We decided to switch it up a bit and get out of the city for Day Four. I signed us up for a tour along the Great Ocean Road, a famously long and pretty highway built by return WWI soldiers in remembrance of those who fought. We were a little disappointed when we loaded onto a 24-seater “mini-bus,” as the tour had been listed as a small group tour, and 24 people isn’t exactly a small group! But that’s what I get for booking a cheap tour instead of one I knew would have a smaller van! We were also comparing our guide, Craig, to our amazing Daintree guide, Adrian, and those are big shoes to fill. He ended up doing a decent job in the end, but we didn’t really chat with any of the other passengers.
We made a quick stop for morning tea and coffee, and then we stopped at the memorial arch for the highway before wandering down to the beach.
I wanted to dip my toes into the water, so The Boy kindly gave me a piggy back all the way to the van. That got us some cute comments.
The drive after this was long and curvy. Every time we rounded a corner, we’d get another beautiful view of whatever type of beach or river lay around the bend.
Our next stop was a wildlife reserve, and we were given a pair of binoculars to go kangaroo and koala hunting. We found a couple kangaroos up on the hill, but we could only really peep at them through the binoculars. Still cute!
Then we wandered over to where the koalas might be, and instead, we were greeted by a parrot feeding frenzy.
They were adorable, and so colorful! There were little seeds on the trees they were sitting in, and all you had to do was put a couple in your hand to get one to land on you. Sometimes we got more than one at once!
Bahahahaha. I wondered if they felt gipped when they realized the thing we were feeding them was exactly what they could have grabbed themselves from their trees…. Oh well!
With little time to spare, we walked along the path for a little while and spotted a snoozing koala up in a eucalyptus tree! Soooooooo sweet.
I don’t know how he was even balancing on that tiny branch. Gah. Too stinking cute.
For lunch, we stopped in a beach town. Jonathan had one of the bakery’s famous scallop pies, and I had some stir fry noodles. Both were quite yummy. We topped off our meal with guava (so good!) and raspberry ice cream at the town’s heavily decorated (with awards) ice cream shop. They even sold Vegemite flavored ice cream, but none of the group was brave enough to try it.
We ran off to the beach to peek at the water, and then it was back on the bus.
Our next stop was Melba Gully, a little area of the temperate rain forest along the coast. It was so different than the tropical Daintree Rainforest up north. Nice and cool, and there seemed to only be four different kinds of plants – eucalyptus trees, a shorter tree variety, some mosses and things, and these super tall ferns.
I’m used to seeing ferns grow straight on the ground, so it was strange to see them with tree trunks underneath them! All to help get the leaves closer to the light. It had a strange effect, and it made me want to bounce along the tops of them like little video game springs.
A nice little hike, indeed. After a short trip on the bus again, a thick fog descended, and it stuck around for our next stop: the Twelve Apostles.
The cliffs we were standing on are made of sandstone, and after thousands of years of harsh ocean wind and waves, these interesting sandstone formations and pillars have formed. We should have been able to see eight of them from our vantage point, but only one was visible through the fog!
Haha. Oh well. I still thought it was very cool.
As we boarded the bus, our guide said, “So, I usually tell people, ‘If you thought that was good, Loch Ard is even better!’ Well, that’s still true, so let’s go!”
He was definitely right. This is another area just up the road whose cliffs have been formed by the wind and the sea. Instead of stone pillars though, longer stretches of standalone stone and several reaching fingers have formed. It was the sight of a gruesome shipwreck in the late 1800s on a day when the fog was thicker than this day.
We were allowed to wander by ourselves, so our first sighting was a formation named Razorback – a long, skinny sandstone formation. Aptly named.
Then we went up to the viewing platform for where the shipwreck occurred, but we couldn’t see the offending cliffs through the fog.
The coolest part though, was down on the beach between two of the sandstone fingers. The opening to this inlet was very narrow, but then it bubbled out again once inside.
There were gnarly caves and crazy stalactites dripping down! The colors were beautiful, and the fog made it seem otherworldly.
It also felt good to finally put our rain jackets on so that packing piece didn’t feel like a waste.
I was so reluctant to leave this cool place, but we had already begun a habit of being the last ones of the bus, and this time was no exception. Jonathan also had to do another piggy back for me…. Tehehehehe.
