So, now it’s Tuesday and I need to catch you up on Thursday thru yesterday… what fun we’ve had!
To summarize, thur was an adventure in culinary delights, fri was our trip out to the Penguin Parade, sat, sun mon was our adventure to the Grampians & the Great Ocean Rd. Now, if you don’t care for the stories you can just skip to the pictures…
So Thursday we went to try this Spanish restaurant we read about in the Lonely Planet book (thanks, hillary) but when we got there without a reservation they smiled politely & sent us to find a place around the corner which they promised was very good. We walked up & down a little too far & almost didn’t find it – but we did find some great artwork in the alleyways.
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| Edward Scissorhands (in case you don't recognize!) |
We walked in to the Coda Bar Restaurant. Oh My God! We still go ummm and ahhhh when we think about this food. It was indescribable, it was the most unusual, the most delicious food I have ever tasted. We had to be seated at the bar since we didn’t have a reservation which put us on the left next to a woman from Adelaid in town for a mental health conference & on the right next to two men who were having a guys night out – 1 was a dentist who does the dentistry for all the famous restaurateurs, apparently! The menu offered these little ‘taste’ appetizer type items where you choose a taste of this & a taste of that. We went by what the people seated next to us had + what looked like something we’d like, + a thing or two to be daring. It was so delicious!
Next day was Friday & we’d arranged the tour bus to the Penguins. This included the ride there (about 1-2 hours away), entry to the Heritage Farm (an historical early settlement type farm with farm stuff, sheep shearing, a wallaby preservation center),
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| Wallabies (small kangaroo) |
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| very squawk-y parrot type bird - they're everywhere |
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| on side of old building at Heritage Farm |
the Koala Conservation Center (so we can see Koalas in their natural environment up close but not touch them)
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| cool walkways thru Koala Center (a million people coming - can you see them?) |
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| we saw one! finally! |
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| can you see it? |
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| is that all there is?? |
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| at least this one was touchable! |
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| this is what they look like if you work for Nat'l Geographic! |
(the video at the beginning of this post is the koala who actually MOVED while we were there! I mistakenly somehow put it up at the beginning)
& the Penguin Preservation area where the little penguins return from the sea to their boroughs each evening at dusk. We were allowed to take pictures until the penguin area – they are really strict about keeping the people from invading the penguin area. We did see other tourists taking a few photos & I sort of wish I dared to break the rules & sneak a few pictures. I can’t describe how amazing it was!
So we arrive & enter into the ‘Center’ – now, at the Koala center this nice older man in the gift shop convinced us that upgrading our Penguin tickets to the closer observation deck was worth the extra $20 & I did that. Yeah! Everyone goes into this Penguin center which is basically a big gift shop & a terrible fast food restaurant (McDonalds would be a million times better!)
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| ugh! NOT one of our favorites! |
and you wait until it’s time to go see the Penguins come. We walked outside & it was amazing & very thrilling – we walk down this long long boardwalk & alongside it we see bushes & sand & further on we start seeing little boxes embedded in the sand & bushes… then we get to go down to the right where those who didn’t upgrade have to stay left. Now we start seeing more obvious indications that the little penguins come up here to these little boxes – those are some of their boroughs! Then we get down to a raised small stadium-like seating area. We grab our seats down near the best view sand path area. There are maybe 50 people there. A ranger comes out with a mic & tells us about the penguins – they swim maybe 100 km out to sea, they stay out there for maybe 3-4 weeks, they come in to have sex & see their mates & kids – they are mated for life. They have penguins who have been coming back to the same borough for 20 some years! They always return to the exact same borough! Then he makes everyone sit down (thank goodness cause some rude people tended to stand by the railing & block the view) & he told us to be quiet so we don’t scare the penguins. He told us the sounds we’d hear them making! It was getting dark now & he explained that the penguins send a ‘scout’ out of the water 1st to make sure it’s safe then the others soon follow in bunches of maybe 50s, totaling probably a couple of thousand penguins end up on the beach! When we first start seeing / hearing them it’s soooo exciting! It’s like you’re a kid waiting to wake your parents up to go open Christmas presents! That kind of anticipation… and the penguins are so cute! They’re about 8-10 inches tall, weigh maybe a pound or two. And they kind of squawk, chirp, beep. They waddle & shake their heads & preen themselves. They stand with their little wings held out to dry – it’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen!
