Leisurely Long Vacation -- Traveling with Parents to Melbourne
Since my parents are getting older, the principle of this trip was comfortable and leisurely travel. Following the rule of no red-eye or quasi-red-eye flights, no connecting flights, and as cheap as possible, I planned the itinerary: Beijing - Auckland - Christchurch - Melbourne - Cairns - Ayers Rock - Sydney - Christchurch - Auckland - Beijing. We rented cars in Christchurch, Melbourne, and Ayers Rock. This post covers the seven-day itinerary in Melbourne.
April 11 Christchurch - Melbourne
Woken by a wake-up call at 4am, after checking out, I was astonished to find the streets full of people at this hour. I thought it would be very quiet; taxis that were invisible during the day were now running everywhere, with drunk people shouting loudly, and heavily made-up girls in short skirts walking back and forth showing off their thick legs. The booked taxi arrived on time to take us to the airport. Since it was an international flight, we paid the NZ$25 departure charge per person. After 4 hours we arrived in Melbourne. Virgin Blue only provides paid drinks and food, not expensive — about A$3 per drink, A$5-10 for food. We only exchanged enough Australian dollars for tickets, ferry tickets, and taxis; everything else was paid by card. The time difference between Christchurch and Melbourne is 2 hours. We took a taxi driven by a bearded Indian man and arrived at the booked Mercure Welcome Hotel, right in the city center, Chinatown. This so-called mid-range hotel was not mid-range at all; the room was very small, the corridors narrow. I joked that it was built to prison specifications. We found a random place to eat rice bowls, came back and slept for 3 hours, then went out for a stroll. It felt like we were in Xidan or Wangfujing — crowded with people, Chinese restaurants everywhere. I hate crowds, so I immediately felt dizzy. My first impression of Melbourne was terrible; I really wanted to buy a ticket back to New Zealand. If you prefer natural scenery and don't like bustling cities, I suggest you skip Melbourne city center and rent a car at the airport directly for the Great Ocean Road. The city offers two free modes of transport for tourists: the City Circle Tram and the Tourist Shuttle Bus. The former circles the central city; its roof is green. The latter goes to Melbourne's main attractions; its roof is red. Actually, you don't need to check the route number — just look inside to see if it's free. We saw a City Circle Tram so packed that people couldn't get on, while other trams were empty. We'll treat these few days here as a rest; we can sleep in.
April 12 Melbourne
Woke up at 9am — which would be 11am in New Zealand — then wandered out aimlessly. From Federation Square we walked to the first stop of the Tourist Shuttle Bus. A bus arrived with not many people; we got on and rode the full loop for 1.5 hours. Later, many people were standing. We continued to find a place in Chinatown to eat rice bowls again, returned to the hotel at 2pm to continue sleeping. Woke up at 4pm and went to the nearby QV Woolworths to buy some food. Melbourne is a city crazy for money; almost every attraction charges a fee. The only free thing I saw was that entering the museum costs money, but the guide inside is free. Parking is also horribly expensive — A$4 per hour. I wanted to use the hotel internet, but it was A$0.49 per minute. Pay TV was A$14.9 each — worse than robbery. The only advantage is that there are many Chinese restaurants; you can eat whatever you want. Most Chinese I saw working were supermarket cashiers or restaurant waiters. Most taxi drivers were Mohammed or Bin Laden. Special mention: at the intersection of La Trobe Street and Russell Street, there is the Old Melbourne Gaol, which holds a candlelit ghost tour at night — it looked fun, but the timid should not go. A$25 per person.
April 13 Melbourne
Woke up naturally at 9am. When I came out, I saw the bustling crowds hurrying on the streets, squeezing onto buses, emerging from the subway station — I couldn't help sighing that life is hard. First, I went to Melbourne Central to see the world's largest clock and the tower under a glass dome — formerly a bullet factory. Then I strolled along the river, visiting Birrarung Marr and the Royal Botanic Gardens. This park made me feel like I was back in New Zealand. Afterwards, I took the Tourist Shuttle Bus to Chinatown and had lunch at a Singaporean restaurant. Melbourne has many volunteers, mostly elderly. If you take out a map on the street, they will immediately come over to help if they see it. We encountered this several times, and my impression of the city improved a lot. After a short nap, we visited Captain Cook's Cottage, then wandered around the Melbourne Arts Centre. It was rush hour, and we saw terrible traffic jams. Back at QV Woolworths, we bought lots of food for tomorrow's Great Ocean Road trip. There's also a famous Phillip Island near Melbourne where you can watch penguins waddle home, but we had already seen that in Oamaru, New Zealand, so we didn't go.
