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Trip Report Melbourne, Phillip Island, Great Ocean Road

Trip Report Melbourne, Phillip Island, Great Ocean Road

Old Nov 21st, 2008, 11:55 AM
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Trip Report Melbourne, Phillip Island, Great Ocean Road

We are back from our trip and had a great time. Our main reason for going was to see the Andre Rieu concert on 15th November which was spectacular, biggest crowd he had ever played too, 38,940 people. Have since found out he is going to be in New Zealand next year so it will be a lot cheaper to go see him next time.

Melbourne CBD was very busy when we were there, especially the Saturday as the Christmas Parade was happening as well. We had seen a lot of the tourist spots on a previous trip so just wandered around the CBD mostly on Friday afternoon and Saturday. Well actually I think we spent a lot of the time at the factory outlets in Spencer Street a five minute walk from our hotel. It took about 10 -15 minutes to walk into the CBD, and we made our way to Latrobe Street to catch the free tram to get back to our hotel getting off at King Street.

We stayed at the Ibis Little Bourke Street hotel which was very close to the Telstra Dome took about 5 minutes to walk there. However probably would have chosen another area if we didn't want to be near the stadium. On our previous visit we had stayed in Spring Street which was a much nicer area of town.

On the Sunday we hired a rental car from Europcar and managed to find our way out of the CBD onto the M1, forgot we had to pay a toll but sorted that out when we dropped the rental car off. It was a very easy drive down to Phillip Island very well sign-posted.

We arrived at Phillip Island about 2pm, checked into our motel the Tropicana Motor Inn which I had booked through Wotif, $ 89A including a continental breakfast. It was a large room with a Queen bed, and a single bed, kitchen facilities, and a microwave, I have posted a review on Trip Advisor.

We then wandered down to the beach, which took about five minutes and then walked to the visitor centre. Bought tickets to the Koala Conservation Centre and the Penguin Parade. However there is no problem buying these at the actual locations themselves.

We grabbed a pie for lunch went back down to the beach to eat it and then walked back to the motel to pick up the car to drive to the Koala Conservation Centre. We had passed this on the road into Phillip Island so was only a short drive from the motel. We had a nice relaxing time walking through the boardwalks and saw several Koala's just sitting in the trees, (they don't move very much). There was a Mum and a young koala and we were intrigued watching the young one moving from the tree to get onto Mum's back and then around to her front. I was scared she was going to fall out of the tree.

We then drove to the Nobbies at the end of the Island and had a look around there. Yeah it was free. The wild surf happening was amazing, and you can certainly understand why there would have been ship wrecks there in the 1800's and early 1900's. There were also hundreds of seagulls nesting there. The visitor centre there was worth looking at also. On our way back to the hotel we passed the car park for the penguin parade so familiarised ourselves with the area so there would be no drama's when we came back in the evening.

We had been told at the Visitor Centre to get to the Penguins about an hour before they were due to come in from the sea, which was about 8.30pm the day we were there. We arrived at 7.00pm and there was already a queue of people there, the doors to the boardwalks were opened about 7.30pm. We had been warned to dress warmly which we did, and the night wasn't that cold, so were quite comfortable waiting for the next hour on the beach. Some people took cushions, and also rugs so were better prepared than us.

We sat on the front row of the concrete steps, right at the end (the best place to sit). There were two viewing platforms and we were on the first platform with the grass bank between us and the next platform. This was a great place to be as some of the penguins went right past us to get to there burrows, so were quite close. However if you were at the other end there would be a lot more going past but not as close.

It was low tide when we were there so the penguins had a long way to walk to get across the sand, and started to come in just after 8.30pm. It was fascinating watching them all come in. Apparently they come in the same way every night, and there are five different paths they take, but the same ones go the same way all the time. Once they made it to the grassy area they stopped for a rest and then would carry on up further up the sand dunes. Once they have stopped coming in from the sea, and you make you way back to the visitor centre, you can see them right alongside the boardwalks making their way to their burrows and hear them calling their mates, and babies. It was an incredible sight. A pity no cameras and videos are allowed but perfectly understandable as to why they are not.

Part 2 a bit later


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Old Nov 21st, 2008, 02:00 PM
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Looking forward to hearing more Nelsonian. I've seen the fairy penguins a couple of times but your post is making me want to go again! Thanks!
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Old Nov 21st, 2008, 04:34 PM
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They are cute little fellas and girls ain't they nelsonian and I've been there when the tide is in and a fair bit of a surf to negotiate and you have to take pity while still having a laugh at the circus clown type action as they struggle in, a wave bowling them over when they stand and then being sucked back in the undertow and it nearly seems as though it is just the weight of numbers behind that eventiually spits them out far enough out on to the sand clear of the water.

And they do it every day of their life and so no doubt sleep very well.
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Old Nov 21st, 2008, 08:12 PM
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Andre Rieu did very well here grossing $A17 million from just his Melbourne concerts, according to The Age. I look forward to your GOR report.
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Old Nov 21st, 2008, 11:44 PM
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Part 2.

Following Bushranger's good advice we left Phillip Island the following morning at 7.45 am after getting directions from the motel owners as to the best way to get to the ferry at Portsea. Again this was an easy drive with lots of signs to the car ferry. We had been down to the Mornington Peninsula and Sorrento on an earlier visit so didn't stop anywhere until Portsea.

We made it to the ferry terminal by 9.45am, bought our tickets $68.00 for a car and 2 adults, and watched the ferry come into berth. We were amazed that it only took about 10 minutes for the cars to be unloaded, and then the cars on our side to be loaded on and it was ready to leave. (With the Cook Strait ferry in NZ you have to be there an hour before hand, which can be a bit of a pain). The crossing was very smooth, had time for a coffee and took quite a few photo's and 45 minutes later we were in Queenscliff.

