.

The painted beach boxes: a classic Instagram post for anyone passing by.

The pier!

My friend Tania has moved from SF back to Melbourne and it just so happened she was available to come along with us, though because it was Mother’s Day in Australia, she caught up with us in Elwood where we stopped for a drink. It was so lovely to catch up with her. She now works at ANZ bank working on sustainable projects, which sounds ace.

We were at the pier to watch the penguins. There were lots of people, so clearly this was the thing to do! We saw them eventually come out of the water and jump up over the rocks to their nests. So cute!

Tania introduced us to the awesome combination of wedges, sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. It was delicious! We then got a lift with her back to the flat.

After a scrummy bbq and a few episodes of Bondi Rescue (new favourite tv programme) it was bed time.

Day 3 – Brunswick and the Docklands

We are picking up a car today for a road trip! We decided to pick it up today so we could leave early tomorrow morning. The cheapest car available was from Live Jucy. God – we are now ‘one of them’ and it makes me slightly sad as we go to a warehouse outside St Kilda to pick it up. We write our name on a white board (what no iPad registration?) and sit at one of the green stools to watch the promo video of Live Jucy global. They are even in SF! I hadn’t heard of them before NZ but I can’t say I ever went camping in California.. Except for that one time with Jacinda. We finally get shown to our car and it is a beaten up specimen, scratches everywhere, and 300,000km on the clock. The girl basically marked the whole car as ‘scuffed’ and off we went. We parked at R&H’s building garage, and then set off to meet up with Ruby for lunch.

Ruby is another ex-Arup friend who has now moved on to do exciting things. We went to a quirky cafe for a tasty lunch in Brunswick and caught up. It was great to see her and she was enthusiastic telling us about her latest projects. Go girl!

Next we visited the New Gallery of Victoria. It was full of interesting stuff. We picked up a thank you card for R&H and then went into the Melbourne Arup office for a tour. I knew the lighting lead Tim, and he showed us around. It was gorgeous, and credit to him, the lighting design was mostly working! It looked very good in the evening. The office boasts a gym, light lab and all sorts of little break outs, with plants that looked healthy!

We were next going to meet up with Tom, a friend from Sheffield who now lived in Sydney, but randomly was in Melbourne on a project! We enjoyed a couple of bottles of wine and a pizza! It was getting quite late so we headed back to R&H’s, to catch up on their day. Quite busy seeing everyone but a lovely day!

Day 4 – Grampians

We packed up our little bags and dropped Richard off at work this morning, on the way to Ballarat. I went panning for gold in Ballarat with my family when I was 13 and the trip came flooding back. Squashed into the back of Uncle Nigel and Aunty Sheila’s car, my mum, dad, sister and I sat. I vividly remember the rain on that day, and all of us having a great time, wearing our tie dye jumpers. What weirdos.

We didn’t stop in Ballarat this time, we drove through to the Grampians preferring to hike than search for gold. It took about 3 hrs. Half way we noticed a strange sound from the car. Took a look and the mud guard around a front wheel was coming loose and required bolting back together… gah this was an old car.

We arrived at Hall Gap and had lunch, picked up snacks for the walk and then hiked up to the pinnacle.

These photos were taken at the top and during the descent back down!

We returned to the car and then drove south to the coast at Port Campbell. We stayed in a holiday park! In a cabin.. feeling quite luxurious, we marvelled we were now one of those people that tenters would be jealous of! Oh how quickly we forget..

We had a meal at a nearby hostel, which had its own brewery and pizza oven. Delicious food, and early to bed for tomorrow’s adventure.

Day 5 – the Great Ocean Road

In the morning we found a shop and bought muffins, orange juice and a coffee. We sat at a picnic table by the port and ate our food, watching the sea gulls.

The first stop was Loch Ard Gorge. We walked around the headland, reading about the boat that crashed here with only 2 survivors. Quite a harrowing tale. There was a cemetery for the 100 odd people who died. The colours of the landscape were amazing even though it was quite a blustery windy day.

We took the Gibson steps down to the beach, worth a trip.

Andy being the gentleman.

Next stop was the Apostles! There were 12 supposedly at one point but wind and sea erosion meant that now there are only 7 still standing.

The road then took us to Cape Otoway where there was a lighthouse apparently. But along the way we saw 2 kuala bears IN THE WILD!!! The fuzzy ball in the trees was just noticeable and it was amazing!

Here is the lighthouse. They were charging $12 or something to go inside so instead we went to see it from a short distance. We weren’t that fussed..

We had lunch at Apollo Bay, fish and chips, not the best we had ever had, and the tartar sauce was questionable!

Because Andy’s parents have a van in Anglesea, Wales – we had to stop here too for a quick wee and a photo! We finished our drive at the super quaint Chianti cottages in Torquay. It was a lot of driving to do.. but some lovely landscapes along the way. We fancy coming back and cycling it next time!

Tomorrow we will take the car back to Live Jucy at the airport, and fly back to Sydney to stay with my friend Katharine and her bf Brett. We will be staying with them until next Tuesday! Melbourne and the surroundings has been wonderful. Definitely want to come back!