The Great Ocean Road

Hey,

We're writing this from a very wet and miserable Port Macquarie (mac-kw-are-ey) which is about 5 hours drive North East of Sydney (up the coast). We're waiting for the coach to take us on up to Coffs Harbour later today. The last couple of weeks have absolutely flown by so it's about time we told you all about them. Lets start with the Great Ocean Road.

It took us about 2 hours to drive from Melbourne down to Torquay (our first stopover). The most difficult part of the journey was getting out of Melbourne CBD but from then on it was a case of cruising at 100Kph (about 60mph - the maximum speed limit in Victoria). We just had to be wary of other drivers, who can legally under-take other cars on roads of three lanes or more. It puts you in the odd position of being both over and under-taken at the same time.

Torquay is the entrance to the Great Ocean road and we arrived at our hostel (the newly rennovated and EXTREMELY comfortable Home@BellsBeach) at about lunch time. The town itself seemed to be a haven for surfers, entirely relaxed and laid back with gorgeous beaches and multiple surf-ware outlets (what do you expect from the town where Rip-Curl was founded). Moreover, about 5 miles up the road is one of the most famous beaches in the world - Bells beach. We headed straight there, hoping to catch the afternoon's heats for the Rip-Curl Pro event at the beach and see some of the best surfers in the World. We weren't disappointed; despite it only being the second round we saw some great action. We wished we had longer in Torquay and debated trying to surf there but as we only had one night and lots of things to see we figured that we'd get a chance further down the road.

The next day was absolutely beautiful, perfect weather for a coastal drive along windy cliff roads. Not far out of Torquay was our first stop at Anglesea - a picturesque little town with a lovely beach and a river (it very much set the pattern for the day). Whilst we only stopped briefly, Anglesea made a lovely place for a mid-morning walk.

Split Point lighthouse was next up. Whilst the lighthouse itself was fairly standard as lighthouses go, it warranted a stop due to its starring roles on TV and film including Mad Max 2 and 90's children's TV show Round the Twist (which is how we both knew it). The detour did have an extra bonus too; the views from the headland were spectacular.

About half way from Torquay to Apollo Bay (where we were staying) is Lorne. Lorne is one of the bigger towns along the Great Ocean road and is a common stop amongst travellers due to its golden beach with waves that are normally powerful enough to surf, but not so strong as to make the water exclusively for pros. Unfortunately for us, the weather was so nice that there wasn't even enough surf for the most amateur of surfers. Still, there was no detracting from the beach and it was nice just to be out in that weather.

A small detour to the north of Lorne took us to Erskine Falls. This was our first venture into the rainforest of the Otway National Park and provided us with a different scene from the coastal road that we had been following.

The next 50 miles of driving were probably the most varied, interesting and fun of the whole journey. Winding along cliffs and through forests, up and down steep inclines where rivers cut in land and leaving the car in a low enough gear to feel the acceleration on the tight corners was fantastic. Along with the flexibility it provides, this part of the trip fully validated hiring a car rather than joining a coach tour. A car also gave us the opportunity to stop in many of the well placed lay-bys to take in the simply stunning views of the surrounding coastline.

We arrived in Apollo Bay with just about enough time to check into our hostel, buy some fish and chips (which were really good) and find the beach before sunset. A perfect way to end a sunny day by the sea.

Our final day on the Great Ocean road started with another detour into the rainforest, this time to the raised treetop walk of the Otway Fly. Whilst we had hoped to see more wildlife on our walk (the forests are renowned for being extremely biodiverse) we think that the sheer number of people were keeping most of the animals in hiding. All we saw was a solitary tiger snake. However, the board-walk was 25metres above the ground and the tower climbed up to a hight of nearly 50metres, giving us the opportunity to look out onto the rest of the rainforest before we hit the coast one last time.

The last part of the Great Ocean road is probably the most famous. Over a very short distance the road passes some of the most spectacular coastal formations and cliffs that can be seen anywhere. It all starts at the Twelve Apostles (a group of stacks, now only 6 in number as the rest have been eroded away) and ends at London Bridge (now a large arch sitting just off-shore after the original 'bridge' connecting it to the land fell away). The formations really live up to their name and despite the wind and rain (unfortunately for us the weather had turned by the time we got there) they make an extremely impressive end to the coastal road.

A further hours drive took us to windswept Warrnambool where we were staying that night before taking the (much shorter and faster) Princes Highway back to Melbourne and flying to Sydney.

This is where we'll stop for now and we'll pick up the story in Sydney next time we get internet.

Lots of love

Leah and Mat

Hello Sydney!

Hey,

Just to let you know that we've arrived in Sydney safe and sound! We've only got limited internet in the hostel so we'll post later about the Great Ocean Road (which was spectacular). Happy Easter, hope everyone's well.

Lots of love,

Leah and Mat

Leaving Melbourne

Hello lovely people :)

I know we were in contact not all that long ago but as our plans are hotting up we thought we'd post one last time from Melbourne whilst we still have a reliable internet connection to let you know anything we've missed and our future plans.

