As the title suggested, this trip brought us to Melbourne, Victoria. However, we really only took a trip to the city in one of the days, in fact, a few hours. As with what our objectives for holidays, to get out of the city, not to go to another one. So most days, we were moving around the suburbs.
Greater Melbourne, as people called it, was a place we have wanted to visit again since our first trip there in 2001. Also because my sister stayed there with her husband due to his business, we really just want to go there and spend some quality time with them. This time, planning was done mostly by the experience local resident. That made things really a lot simpler. We only need to book our air tickets, packed and just go.
Day 1 – Glen Waverley
We took a Qantas overnight flight and touched down at Tullamarine Airport early in the morning. Naturally, we didn’t have a good sleep and the kids were grouchy. We learnt, so we took our time and not rush. Clean them up and made sure we were really to proceed with the immigration. Quite unfortunately, we waited in the long queue for more than an hour to clear. I was quite puzzled why only two counters were open for the international line, while the others were idling, with only occasional streams of cabin crew at the priority line. Some supervisor could have directed the line to these other counters when there were no persons at the priority lines. When I met up with my sister later, she told me: “That’s how it works here, get used to it”.
My sister took us to her beautiful house at Glen Waverley. About an hour drive from the airport. Lovely neighbourhood South of Melbourne city centre. We will be staying with her for the trip other than a short trip out of town. We took a nap to recuperate from deprived sleep before we could start. We spent the rest of the day shopping in the neighbourhood for groceries and walking the park, blending into what any residents would do. Home cooked dinner.
Day 2 – Phillip Island
Almost all tourist itinerary to Melbourne would include Phillip Island, so might as well. We departed late morning, again relaxed and no rushing, armed with packed lunch we took an easy drive down South.
We stopped by the Churchill Island Heritage Farm, a private island off the Phillip Island. We had our picnic lunch near the lavender fields. Lots of space for kids to run.
The heritage farm was actually a working farm but more significantly, presented with heritage gardens and historic buildings. The kids loved the animals and we learned a bit of history about early Australian settlers.
Next stop, the Koala Conversation Centre. Well, this time
During midday, it was warm but with occasional a cool breeze. By the time we got to the Noobies at 5 pm, it was windy and the temperature began to drop. The sight was simply magnificent at the Noobies. If I have more time, I would just hike down these trails
We took a quick bite at the famous fish and chips at Cowes, before heading out to watch the penguin parade. Patiently waiting for sunset and waiting for the penguins to get back to their nests. It seemed very interesting that each penguin knew exactly where to go to their own nests. Wind chill was pretty strong, and we have to brace the cold to witness this amazing nature creation. No flash photography though.
Perhaps this would be the longest day of the trip. We managed to see so much in one day. We only made it home at midnight, but the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Day 3 – The Puffing Billy
We decided we should try out this century-old steam train which continued to run on its original mountain track from Belgrave to Gembrook in the magnificent Dandenong Ranges. The Puffing Billy heritage railway is open every day except Christmas thanks to the tireless efforts of dedicated volunteers. We bought tickets as soon as the ticket booth was opened, even then we were only able to get a time slot a couple of hours later. So we walked around the small town of Belgrave.
We disembarked at Menzies. Since my sister took the car and met us there, we drove up to the Emerald Lake Park for a picnic. The kids played at the playground and together, we strolled around the lake.
Late afternoon, we went to buy groceries and made dinner at home. While the ladies were doing the cooking, I took the kids to the nearby park with some bread crumbs to feed ducks. I bet they were having fun since the kids fought to feed the ducks.
Day 4 – Golf and Chill
We played golf at Sandhurst golf club in the morning, went shopping in the afternoon and be home way before dinner to chill. The kids were playing happily the rest of the day with the toys and games they bought for themselves. My mother-in-law can’t hit golf balls, so we have the luxury of having her looking after those rowdy kids.
Day 5 – House Party
We stayed at home for a relaxed weekend. My sister invited her relatives over for dinner. So we were preparing to host them. It was a big house party, with foods, drinks and games. The kids have their own programs, as they
Day 6 – St Kilda Beach
Still having a little hungover from yesterday, we left the house only at noon. We parked near the Luna Park and spent some time inside the amusement park. As my kids were not really interested in rides, we soon made it to the esplanade flea market. Then walked a significant length of the beach, playing sand and picking shells. One such hot day was enough to tire all of us.
Day 7 – Great Ocean Road
We set off for our short road trip to Lorne, this brought us through a short stretch of the Great Ocean Road. We made our first rest stop at Bells beach. Cool and breezy, beautiful sights.
We had a picnic lunch at our next stop at Anglesea beach. Of course, the kids could not miss sweating out at the playground there.