We waited till the last one came up practically – back to the bus & back to the city. On the bus ride back they played a DVD about penguins – it’s called ‘Surf’s Up’ and it was so cute – it’s nothing about real penguins, it’s a cute animated thing with voices of famous stars. Very cute. Very nice ending to the day.
So, don’t fear, I’m not going to give as much detail from now on – I have lots of pictures to describe our weekend trip!
We left Saturday am (had to tram to the train station & we were running late – we were aiming for the 12:08 train & when we got in the ticket line it was 12:04! Luckily Danielle ran over to ask the guy if we were in the right line & he told us we could buy our tickets on the train!). we got to Ballarat, taxi-d to the car rental place (it was closed! But when we called the woman came & gave us a car)
& off we drove to Halls Gap in the Grampians where we had our reservation at the hostel for the night.
(It was dark when we arrived so didn’t see the views in the town till the am. WOW!)
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| kangaroo right there in town! see the joey! |
Sunday am we ate at another Lonely Planet recommendation
& went off to go to the view sites… there are maybe hundreds & we chose 4-5 which were along our way to give us a good taste of the Grampians.
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| cafe in downtown Halls Gap |
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| they're everywhere! |
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| Magpie - they're everywhere too |
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| Danielle's turn to drive on the left side of the road! |
We arrived into Warambool on the coast
& went to Logans Beach for whale viewing – didn’t see any
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| Logans beach (bay area) |
& set off down the coast to get to the 12 Apostles site & planned to reach Apollo Bay for our nights stay. We got to the 12 Apostles at sunset – our photos will knock your socks off! It was a religious experience - & you know I’m not too religious. But you know how I feel more & more sure that we attract things to us – good things, & the timing of our arrival to witness this view was so perfect. Seeing this made both of us so wowed & appreciative of what we were doing – so grateful for the lives we have, the opportunities we have, the people we are & those we know & have in our lives. All that kind of gushy, deep-sighing grateful & this life is so perfect stuff. I tell you, it was an experience we will not ever forget.
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| moon rising |
(OK now it’s Wednesday – I had to stop writing yesterday for Danielle to use her computer…)
The Great Ocean Rd segment we drove after the 12 Apostles was in the dark but we guessed (from the nifty GPS that came with the car rental) we were inland most of the time. Anyway, it was dark. We arrived into Apollo Bay around 7:30ish, found a place to spend the night & found a very wonderful place to eat. We got a little nervous since the 1
st place we checked for food was closed. But once again we were meant to find this little restaurant where we ate yummy pizza with garlic & cheese & yummy yummy veges that were still crunchy!!
Seems a little rare here that veges remain crunchy. And best of all we met ’Sinead’ our server who was the neetest young woman: she’s only 19 & had just moved there the day before! She’d been in Melbourne for a time & decided she wanted to live near the beach & just up & moved! She was from England & had been traveling it seems for months. She apparently would travel, stop & work, travel more etc. she really inspired us.
She gave Danielle her email for D to contact her if she needs any advice re New Zealand. I think we could have talked for hours! As it was, we were the last customers to leave the restaurant!
Our hotel was nice – they don’t really have central heating here so you have to put an electric heater on if you want warmth. They do provide nice blankets & comforters, tho. Makes for fairly cold bathrooms! So that brings us to Monday morning in Apollo Bay where we strolled a bit looking for a place for breakfast recommended in Lonely Planet – couldn’t find it & chose another little place instead where all I wanted was coffee & Danielle got the best breakfast yet! it was called Eggs Florentine but it came with lochs (sp?? You know – the raw I think smoked salmon that usually comes with bagels) & avocado slices. Once again we were in culinary bliss! Even thinking of it now my mouth waters!