Firstly Mat's done a little video tour of the house (as promised months ago) to show you all where we've been living the last 4 months. It's a bit amateur and he didn't want to chat over it so I'll explain, we start on the top (second) floor where there are 3 bedrooms off the top landing then along the corridor are another 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms before a lovely view over the backyard and surrounding area from the fire-escape. Then we proceed to the first floor, where there's a large room straight ahead, a toilet/shower room, and another double before heading down and up along the corridor past 3 more bedrooms and another bathroom. Down the staircase, out the front door for a lovely view of the street and front of the house before back inside into the enormous living room and back out down the corridor into the kitchen before 180ing back out to our bedroom. You walk in past the wardrobe, desk in front of you, turn the corner and yes, that's a sink and a shower, in our bedroom (thankfully it's only us that get to use it!) about turn and there's a ladder which we ascend to the bed built in above the desk. Then out we go through over very own fire exit, (complete with bright green light up sign) into the backyard for a final look up at the fire escape. Ta-dah. Yes the house is massive, there are 17 of us and a lot of coming and going at that, we've had 30 house mates in 4months! And our room is very random and very noisy. But it's nice and central, not horrifically expensive and it's been home, mice and all.

We've now handed in our notice to the landlady and having finished work we're all set to pack up and move out. Yesterday we hit one of the beaches just down the Peninsula (Chelsea to be precise) and headed to nearby Philip Island today to visit the Koala Sanctuary and see the famous 'Penguin Parade' where hundreds of little penguins waddle from the sea at sunset up to their burrows in the sand dunes. We'll be leaving Melbourne tomorrow, first stop the Great Ocean Road. We've rented a car and Mat will drive us along the famous route which follows the curves of the coastline going west from Melbourne (towards Adelaide) taking in picturesque ocean views and small Aussie seaside towns along the way.

We've booked 3 nights accommodation en route so we can spread the 660 odd kilometres over 4days. We plan to stop at Torquay where we're hoping to take in some of the ASP Bells Beach Pro Surfing competition, Lorne where we'll hopefully rent boards and head into the sea ourselves, Apollo Bay a laid-back fishing port in the shadow of the Otway Ranges, and the Twelve Apostles an iconic Australian natural wonder of huge rock stacks set against a rugged coastline. Along the way we'll pass through two national parks, past mountains, rainforest, and hope to take in waterfalls, lighthouses, shipwrecks and of course a bit of the local wildlife (we're hoping for more of the kangaroos and koalas than snakes and jellyfish!) but you'll have to wait for the next post to see how much we managed to fit in!

Finally on Friday night we'll stay at Warrnambool and take the quicker and easier highway route back to Melbourne ready to catch an evening flight to Sydney on Saturday. We'll then spend a few days over Easter in Sydney doing the obvious harbour sightseeing and beaches before heading inland by to Katoomba (~2 hours by train) in the Blue Mountains where we'll take in a very different kind of scenery. Then back to Sydney for a bit before we start our trip up the East Coast taking in the all Australian tourist traps of Coff's Harbour, Byron Bay and Surfers Paradise etc. on our way to Brisbane where we plan to stop and work for another couple of months before continuing on up the coast to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. But that's all very much still in the pipeline at the moment!

Lots of love,

Leah

Living the Melbourne Life

Hey Everybody, sorry it's been so long between posts (again!). We've spent most of the last couple of months working. Mat's been doing weeks of up to 40 hours at the same café he was working at when we last wrote (although now the Australian summer holiday has ended it's more like a 30 hour week - plus he saw a lot of big name Australian cricket players like Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke when they held a promotional event at the café). Leah finished working at Hart & Heim just after Christmas and has since found employment at a nearby café called Jelly Bean - working Monday to Friday 9 - 3. All this work has meant that we really haven't done all that much (we don't have days off together so anything that can't be done in an afternoon has been out of the question) but we have managed to recuperate all of the savings we brought over here with us which means that we should be able to do more when we move on from Melbourne.

Our Valentine's pizza - you by it by
length rather than  diameter

However, that's not to say that we've been doing nothing. We've experienced a bit more of the local food and drink - trying Australian beers and ciders (Beezneez wheat beer and 5 seeds cloudy cider were among particular favourites) as well as sampling the nearest fish and chip shop. We used the excuse that we hadn't eaten out since we were in Singapore (ironically where we had terrible fish and chips) to justify enjoying a sharing platter of the catch of the day (battered of course), chips, potato cakes, salt and pepper calamari, dim sims, salad and tartare! We highly recommend the Tank Fish and Chippery, Lygon Street, if ever you're in the neighbourhood.

Hello Possums!!

We also sampled takeaway from the nearest pizzeria (we are in the Italian district so we are spoilt for choice). It was our valentine's treat (along with the home-made truffles and a bottle of wine) and we took them to the nearby Carlton Gardens for an al-fresco dinner - watching possums and massive bats, how romantic!

We experienced the hustle and bustle of the Victoria Night Market - enjoying watching live music with an ice-cold sangria, we're going back this week for food too as it only runs until the end of February. We also got to see live music at a free festival in the St. Kilda region of Melbourne. The whole thing was based around the seafront and the main stage was on the beach itself. It was really nice to do something different and there was a great, relaxed vibe.

