We left Melbourne for Apollo Bay. The route was Great Ocean Road. I managed to not have to do any “hook” turns in Melbourne so I was pretty happy. The photo below is of a street light in Melbourne. We drove the scenic route which also include a bike race. I was just thankful the bike race was going the opposite direction of me but the 4.000 riders were with us for 40 km of our drive.

We did stop a couple of places along the way for photos. I was really hoping to see a kangaroo but haven’t spotted one yet. You would think that since Hertz told me if I hit a kangaroo it would cost me $2,200 that I would have seen one by now. The biggest challenge to the drive was when we were going down the highway and the bikes were coming at us the opposite a direction and a dog got loose from a yard and ran straight at my car. It was ultimately chasing the bikes but boy was I worried about the dog. I was able to stop in time, and I saw people come running out of the yard after their dog. I’m just going to assume the dog is safe.

It is very helpful that there are plenty of signs that remind drivers to drive on the left in Australia. If only I could remember that the turn signal is on the right side of the steering wheel and not the left. I turned the wipers on more times than I can count. I also reach for my seatbelt over the left shoulder when it is really on the right side. I’m getting a hang of it though.

From Street Light

Besides the botanical gardens and the aquarium we rode the free tour bus to save our feet some. We took it across town to the Italian community for some lunch. We tried a pizza with ham, bacon, egg and cheese. They called it Aussie so we thought it was something authentic. It was decent and felt good to get some real food in us. Still not healthy so I guess we better walk some more.

We found a foreign language bookstore. It was amazing how many books they had in German. It was also amazing how much they charge for the books. The same German course book that I bought in Vienna last year was about 20 dollars and here it was closer to 50. So I didn’t buy any books but it was fun shopping. It also was good I didn’t buy anything since, I have no room in my suitcase because of the airline weight limit. I was only 1 pound short on the way over here.

As we walk it is pretty fascinating to watch the traffic. They drive on the opposite side of the car and road. To make a right turn you get in the left lane and stop in the middle of the intersection in front of the cars going in the direction you are turning. Once your light turns red you then make your turn. We will see how I fair at making a “right” turn tomorrow when I get in a car and drive down the Great Ocean Road. I hope I don’t make a lot of wrong turns at $6/gallon.

Cheers

I heard before I left that we should visit the aquarium to see the sea dragons. I have never heard of sea dragons so I just had to check out what these little sea creatures were. The hardest part of the decision was to pay $33.50 to go to an aquarium. For that price I better see some awesome sea creatures. I would say the first two things you see are worth the price. They had king penguins from Antarctica that were very cute. They fill their area with snow twice a day and it doesn’t stay white for long. I learned that a penguin poops every 17 minutes.

After the penguin exhibit you see the leafy sea dragon and weedy sea dragons. The weedy sea dragon just had babies successfully for only the second time in captivity. These animals are native to Australia. The weedy sea dragons are actually hard to tell they are an animal because they just look like a weed. I was happy to watch them for awhile next to a couple of Germans. I had the best of both worlds. I got to listen to German and watch a funny sea creature.

The rest of the animals were okay. I had to take all my photos through glass so it was pretty difficult to get some good photos. The frogs were pretty cute. Hope you can see the animals good through glass in the slide show below.

Aquarium

Our one full day in Melbourne. A lot of ground to cover in a short time but we are both ready for the challenge. We eat our donuts and head out walking toward the botanical gardens. The weather was cloudy and windy but was pretty good picture taking weather. Botanical gardens are always one of my favorite places to go to take pictures.

They have some pretty unique plants on display here. Plants that I have never seen before. The only downside is that most things were done blooming since it is the beginning of fall here. I can only imagine how good it must smell in November when things are blooming. The air smelled good and there were a lot of birds chirping. I have never heard such loud birds before. I only wish I could see the bird that makes the sound. There were signs posted that said we should watch out for turtles crossing. Of course, I make the dumb comment that boy I don’t have my camera out if we see a turtle. I forget how slow a turtle moves that I should hope I’m fast enough to get the camera out.

While walking through the fern gully we saw a creepy thing in the water. Pretty sure that was an eel. Then the ground felt like it was going to sink. We were walking on asphalt but it like a section melted or something and it was squishy. Hard to explain but you literally didn’t feel right walking on that. We needed a snack to get us through so we stopped at a tea house for a scone. Since a plate of two scones was $7 AUD we decided to split it. It came with cream and jam. I guess we should have had some tea but I just have a hard time with some of the prices so I opted for the free water.

I was quite disappointed to see that the glass houses (green houses) were closed due to storm damage. So most of my photos contain a lot of green. Most colorful plants were done for the year but the greens still looked great. Click on the photo to see a slideshow.

Botanical Garden

The jet lag is gone…actually I didn’t have any. It is really only a 6 hour time difference. I was very tired the first day here but I got a good night sleep. We did manage to walk around the city the first day here. My first observation was Melbourne is a city for young people who want the city life. It seems as some corners have 50 people waiting to cross the street. It was a bit overwhelming to walk in that when you don’t have a lot of sleep. Not to mention that it was raining. The weather has been like Portland so far.

We visited Victoria Market. It is a great market that reminds me a lot of the Naschmarkt in Vienna. You can buy all of your food at this market and more. The time to go is around closing and everything is sold at a good discount. We actually didn’t buy anything there but it was a good place to walk around. There was a donut truck that seemed pretty popular with the locals. $6 AUD for 6 donuts. Before leaving the market we just had to try the “American” donuts as the truck said. We got the six donuts and the man gave us 12. I love a good deal and now we have breakfast. The donuts were actually pretty good and had a very little bit of a cherry filling.

We ate at Pie Face for lunch. Pie Face is a chain serving savory pies. We each got a different one so we could try different kinds. We had a chicken curry pie and a ham egg and cheese. I’m beginning to sense that I will have a lot of working out to do when I get home. Probably doesn’t help me out that I’m watching Biggest Loser Australia while I’m writing. Food has been pretty hard to find so far and of course expensive. Below is a slide show of some photos from downtown Melbourne (click on the photo for the slideshow to play).

Downtown Melbourne

Arriving in Melbourne was pretty easy. The airport was pretty empty and I have never made it through customs so fast. It was quite funny getting out of the gate. You basically walk into the duty free shops with a lady trying to sell you things over the microphone. I thought I was more in an auction than an airport. Before getting out of the baggage area they make you put all your bags on the ground when the cutest Beagle sniffs all of your bags. That little dog looked so happy to be working. I would have taken a photo of it if cameras were allowed in there. Which leads to me to the only photo I took in the airport. I couldn’t resist. I had to use my phone since cameras weren’t allowed (I guess I ignored the photo of no phones.) This sign was in the loo above each toilet. Do they really need to explain to people how to use the toilet?

From Airport