Day 9: 14th October 2006, Saturday

ROADTRIP - DAY 5 END OF ROADTRIP

Cloudy.

We attended the morning mass where Fr. Jude introduced us to the small congregation present. After that, which was 20mins later, he kindly drove us to the local train station where we caught the city-bound train.

In the City. Queen Victoria Market.

It was about 1/2hr ride so, by the time we reached there, it was already approaching 11am. We headed straight for the Queen Victoria Market by taking a tram there.

Signage at the side of the market, along Queen St.

The facade of the market facing Victoria St.

The Queen Victoria Market is a huge market, somewhat alike to Geylang Seri Wet Market but bigger, neater and definitely drier. We spent quite a bit of time there, browsing the products on sale, especially in the clothes and souvenirs section, but not much of the fresh produce and delicatessen sections. I spent alot of money today, getting souvenirs and nougats, and on top of it, the train ticket cost $9.70 for the whole day.

We had lunch seated in a back alley of the market, eating a slice of pizza each as we all had no idea what to eat. Sian... And I bet Juls would like it. -.-" We took a tram and stopped somewhere near David Jones, where we went to look at the yummy cakes and sweets in their food section. Did I mention that David Jones is like our Marks and Spencer? We then hopped onto another tram and went up the road as Mum wanted to visit what she thought was a church, as we saw the spires of a building, which we later found out to be the old Melbourne Goal, where Ned Kelly was hanged. Shivers...

The State Parliament House

I have no idea where this is but I just realized that the palm tree is right in the middle of the photo. Waha!

St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral. Opposite Flinders Street Station.

The dome of Flinders Street station.

Going back to Hoppers at the wrong platform.

We took the train back to Hoppers but not without another adventrue. Someone saw the platform number for the Werribee line to be on platform 10. So we waited there for almost 1/2hr. Enough of the waiting for we suspected something was amiss as we where the only few people on the platform, we went back into the main building where we saw on the screen the correct platform number for the Weribee line. We then went down to a very crowded platform 5 and waited for another 10mins. The train ride back took longer than the city-bound trip. When we finally arrived at Hoppers Crossing Station, it was already 5mins to 6, and Fr. Jude had to do mass at 6. So how was he going to pick us up as planned? Well, he did not and we found our own way back by taking a very empty bus. As Godma said, "Our own personalised bus." The driver of Service #436 was very nice to stop at a little junction that turned out onto Derrimut Rd. We got off there and had a short walk to the church. How lonely. And so thus, for this trip, we travelled in a car, a vehicular ferry, a train, a tram and an aeroplane. All we had left was a helicoptor ride.

Day 8: 13th October 2006, Friday

ROADTRIP - DAY 4

Sunny with cold winds.

Was up at 6.45am. Gasp!!! Yeah. That early and the time back home was 4.45am. Well, I was quite "zombie-fied" at such an hour. Had a cold breakfast of crumpets, toast and tea due to my lateness. By the time it was eight in the morning, we were already hitting the road for The 12 Apostles.

Stop 1 - Loch Ard Gorge.

We got there at about 9.20am. Spent half hour there taking photos, learning some geography and history at the same time.

Loch Ard Gorge. Makes me wonder how the coast of Australia really looked like thousands of years ago.

The power of the waves... Erosion.

Stop 2 - Port Campbell.

After Loch Ard Gorge, we headed further east to Port Campbell for our morning tea.

Stop 3 - The 12 Apostles.

We had to return the same way we came as Aunt Kathy missed the sign for The 12 Apostles. She said that after so many years, she could not regconised the place. Well, it was evident the local state government quite recently pumped mone to spruce up Victoria's famous tourist attraction, with the likes of a proper graveled car and coach parking area, an underground pass to cross to the coast from the vehicle parking lot, and a visitors' centre-like place housing toilets. Anyway, we spent more time there taking photos and getting ourselves frozen by both the chilly coastal winds and approaching mists.

The sign says it all.

No longer 12... Just about 8 or 9 left standing.

Stacks and stumps. Where are the arches? Gone with the wind, and sea.

Stop 4 - Geelong.

We had tunch down at a beach in Geelong. Stayed for a short while, just to stretch our legs. By the way, after the coastal winds, I was asleep for most of the way enroute to Geelong. Yoohoo!!! Mr Humphryes!!! Where are you??? LOL. :)