We also went to the cinema as they offer discounted tickets on Mondays and after seeing all the OSCAR hype around Hugo we decided to watch it for ourselves. We both really enjoyed the film (despite ending up with salted popcorn), it seemed to be in its element on the big-screen and made the most of being in 3D.

St. Kilda Festival main stage

We've done some sightseeing too; last week we visited the 88^th floor of the Eureka Sky Tower which is Melbourne's tallest building - we went at sunset and there's not much to say except check out the pictures below.

Finally, we've got news... we've booked tickets to leave Melbourne and fly to Sydney! We're travelling on Easter weekend so that leaves us about 5 weeks more work and then about a week to finish seeing the sights of Melbourne! It'll be like a mini holiday because if all goes to plan then we will spend about 2 weeks in Sydney before we travel on up the coast. We'll probably go to Brisbane and then try and get some more work for 6-8 weeks before completing the journey up to Cairns and the Barrier reef. We'll let you know more when we do and we promise to write more frequently - we have a lot of things to see before leaving Melbourne.

Lots of love

Leah and Mat

St. Kilda Festival and the Skytower

St. Kilda Festival:

Luna Park Amusements

Skaters, scooters and bikers on a halfpipe at the festival

Funfair at sunset

Eureka Sky Tower:

Christmas in Melbourne

Hey, sorry it's been a while, we've both been very busy over the last few weeks. Still, now seems like a good time to fill you in on what's been happening since we last wrote.

Firstly, I've (Mat) finally got a job!!! I got a call on December 16th from someone I'd handed my CV to a couple weeks earlier and they told me about a position they had at one of their cafés. I was instructed to go there for 10am the next morning for a trial after which they told me to come back on Monday for a full shift. I've been working there almost every day since (including Christmas day and New Year!!). In fact, I've just finished a 40 hour week! The café is at the old Melbourne observatory next to the Botanical gardens (here's a link: http://www.observatorycafe.com.au/ ) and the position is just floor staff; taking food out to customers and cleaning away dirty plates. However I've also done a couple of shifts in their stand-alone kiosk where I spend most of my time serving ice-cream (those were VERY busy shifts).

The two weeks prior to Christmas was also full time for Leah, where she worked 8 days in a row before Christmas day itself. Luckily she was off on the day and found some time to make an indulgent chocolate torte, which we ate for pudding. All in all, Christmas felt rather strange and not much like a holiday (although the increased amount of work did meant that we could treat ourselves to some beers, a bottle of wine and even some steak for the day itself). We did miss home though, especially family and friends but even the cold too - something just doesn't feel right about Christmas when it's this warm! Typical Melbourne weather did try and make us feel at home - we had heavy rain, brief sunshine, thunder and lightning storms, large hailstones (see video) and more heavy rain! Luckily, we'd already had a bit of a party the night before with our housemates; we each cooked something and had a big meal together with a few drinks. We also did a white-elephant style secret santa (which ended with Leah getting a BBQ set and a model globe for me).

New Year's Eve was also quite low-key this year, I finished work early so we had a wander around the Botanical gardens before heading home to share pasta and a few beers with the housemates and heading down to the river to watch the fireworks. The gardens are huge and feel like wandering around the Eden project (just without a roof) but since the Christmas thunder, the temperatures have been steadily increasing, NYE was in the high 30's (it's now peaked at about 40°C!) so we couldn't stand it too long in the midday heat before seeking some shade and water. There's an outdoor cinema in the gardens though, where they commence showings at sundown and we're looking into seeing a film in the coming weeks.

Finally, just before our fortnight of full time work began, we took a trip to the St. Kilda area of Melbourne (where our closest beach is). It was really easy to get there, just a short tram ride through the city centre, over the Yarra river and down to the coast. The main high street in the area is Chapel Street which is a buzzing mix of restaurants, bars, cafés and shops and (at the time) we were hoping there would be some job opportunities in the area. Like every road here it was deceptively long and with the amount of businesses it is surprising that there weren't more jobs on offer. Still, there was a great vibe in the area and it was good to see somewhere new. The beach itself was pretty nice too (much better than we'd heard) and the best bit (as far as I was concerned) was that it was just around the corner from Albert Park.

Albert Park is the location of the Australian Grand Prix and it's open to the public throughout the year. We managed to walk down the pit straight and I even climbed the podium (although it looks a bit better after a race - there was a lack of flags, trophies and champagne). The other great thing about the park was the view of the city which would have made the trip worth it on its own (see photo).

Anyway, that's more than enough for now. We hope you all had a really great Christmas and we wish you all the best for 2012.

Lots of love,

Leah and Mat

p.s. don't forget to look at the photos below!

More Christmas Photos

Christmas Eve Party (L) and our Christmas Breakfast

 The botanical gardens and view over the city

 New Year's Eve, Arts Centre Spire (L) and fireworks from the buildings

Chapel Street, St. Kilda

 Albert Park Pits (L) and Mat on the podium. 

Below, from Albert Park Lake