Got a bit lost getting out of Queenscliff took a wrong turn and took the road to Port Lonsdale ( I am the world's worst navigator) but checked the map again when we stopped for petrol and managed to get on the correct road to Ocean Grove. From there we just followed the signs to the Great Ocean Road. We stopped at Bells Beach to check out the world famous surfing beach, there were a few people out surfing and a lot of tourists taking in the views.

We stopped for lunch at Anglesea, and were amazed at the beautiful golden sand beaches all along the coastal road. New Zealand has a few golden sand beaches but nothing like what we saw on this trip. We carried on stopping at various places to take photos of the beautiful scenery. I loved Lorne thought it was a very picturesque place. One thing we did notice both here and on Phillip Island were the number of homes that were for sale. I guess it's a sign of the economic times.

We were making our way to Apollo Bay when I noticed a sign to the Otway Fly, my brother and sister-in-law had been there a few months earlier and said if we had time to go and see it. I told my husband to turn off which was a BIG MISTAKE!!!! We seemed to go for miles and miles through lots of bush, on a narrow windy road not really sure where we were going. It did get a bit tetchy there for awhile. Eventually we ended up at the Otway Fly after what seemed like hours of driving, and when we got there we were so fed up with the road, were tired and grumpy and decided we didn't want to go on the walk through the treetops anyway. We got back in the car and headed for Apollo Bay still a considerable drive away. It wasn't until a bit later that we realised Apollo Bay was only a few miles from where we turned off to go to the Otway Fly.

We decided to carry on from Apollo Bay to the Twelve Apostles, which took another hour or so. It was probably around 3.30pm when we arrived. The rugged coastline and the high cliffs around this area is amazing, and so are the 10 (not 12) Apostles. It was very interesting to read about how they were formed, and what had happened to the others. It was a relatively easy walk down the boardwalks to get a good view of them all.

We had decided to stay the night at Port Campbell about 15 minutes further on but as we drove around the village there were a lot of no vacany signs up, so Warren suggested we drive back to Apollo Bay to see if we could find a place to stay there. I was getting very tired of being in a car by then but we did drive back there and managed to find a hotel room at the Lighthouse Inn in Apollo Bay itself. We got an upstairs room with a view over the sea so were quite happy. After a reviving cup of tea, we went down to the main shopping area to find a place to have dinner. It was now 5.30 or so and it had been a very long day.
After our meal we drove to the wharf area and had a look at some of the boats and watched a group of kids learning to surf. It was still a very pleasant evening, and a lovely place to be, Apollo Bay would be a great place to have a holiday I would imagine.

Part 3 still to come







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Old Nov 22nd, 2008, 03:36 AM
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Did you enjoy the Andre Rieu concert? A lot of my friends went and I was beginning to think that I was the only person in Melbourne who hadn't bought a ticket

Enjoying the trip report. The Otway Fly is a good but I can well understand you both getting tetchy about getting there if you are not sure where you are going. It is a shame is not closer to the GOR itself so it can easily be factored in to the drive.
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Old Nov 22nd, 2008, 08:47 AM
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The concert was spectacular, the music was great, the castle setting which included a ballroom and two ice skating rinks were fantastic, and the sound was brilliant. A great concert.
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Old Nov 22nd, 2008, 03:22 PM
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Part 3

Checked out of our hotel at around 9am and drove down-town to find some breakfast. Decided before we headed back to Melbourne we would go and visit the lighthouse at Cape Otway. It is about a 30 minute drive from Apollo Bay and is a great road for Koala spotting, saw several on the road in. You could tell there were koalas around from the number of cars parked on the side of the road and the people taking photos.

The entrance fee to the lighthouse was $ 14.50 each I think, can't quite remember. You are given a map of things to go look at including the original signal hut, the lighthouse, radar hut, etc. This was a very interesting tour, I was a bit apprehensive about climbing up to the top of the lighthouse but it wasn't too daunting. The worst bit is the ladder climb to get to the top where you can walk outside. What a fabulous view, and the guide at the top was very clued up as to the history of the lighthouse and the area itself. It's hard to believe that families were living here in the late 1800's, all provisions including whale oil for the lighthouse were rowed in to Blanket Bay from a ship anchored further out to sea and then had to be taken over land to Cape Otway. My husband was amazed that the lighthouse has been replaced by basically a small box an electronic version of the lighthouse.

It was interesting to read about the radar hut too as it was built in 1942 and radar hadn't been around much before that apparently. According to the plaques on the wall a German boat got very close to the coast of Australia in 1940 and this radar hut was built and manned after that to be able to track enemy ships.

We back-tracked to Apollo Bay after this detour, and headed back to Melbourne via the inland route. We turned off at Skenes Creek and made our way to Geelong, via Moriac stopping at Geelong for lunch.
We had to drop our rental car at the Melbourne Airport, Warren was a bit worried about finding his way there but again there were lots of signs showing the way. We stayed the night at the Quality hotel about 10 minutes from the airport and flew back to New Zealand the next day. Overall it was a great trip. I think we drove just over a 1000 kms in the rental car.
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Old Nov 22nd, 2008, 04:50 PM
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Great that the nelsonians enjoyed the south coast, the fly aside, and just lijke Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar, we'll even let you rejoice in winning the RL World Cup, a great match it was full of a bit of clumsiness at times on both sides but a well deserved hard fought for win.

I just thought the aussies, especially after the initial storm and getting to 10 - 0 probably thought well oh yeah, this will be ours, and lost momentum to your guys.
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Old Nov 22nd, 2008, 05:05 PM
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I don't think everyone here can believe it after we got thumped he last time we played Australia in league. It spurred the All Blacks on to beat Wales as well.
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