Melbourne - Day 5 and 6

(Day 1 and 2)

(Day 3 and 4)

Day 5

This morning Mai and I went to the Queen Victoria Market. It was much bigger than the evening one on Wednesday, but like all markets many of the stalls sold the same things. I found some salt liquorice without gelatine and Mai and I found a card that we are going to send to the girls we looked after in England, other than that neither of us bought anything.

After the markets we got some lunch and then went to the Victoria State Library as they have free internet. When I was going in there with my laptop bag the library attendant asked what was in the bag. I was very tempted to say: What do you think is in there?! But I just opened it for him to see that it was indeed just a laptop.

In the evening we went to the Belgian Beer Café on Bluestone, as The Paramedic had suggested it. It’s a very pretty Place and I even found a cider that I liked! It was Mai who suggested the cider, she said it didn’t taste like cider at all, so of course that was the one I tried. And she was right! It was really yummy.

 We didn’t stay out very late as I had a headache and had to get up early the next day.

Day 6 – The Great Ocean Road!

The one thing I HAD to see while I was in Melbourne was the Great Ocean Road. The bus driver we had for the day was very nice. I also liked how he told everyone the reason he was late was because of two passengers, and he made them apologize to everyone! How else are they supposed to learn? Although I’m not sure it worked because they kept being the last ones on the bus all day. Oh well. Anyway.

We stopped quite a few places. In one of the scenic stops there was a wild koala just at eye-level! 

Can you see the koala?

We also stopped at Kennett River where we saw some more koalas, one was even on the ground! At Kennett River we also got to feed some wild parrots! One sat on my hand and ate some seeds out of my palm, and one landed on my head at one point!

 We stopped for lunch at a place called Apollo Bay. The bus driver had packed two vegetarian alternatives and he told everyone to make sure that they let the actual vegetarians have first pick of those, which was nice. Apollo Bay was a pretty place, but it’s hard to go exploring too much when you know you only have a short amount of time in a place.

 After Apollo Bay we stopped at Maits Rest. That’s a cool tempered rainforest. It didn't take too long to walk in it, which was kind of nice because I've seen so many rainforests now. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice and very informative, but the reason I went on the tour was the Twelve Apostles, not another rainforest.

 The Twelve Apostles was the next stop. It was really cool to see the limestone formations made by the sea. Apparently there is only 8 now, not 12, as they erode.

 We also had two more stops featuring stone formations. The first was Loch Ard Gorge (I thought it was Lockhard Gorge at first), that one had 3 different walks. Two on top of the cliffs and 1 down to the beach. It was very pretty there.

 The last stop before we headed back to Melbourne was London Bridge, or London Arch as it is called now. Up until 1990 you could walk to the end of it because it was connected to the mainland, but then that arch collapsed. No one was hurt as it happened, but 2 people got marooned on the newly formed island for a couple of hours until the helicopter rescued them, I laughed at that, I'm a bit mean, I know. But I wonder what they would have done if it had happened before helicopters were invented?

 It was a really nice tour and I’m glad I did it. It lasted for about 13 hours and I was really tired by the time we got back, but it was worth it. 

To be continued...