East Coast Australia Road Trip

This was a trip from a few years ago, but it was so unforgettable that I still want to document it. The entire trip was planned by my colleague, and since I’m terrible at driving, I couldn’t help anyway. In the end, I just became an obedient follower without making any demands...

In Australia, traffic drives on the left, so you need to get used to it. We had a few incidents like taking the wrong exit or driving in the wrong lane and scaring oncoming cars. The traffic rules are very different from those in China, with specific give-way rules. Everyone strictly follows them, otherwise accidents can easily happen.

Our route was: Gold Coast – Sydney – Canberra (the capital) – Melbourne – Great Ocean Road.

We flew from Gold Coast to Sydney because that leg was the longest and had no special sights along the way. Then we drove from Sydney all the way to the Great Ocean Road, and from the Great Ocean Road back to Canberra to fly home.

We were a group of six. We stayed in cottages or apartments along the way, and cooked ourselves when possible. We flew Singapore Airlines, with a layover in Singapore. The food was good and the flight attendants were beautiful. The ticket cost less than 3,000 RMB. During the layover, we shopped at the airport duty-free. The itinerary was Hong Kong to Gold Coast, and return from Melbourne to Hong Kong. The entire trip was 11 days, and the total cost was about 10,000 RMB.

In Gold Coast, we rented a house from a farmer and visited his farm.

The calves were so cute that my friend couldn't resist feeding them. The calf took the whole hand with the feed into its mouth, swallowed the feed little by little, then spat the hand out, leaving drool hanging on the hand... It looked really... interesting, so I didn't try it. The farm grew kiwifruit, and we also visited a workshop making kiwifruit jam. They gave us two jars of jam to eat with bread the next morning.

At the zoo, koalas – you could hold them for a photo for 20 or 30 Australian dollars.

The kangaroos at the zoo were so cute and could be petted freely. We often saw silly kangaroos standing by the roadside, and some that had been hit and turned into 'carpets'. But if you see kangaroos in the wild, don’t get close, or they might kick you flying.

Gold Coast

Gold Coast's beach is not very suitable for swimming – the waves are big and the water is cold.

We then flew to Sydney and visited the University of Sydney, Fisherman’s Wharf, Darling Harbour, and the Sydney Opera House.

What impressed me most about the University of Sydney were the handsome men and beautiful women, all with long legs.

The seafood at Fisherman’s Wharf was very fresh, but not cheap – converted to RMB, it was about the same as in China? The lady opening oysters was from Tahiti. She came to Australia on vacation, fell in love with her now-husband at first sight, and stayed. Tahiti... a dream destination.

We were lucky to encounter the annual Vivid Sydney festival.

Then we drove to Canberra. Canberra is the capital of Australia. Besides the Parliament House, there is also a shopping mall. The capital is that small... Basically, people who work in Canberra don’t live in Canberra... haha.

The itinerary in Canberra included the Parliament House and the Royal Australian Mint. At the Parliament House, we could hear the MPs engaging in a lively debate about the use of funds.

After that, we went to Melbourne to visit a friend, had dinner, and hit the road the next day to the famous Great Ocean Road.

The Great Ocean Road is scenic all the way, with many lookouts and small towns along the route. Because we were short on time, we only stopped for meals or at famous attractions like the Devil’s Elbow, London Bridge, and the Twelve Apostles.

At our first stop for lunch, it looked like a lake, but actually the beach was just a hundred meters away from the sea, and the water was salty.

All along the Great Ocean Road, the wind and waves were strong, and the water was ice-cold, so not suitable for swimming. But we saw many locals going in to surf.

At the Twelve Apostles, there was a helicopter ride, but it was too late – they were closing at 5 PM.

Loch Ard Gorge

There were silly alpacas; when we stopped the car, they just stood still and stared at us.

We passed through Great Otway National Park to see the rainforest and wild koalas.

The guy with the blue backpack is my colleague who brought me along. Although he often tricks me, I still thank him for taking me on this awesome trip.

At a koala hotspot, there was a koala relatively close to the ground. We parked behind another car and got out to watch the koala. Then the people in the car ahead got out, picked up stones and branches by the roadside, and threw them at the koala to try to knock it down. While they were laughing and talking, I heard Mandarin with a northeastern accent... My ex-boyfriend was from Harbin, so I’m pretty sure I didn’t mishear. No offense to any region – uncivilized behavior happens everywhere. At that moment, I felt a bit embarrassed as a Chinese person seeing this. My friend kept whistling and clapping to try to scare the koala away. We spoke Cantonese, and I guess those people recognized it, so they dropped their stuff and left...

In May, I was still wearing a coat, but the surfers were not afraid of the cold.

London Bridge – it used to be connected at this point. When it collapsed, there were two tourists on it. Luckily, they were on the outer edge and didn’t fall into the sea; they were later rescued by helicopter.

Below are penguin footprints.

Finally, we ended the trip at Chemist Warehouse in Melbourne, shopping until we almost missed our flight. We arrived at the airport just one hour before takeoff, but everything went smoothly and we boarded on time...