We reached the Splitpoint Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet. We have to make some effort to hike up the slopes to have a closer look. Well worth the walk.
We officially drove into the Great Ocean Road!!
Once we reached Lorne, we head straight to the
We checked into Grand Pacific apartments. The sea view from the apartment was spectacular. We cooked a simple dinner. After that, we took an evening walk along Lorne pier. Enjoying the breeze and the beautiful evening twilight.
Day 8 – Apollo Bay
After breakfast at the hotel restaurant, we head east towards Apollo Bay. Originally planned to go all the way to the 12 apostles, we decided to stop at Apollo Bay in order not to stress ourselves along the winding road. Anyway, the kids weren’t interested to see what’s 12 apostles. They were more interested in playing at the playground.
We drove up to
On our way back to our apartment at Lorne, we stopped by Carisbrook Creek upon seeing something really interesting. Not sure when the practice of stacking rocks started here, it seemed that this was done by passersby for good luck or just for art. We decide to go join the fun. along with other people who drove by.
Along the drive back, we were also pleasantly surprised by the things we could see, stopped by and took our time to enjoy these moments. Like seeing a wild Koala along the road. We slowed down our car to a crawl to alert other drivers to be careful not to hit it. There was also a marked historic shipwreck along the route.
Day 9 – Lorne
After we checked out, we spent more time at Lorne walking around the town and the beach. The main attraction to the kids was, of course, the mariner’s themed playground.
We stopped by Torquay, surfers paradise. We walked to the Point Danger marine sanctuary, for the breeze and sights. The kids spotted a big stingray in the shallows of the sea. We then head back to Glen Waverley, feeling satisfied.
Day 10 – Arthur Seat State Park
Change of plans for today due to the weather forecast. We didn’t want to miss the good weather staying in the house knowing that it will be scorching in a couple of days. So we head out for a country trip to Arthur Seat State Park. For the first part of the day, we spent time at the Sunny Bridge strawberry farm where the kids went to pick their own strawberries from the farm. We have done this before but this time the extent of the farm was much much bigger.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Enchanted Adventure Garden. It was like a theme park with large slides, mazes, outdoor games, tree house and bridges and even a haunted house. The kids loved it very much and diligently played almost all the maze and puzzle games available.
On our way home in the evening, we made a detour to Franklins Lookout. We could see the entire Port Phillip Bay.
Day 11 – Queen Victoria Market
We were finally going to the city centre. We were also very focused and wanted to visit the popular Queen Victoria Markets – hit and run. As usual, we took our time in the morning and only reached there at noon, after spending a substantial amount of time in the usual city traffic. We loaded up our shopping bags with local produce and souvenirs. Tried various foods around the markets too.
By 4 pm, we were home, rested and head out to watch the new Starwars movie: The Force Awakens at a free seating, humble cinema in Glen Waverly. We thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Not only that, this movie had not officially premiered in our home country and the boys could brag about it to their friends that they have seen it here in Australia.
Day 12 – Local Errands
By 10 am in the morning, the temperature registered outside was 39 degrees Celsius. It was burning hot. We decided to only go out to airconditioned places like Bunnings for simple kids activities, and to shopping centres to buy fruit, foods and cold beer. Went back home for late lunch, nap and then simply sit around and talk. At night, we had a good Mediterranean style dinner and drank wine, while playing dominoes.
Day 13 – Shop and Dine
It was a lazy Sunday. After breakfast, we just sat around chit chatting. Soon enough, it was lunch. The girls went out shopping and then the boys stayed backed to watch movies. In the evening, we went to eat out at a nice Italian restaurant. Watching the news on TV, we were shocked to learn that the place that we went to last week – Apollo bay – was evacuated due to forest fires. We could have been affected there, but fortunately not.
Day 14 – Golf Again
Weather and temperature permitted, for this round of golf, we played at Sandhurst Champions course. The kids were self-entertained at home by the toys we bought for them on the past few shopping trips, no complaints.
Back to the house, we spent the whole time taking the kids for a walk and for them to play at various playgrounds within the neighbourhood. Then back to the house to pack. While the ladies went out to local supermarkets to buy something back to cook. It was our day to prepare a sumptuous dinner for our host -cracking pork knuckles, anyone?
Day 15 – Home bound
Our Australian summer solstice, the longest day had become longer (3 more hours due to changing time zones). Early morning flight, 100 Aussies dollars taxi to the airport, and we boarded the flight with ease. We were puzzled again why, during the transit at Brisbane, we need to exit, to take a bus to the international terminal to re-check-in. Quite a bit of hassle for a family with many kids. Fortunately, we boarded the connection aircraft just in time. Home sweet home.
This trip felt like we were living as a resident,
gobassky
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