April 14 Melbourne - M1 - Geelong - A1 - Allansford - B100 - Port Campbell (330 km)
In the morning, we picked up the car — a Hyundai with 20,000 km on it, felt good, GPS was new. I asked the staff to set it to avoid the CityLink toll road. Actually, I saw an ad for East Coast in the hotel, which was cheaper, but I didn't switch because the company was small and I worried about service issues. Then we started the Great Ocean Road trip. Today was a lesson learned: originally I planned to go to Allansford or Nullawarre, but found no accommodation there, so we had to go all the way to Port Campbell. That meant we drove extra distance, but fortunately the Great Ocean Road was beautiful, so no regrets. The inland M1 and A1 scenery was very ordinary; only the small town of Camperdown had a little character. Hotels in Port Campbell were almost fully booked; we finally got a two-story luxury duplex, naturally expensive at A$220. It had about 200+ square meters upstairs and downstairs, two balconies with views of the cliff — we were going to enjoy it. At dusk, we walked along Port Campbell's walkway to admire the sunset over the cliffs. In the evening, sipping hot tea on the balcony and stargazing was very pleasant. If you plan to come here, it's best to book in advance; a motel we later inquired about was already full for this month. In New Zealand, almost every small town has motels, very convenient; compared to Australia, the latter is clearly lacking.
April 15 Port Campbell - Bay of Islands - Loch Ard Gorge - 12 Apostles - Gibson Steps - Apollo Bay (130 km)
Worldwide, scenic spots or lookout signs are brown. We basically stopped at every one we saw. Today we spent the day looking at wind-eroded sea stacks, starting with 'aaah' and ending with 'mmhmm'. In the morning, we drove west along B100 to the furthest point, Bay of Islands. I personally liked this spot — you can see the entire cliff bay, with dozens of small islands and rock pillars scattered in the sea. There are two walking trails; you can go down to the beach. Then we headed east, passing countless lookouts. My personal favorite was Loch Ard Gorge — there are several walking trails showing wind-carved caves and sea pillars eroded into various shapes by wind and water; you can also go to the beach. The famous ship Loch Ard sank here, evidence of the treacherous terrain. It takes about 3-4 hours to walk all the trails, but it's well worth it. The most disappointing was the 12 Apostles — in my opinion, the worst of all the sights. Because of time, we went directly to Apollo Bay. After yesterday's scare, we immediately looked for a hotel and found that motels here had vacancies. Also, from Lavers Hill along C155, you can reach the Otway Fly Treetop Walk, which seems quite famous and likely charges a fee. We didn't have time, so we skipped it.
April 16 Apollo Bay - B100 - Mait's Rest - C157 - Cape Otway - B100 - Apollo Bay - Kennett River - Mt Defiance - Lorne - Aireys Inlet - Anglesea - Torquay (140 km)
Today we backtracked a bit. First we drove along B100 to Mait's Rest. This park has three walking trails, ranging from 40 minutes to 8 days. We chose the 40-minute one — a stroll through the rainforest. Morning sunlight filtered through the lush trees, scattering spots of light on the ground. It had rained the night before, so leaves were still hanging with raindrops. After coming out, we took C157 to the Otway Lighthouse. The scenery along the way was nice, but the attraction charged A$16.5 for entry, and there was nothing inside except the lighthouse. Not value for money. Later we saw the Aireys Inlet Lighthouse and thought it was better. Feeling a bit disappointed, we drove out. At the intersection of C157 and B100, suddenly a black kangaroo appeared. I braked immediately; the kangaroo nonchalantly crossed the road in front of us and disappeared into the bush. That cheered us up a lot — compensation for the lighthouse. Heading west along B100, we basically drove along the coast. We stopped at the Kennett River picnic area. There was a sign pointing to Grey Road; walking two minutes along it, we saw cute koalas in the trees — four sleeping, one eating, and one most adorable moving around on the grass, letting us take photos with it. After the Mt Defiance lookout and passing through Lorne, we reached the Aireys Inlet Lighthouse, which was better than the Otway one. At Anglesea, near the town, there was a sign for the golf club. We followed it to the parking lot and saw an old man practicing on the putting green, with a group of kangaroos eating grass and watching him — hilarious! We laughed heartily. After a while, the old man told us we could slowly and quietly approach the kangaroos and gently touch them, but we had to be very quiet. We slowly approached the kangaroos, but maybe they weren't used to seeing Asians. When we got close, they first looked at us warily, then suddenly all bolted away. The sight of a group of kangaroos running was spectacular. Then we drove to our motel in Torquay and checked in as the sun was setting.
April 17 Torquay - B100 - Geelong - M1 - Melbourne (100 km)
Woke up naturally, then slowly drove back to Melbourne. Originally I wanted to watch surfers on Torquay beach, but there was no one. In Melbourne, we drove around the coast; it was Saturday, crowded with people — dazzling. After checking in, we returned the car, then had a big meal at a Chinese restaurant. Went back to the hotel, slept a while, then woke up and went out to see the big yellow disc embedded in the ground in front of the Immigration Museum. In the evening, we went to Crown Entertainment to watch the fire display. We watched the 9pm show. The sight of several large pillars simultaneously shooting flames was spectacular; the fireball shapes looked like nuclear explosions. If you stood close, you could feel the heat. Probably because it was the weekend, there were many people. The girls were dressed in very short and revealing clothes, showing off their legs — some tan, some pale, some thick, some thin. Groups of guys would howl at girls. I got scared and hurried back to the hotel. By the way, this time we stayed at All Seasons Kingsgate, and the hotel was very noisy. The last night's sleep was bad. Tomorrow we go to Cairns.
