Great Ocean Road (via Melbourne, AU)

Lance Here:

Part of the benefit of spending 2 years in New Zealand is the opportunity to work in Australia, as the two countries have a relationship very similar to Canada and the US.  I had been out to Melbourne for work a few times and decided that this time I would bring Maggie and James along for the week. I hadn’t gotten the chance to explore much during my work trips, so with them visiting I could take in some of the scenery that the land of Aus had to offer.

We flew in on a Saturday over a 3 day weekend (ANZAC day- more on that later).  We rented a car and drove out to Warrnambool (the short way) for the night.  During the drive we saw koalas and kangaroos in the wild.  It was pretty exciting to see them in their natural habitat away from the zoo.  They even had crossing signs for them like we have for deer in the US.

Arriving in Warrnambool, we were pretty disappointed that we didn’t have longer to stay in this area.  It was a very picturesque, small Australian beach town.  Upon arriving we headed down to the Pickering Point Trail to admire some of the cool rock formations along the water, and saw some penguins (officially known as the Little Penguin).  They were adorable.  James had a blast running around the trail and across the bridge during sunset.

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn thanks to James, but it was a blessing to get up that early and get a move on for our big day-long adventure along the Great Ocean Road.  We needed to stay ahead of the crowds.  We started by heading back to the Warrnambool breaker to watch the sunrise over the water.

 From there we headed east out of town to a popular whale watching platform.  During May through October this area is well renowned for being home to a Southern Right Whale nursery where the mothers and their offspring get very close to the shore during their migration.  Unfortunately we were a little too early in the year and didn’t get to see anything, but it was still a beautiful beach that had a few brave locals in the cold water.

The rest of the day was spent exploring the Great Ocean Road in Australia.  There were a lot of spectacular stops that had beautiful views of limestone formations in and along the ocean coast.  The most famous of these are the 12 Apostles.  Maggie and I actually preferred some of the other stops (Loch Ard Gorge & Bay of Islands) to the 12 Apostles though as the 12 Apostles were pretty touristy and very crowded.

Mixed in with some of the beautiful coastal views, we were able to take in some Australian forests where Maggie was able to spot a few more Koalas hanging in the trees, and we saw a mob of kangaroos in the area too.

The drive was absolutely stunning, but it was a long day.  We were very relieved to get back into Melbourne that evening to go to bed.  The next day we decided to take in some of what downtown Melbourne had to offer.  Because it was ANZAC Day (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) there was a celebration going on downtown and a big parade for their veterans (think 4th of July).  James had a blast following around the bands that were marching down the street and waving to the people as they walked by.  From there we took in the sights at their Hall of Remembrance (war memorial shrine) and headed to the downtown Botanic Gardens.  James had a lot of fun in the kids’ garden and Maggie got her quota of Botanic Gardens on the trip.

After that we took in the walk around Melbourne’s Southbank Promenade, which does a wonderful job utilizing the Yarra River that flows through downtown, and enjoyed all of the sights and street performances that accompanied the ANZAC day celebration.

More to come from Maggie about her week sightseeing around Melbourne while I worked.