Stop 5 - Hoppers Crossing

From Geelong, we went on to Werribee which is another town that is located very near to Melbourne City. We were there looking for a plae to stay till sunday morning but ended up visiting another of Mum's friends, Mrs. P's son, who happens to be a Catholic priest. Fr. Jude,of St. James the Apostle at Hoppers Crossing, was a very friendly man, the male version of his sister, Lou. Looked like it really did run in the family. Anyway, we had a nice time sitting there around the main dining table, having tea and cakes. Mum, Aunt Kathy and Fr. Jude were trading stories, while Godma and I were successfully picking the pieces of their very interesting tales in order to understand what happened. He then drove us to visit a group of youths, the New Evangelical Team (NET), who were in the area helping his parish. After a short while talking to these youths who had already decided on dedicating their youth to God in this form of evangelising, he drove us around looking for a motel or some place where we could stay. When we finally found one, there was not a vacancy left! Fr. Jude then realised that he could actually let us stay with him at the parish rectory since he was the only one there! Viola! Done. So, all 4 of us were staying in a parish rectory which was one of the things I had done for the first time. Amazing. Anyway, Fr. Jude had to meet the same group of NET youths for dinner, thus, leaving us alone. We then drove out to the supermarket to get some food before having dinner at Fasta Pasta, a slightly pricy version of our Pasta Mania.

Yawn...

Day 7: 12th October, 2006, Thursday.

ROADTRIP - DAY 3

Hot, sunny and windy.

Stop 1 - Anglesea Golf Link

We were on the Great Ocean Road from Barwon Heads and saw many wonderful views of the coast. We tried getting a glimse of the kangaroos at the Anglesea Golf Link but to no avail. Those natives were probably asleep or hopping around elsewhere. By the way, I was feeling sick. Most likely due to the heat in the car.

Stop 2 - Some Caravan Park

After that, we went on and saw koalas sleeping in the trees at a caravan park. It was fun yet fustrating spotting those bears but they were worth it.
Welcome to I-have-no-idea-what-is-the-name-of-this-place Caravan Park. Let's play the Spot the Koala Game!!! Yayyyyy...!!!

Ahhh... There is that elusive koala... This is not a very pretty sight...

Found one nearer to the ground. Sleeping away while hugging his/her tree. And this is also one of my favourite photos. Hee.

Stop 3 - At a road near a famous lighthouse.
Yup. Some lighthouse as seen from the side of a road.

Stop 4 - The 'Seafarers' Motel

We got ourselves a place to stay for the night by the time it was noon. It was a nice "little" place just along the Great Ocean Road, with a view facing the ocean. The highway separated the motel and the ocean. Deja vu, anyone? Price: AUD150/night for 4 persons. Worth it.

Stop 5 - A little town further up the highway from the motel.

We went in to town for lunch, which was quite expensive, probably because it was a tourist place. LOL! How ironic. I, too, was a tourist there. Blah.

Stop 6 - Marriners Falls.

Because of the very few signs leading to Marriners Falls, we asked a lady who was with her children at the picnic spot there for help. She told us to go further up the road, which we did. We got to the carpark and trekked the rest of the way. Yes! We trekked 3.4km there and back. And I was wearing my flip-flops. It took us half hour to get to the waterfalls, which was quite a small one yet old and lovely. The place was serenely quiet. The kind of peaceful that made you want to shut up and absorb the quietness. The water was cold and clear. The return walk took about 20mins, 10 minuets faster than the going to. On the way back, we literally experienced two distinctly different zones. One second we were in the oh-so-nice coolness of the forest, the next second we back in the heat of the day. What a change! It was as if Nature was telling us, "Alright. Enough of the coolness and the quietness for you. Back to your civilization!"
Welcome to Marriners Falls. Please get your footwear off as we prepare for a waddle in the wa... Oh! They are alreadying so.

Ahhh... Another of my fave photos. One of calmness and peace. Nature in progress. Looks like a scene from Jurassic Park.

The water falls... rapidly.

Another photo reminding us there is such a place call Nature that is not in the City.

Stop 7 - The same town we were in earlier on.

We went grocery shopping after that.

Final stop for the day - The 'Seafarers' Motel

Mum and Godma are now preparting dinner and I want to go down to the beach. Did I mention that it is just across the road?

A very blurry photo of the town we were at in the afternoon. The waves crashing onto the shore can be made out through the quickly setting of the sun. Part of the tail-light from a passing vehicle can be seen. Taken from the veranda of our motel room.

Day 6: 11th October 2006, Wednesday.

ROAD TRIP - DAY 2.

Sunny and windy. 29 deg. celcius.

1st stop - Just across the road...

The motel that we stayed for the night.

Mum and Godma sitting on the verandah just outside our double-double-bed room. Aunt Kathy's humble Honda to the left of the photo.

It so happens that the motel is situated just across a road/highway from the sea.

Welcome to Kilcunda East.

A sight like this is very common. What? The bridge? Oh... I was talking about how the sea/ocean is separated from the inland creek by a sand dune. As for the bridge, it is very old.

Look at those waves!!! Woosh...!!! Surf's up, mate!

2nd stop - Somewhere in the Mornington Peninsular. Had lunch at a Chinese restaurant.