Our drive along the coast was finished, and we turned inland for the less scenic drive back to Melbourne. We passed lots of cow pastures, though, and I kept remarking at all the different breeds of cows. In the US, we only ever seem to see the standard white cows with big black splotches, because this breed of cow produces the most milk. Pffff. I’ve been drinking un-homogenized, full-cream milk here (up to 4% milk fat instead of America’s 3.25%), and my appreciation for milk had forever changed. That cream on the top, plus the extra creaminess below, is life altering! I may have to switch to Jersey milk when I get home….
We stopped at a literally nothing town to grab dinner, and we decided to not even buy food. We were still holding together well from lunch, and the options in this town were KFC, Subway, McDonald’s, and a bunch of closed clothing stores. The town was seriously rundown! It made me curious how little of anything else there is on this stretch of road if all the tour groups choose this place for a food stop.
Overall, the guide grew on me, and even though we didn’t get to bond with any of our group mates, we really loved the stops. Still a great tour, and we topped off the night with another bout of climbing. Too tired to swim, though!
For breakfast on our last full day in Melbourne, we popped down the street for a super yummy smoothie and acai bowl.
We had a few hours free before our big plans for the day, and Jonathan wanted to spend them at the zoo. I had other plans, but was too enticed in the end. It was a good decision to join him!
Right when we arrived, we got to see the two lion brothers eat some lunch. The keepers brought out full animals for them, but we couldn’t tell what they were. All the moms around us were telling their kids they were chickens, but they definitely weren’t. The strange thing was that the keepers also poured some blood near the animals. I guess to help the lions find the food??
We also got to see some cute little gummy frogs, a giraffe, and lots of pretty birds.
Some favorites at the end were wombats (too cute!), the butterfly house, and the elephants!
We also saw a koala just hanging out in one of the eucalyptus trees along one of the zoo walking paths, not even in an exhibit! So wonderful! And surprisingly, it was on the move. Right as we found him, he began climbing up and down and getting situated before snuggling in for more sleep. Way too cute. He was all tucked into the leaves, though, so I don’t really have any good pictures to show.
And then, really crunched for time, we unwillingly left the zoo and ran across town for the main event of the day – HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD. AAAAAAAAHHHHH.
I’ve been wanting and trying to see this show for so long, but it’s always so expensive or sold out, or I don’t have enough time in the city to commit to two full shows. Five days in Melbourne and really reasonable ticket prices lined up perfectly for us to see the show with great seats!
I did mess up pretty big, though, in that I mistakenly remembered Part 1 as having a 2:30 start time. We rushed from the zoo in an Uber to arrive at the theater at 2:25, plenty of time to spare, only to be shuffled to the door and told by the usher that we had to wait a bit to be let in since the show had started already. Jonathan was very confused, but I immediately realised what had happened. The show actually started at 2pm, and we were arriving half an hour late. Ugh.
Luckily, the parts we missed were easy to sort out, and now we have a date planned to read through that part of the script. Thank goodness it’s published!
The show really was magical though, in the truest sense of the word. The props, blocking, and lighting were really out of this world. I don’t know how they did some of the effects! And even some of the simpler things were just done so beautifully – the moving staircases, talking portraits, and spells were all so realistic. It was like watching the movie effects right in front of our eyes. At intermission, we were gushing with amazement. We ran out of the theater for a snack and got back hastily to our seats.
We left the first show with the same amount of amazement, and we were also excitedly trying to work out the plot of Part 2. We had nearly three hours until the second part started, so I actually got to fulfill my original plans for the morning. Melbourne is famous for its “laneways,” or alleys that have fun shops and interesting street art, so I wanted to explore those.
Right away, we found some black sesame ice cream – one of my favorites. I also got to try durian (stinky fruit!) ice cream. I wasn’t a fan, but it wasn’t as horrible as some people say it is.
Then we found a super cute laneway lined with restaurants, and we stopped at one advertising paella and $5 sangria. Mmmmm.
We somehow managed to run into a free walking tour after dinner, so we surreptitiously followed them and got to see lots of cool spots.
As we made our way back to the theater, we found a crazy giant H&M that I just had to investigate. It was so glamorous! No pictures though, because it’s still just an H&M…. Haha.
And then it was back to the theater for Part 2. Gosh, I really can’t say much about the play without spoiling anything, but I can’t recommend it enough. If you are a Harry Potter fan and ever have the time and opportunity to see this show, don’t hesitate! I honestly am anxious to try to see it again!
The show was a wonderful way to wrap our extended stay in Melbourne, and we topped off the night with one last quick swim just before the pool closed. After this lovely stay in the second biggest city in the country, we were off to a very, very different place. More on that to come.
Until then….
Venlig hilsen/ cheers,
-Lizzy-wa