And the coffee here is espresso shots with or without steamed milk / foam. I had 3 that morning!
So off onto the Great Ocean Rd again & now our drive was right along the ocean – I mean RIGHT along! Photos explain what I mean…
We were oohing & aahing lots that morning!
There are so many overlooks & photo opportunities along this stretch. We stopped at a few but you could really stop & take days to travel 40 miles!
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| a little bit windy!! |
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| surfers @ this stop - none of them got up to standing |
We did stop at on place that announced a waterfall & found a well marked pathway. Well, it went on & on but we kept going since we’d already gone this far… and we got to this beautiful waterfall & we were the only ones there & it was so incredible! A lovely up & down trail thru the woods, along a stream, across boardwalk up & down steps, beautiful!
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| lots of woldflowers blooming |
Back on the road, through very pretty beach towns, goal “Torquay” – the surf capital of Australia. We found a place marked ‘surf beach’ & walked on out there. We saw these surfers who, after watching them for a time, were apparently surfing school students.
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| our shadow! |
I asked a woman who was from there where we could get good fish & chips – she sent us to Bell St Fish & Chips where we got the real deal! Yum yum yummy! Thank goodness the guy we ordered from advised not getting 2 orders of chips! We couldn’t eat the one order we had! We took our food & drove to the beach overlook & ate in the car – it was sunny but blowing quite cold to sit out on the grass.
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| nice view for lunch in the car, huh? |
Danielle dipped her feet into the ocean (this is Bass Straight)
we stopped back at the fish & chips place for coffees for the road (the owner had been ‘trained’ in espresso coffee making techniques!) & then onward to Geelong & then back to Ballarat to return the car & hop the train back to Melbourne.
An amazing thing is that we got to the train station minutes before the train was leaving for Melbourne - if we'd been just a couple of minutes later we would have had to wait an hour & a half (about 8:30pm) for the next one!
I have to tell you, when we first got the car & I’m driving on THE LEFT SIDE of the road I was sooo nervous! In fact, by the time we arrived in Halls Gap my foot was cramping up & my fingers were sore from clenching the wheel. But by the time we got there to return the car I was great, even in traffic! And Donna! You were right – I could do it!
That evening we got back to Melbourne early enough (7:30ish) for Danielle to be able to meet up with her friend Olivia & go to a ‘party’ which means going to the bar that serves 1.00 champagne for the girls! I got back to recheck-in to my hotel where I found a receipt that informed me that they’re charging me for phone calls (Danielle & I check in with each other to let each other know we’ve gotten back safe & sound) & not only charging me for these calls but charging me a LOT! Like, I’ve run up about $60 worth of check-in calls! (I questioned them about it & they said basically that’s the way it is in hotels in all of Australia… grrrr)
So, let’s see, that brings us to Tuesday (yesterday) & today – yesterday we just walked to a park, it’s next to a museum but we didn’t feel like going in.
Last evening Danielle mistakenly deleted ALL of her pictures from her computer (woah!) so today we’re doing whatever we need to do to retrieve them – we’re starting at the Apple store & then I guess there is data retrieval programs you can buy… I hope we can get her pictures back! (mine weren’t affected since they’re on my huge (apparently) 8GB memory card).
This evening we have a reservation for the Spanish place we tried for last week, tomorrow we have no plans – she has classes, one of which involves going to the Contemporary Art Museum so I’ll go to that. She keeps thinking of things I haven’t eaten yet that I need to try! And I leave Friday morning (my flight leaves here about 11am, arrives LAX 11:30am Friday… figure that one out!) I’m back in Medford 7pm Friday the 17th. So this may be my last posting till I get home…
Hope you’ve enjoyed my trip!
Love you all!