3rd stop - On the way to Sorrento. Some beach in some place which is famous for Spider, a drink, not the eight-legged one. School kids would come down to this beach after school to play, or sun bath, with or without their school uniforms on.

Beach boxes at some beach on our way to Sorrento. Damn colourful and picturesque. This is one of my favourite photos taken on this trip.

4th stop - At the ferry pier.

Ahh... The vehicular ferry that took us from Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsular to Queenscliff, which is on the other side of the bay.

Sun set taken on the ferry's top deck. That explains the unequal-ness between sky, sea and the horizon.

5th and final stop - Barwon Heads. A few more kilometres from Queenscliff where we found lodging for the night. A refurnished penthouse with a bathtub-spa thing. Unfortunately, I was too lazy to try it out, but the adults did. Price: AUD165/night.

Just by looking at this photo, anyone can tell that there's quite a lot of space on this level. Nice... 2 twin-bed bedrooms. A separate toilet and bathroom. Large common area, comprising the dinning area and kitchen.

Lights out!

Day 5: 10th October 2006, Tuesday.

ROAD TRIP - DAY 1.

Sunny, warm and cloudless. Perfect for our roadtrip.

I finally got up at about 8 and packed. We were off at 10.15a.m.

Stop 1 - Yarragon. Wanted to get something there but the shops were closed due to the electricity company changing the power lines, or something like that. On the road again after taking some photos.

Do you see the right hand side of the photo? There they were changing the power lines. So different from the ones at home, where all power and telecommunications lines are beneath the ground.

Stop 2 - Toilet stop. Another town further down where we stopped to use the toilet at a McDonald's outlet. Went walking around the area before heading back to the car.

Stop 3 - Some wildlife "sanctuary(???)" which is famous for their live giant earthworms. Did not enter their exhibit but took photos of their painted walls and bought something from their gift shop.

Oh! As you can see it here for yourselves, I could not help not taking a photo of the natives themselves, all in a line, hard at work mowing the lawn. LOL!!!

Stop 4 - San Remo. Had bread and ham for lunch there before crossing the bridge into Phillip Island for a spin.

The bridge is called Fish Freeway. Rather, it is the entire stretch leading in and out of Phillip Is.

Stop 5 - Phillip Is. Did not watch the penguin parade as the tickets were quite expensive. Instead, we went to look at seals. Unfortunately, the sun was setting in the backdrop and we could not spot a single seal. Check out the photos.

Entrance to the Penguin Parade at dusk, where the penguins will come walking onto the beach from the sea after a hard day's work of fishing. And people actually pay money to watch those flightless birds walking in together. !!!

Yup. Seal viewing. With another native standing on top of the board (left-hand corner).












With the setting of the sun in the background, how on earth was I supposed to spot the seals???

Stop 6 - San Remo (again). We had the freshest fish and chips for dinner, while standing up, at a fish shop. The place sells fish by day and take-away food by night. That was why we were standing up; there were not many chairs around and it was freakinglly cold outside.

Stop 7 - Motel room, somewhere in Kilcunda. We are all now sitting infront of the telly in a motel and warming ourselves at the same time with the provided heater, after having our very refreshing baths. Right then. I had best turn in. Night! By the way, the price for the room (2 queen-size beds and attached bathroom) after bargaining, is AUD80. Boy, am I glad to sleep on a bed again. :) Haha!

Photo of the motel's sign taken the next morning before we continued with our roadtrip.

Stay tuned for the second installment of my Victoria State ROADTRIP.

Day 4: 9th October 2006, Monday.

(con't from previous post)

Cold. Lousy weather.

We spent the morning doing the laundry. After we had hung out the first lot of clothing, it drizzled! Had to quickly rush out and bring them in. The rain went away quite soon, and the sun was out to play. Ridiculous weather... All the clothes were out in the sun till the time we were about to go out. So, left them infront of the heater. We had bread and ham for lunch before going out to visit another of Mum's friend, Nina, Mrs. P's daughter. Had tea there in her big house with her husband. The view of the mountains from her living room was amazig. She also have some amazing flowers. After that, we stopped by the supermarket to get some things to take home, like canned clams for clam chowder!!! :)

We had a short stopover for dinner at Aunt Kathy's place (we had bread again, but with omelette this time round) before making two more visits. The first one was to our hostess' cousin's place as Aunt Kathy wanted to tell her personally that she would be heading out of town the next day. The next one was a long "journey" to the next town of Traralgon to visit another of Mum's friend, Nina's sister, Lou. We nearly got ourselves lost on the way there. The residential estate was huge and all the houses there were big, with big lawns. The street Lou lived on was without any street sign, thus we were very nearly lost, but thank God Aunt Kathy remembered how to get there since her first/last trip. There, we met Lou's daughter, Jessica, who is my age. The adults had a ball sitting there reminising and laughing. I laughed along as the stories told were really funny. Finally got back at about 11pm and went to sleep at 12.20am.