Melbourne Trip: The first few days

I am home from a week long trip to Melbourne.

It was great.

Originally I went down with Lise (a girl in my program who started in February, and is therefore done) but then a guy who graduated with Lise, Zac came and joined us too. So off we went to Melbourne.  Lise and I arrived Tuesday night and had to find a hostel (we thought we'd go on this vacation and not plan anything.....).
Once we arrived (after taking a bus, two trains, a plane and then a shuttle - not having a car SUCKS), we arrived at 11:30PM Tuesday night. Our first mission was to find a hostel (something to check off my bucket list).

Mission accomplished. We found the sketchiest place (well at least I thought that because I didn't know any different). We got a single, private dorm. This only meant that we didn't have to share our room with anyone else. But I was still feeling uneasy about it. haha We walked into the room and I nearly died. It was so small! After we settled, went to the loo and got ready for bed, I watched Lise get on the top bunk (yes, hostels have bunk beds) and I swear, if I didn't pee before this happened, I would have pee'd my pants. She literally got stuck between the bed and the wall.... the room was THAT small.

The next morning came quickly (we checked into the hostel around 12:30 AM). Off we went, walking around the town and then headed to St. Kilda (a cute little town near the water). Speaking of water, the water in Melbourne is GROSS. It reminded me of Lake Ontario. St. Kilda was great though. Small little shops- cozy and comfortable. They also had a botanical garden so we strolled around there. Then we booked into Traveller’s Motel – private room for the three of us – Zac was joining us today.

After he arrived we went for dinner at a local pizza place (stove oven). Afterwards, we went down to the Pier where Zac said we could see penguins come in from the water. We saw a couple but pictures were so hard to take (really though, we weren’t allowed to use flash because it would have hurt their eyes).

Then we planned for the next couple of days. We were to head to CBD (Central Melbourne) and rent a car and then travel to the Great Ocean Road, Penguin Island, and more.

Thursday:

Hertz Rental for a 12 o’clock pick up. We got hooked up with a Toyota Camry and it was very roomy – which was great because Zac was moving to Melbourne so he had his whole life with him.

Off we went to find the great ocean road… we made a lot of stops along the way. 

Torquay Surf Beach - Busiest beaches in Victoria.

Apollo Bay - here we stopped for dinner. We were being creative.... Here in Oz you can find BBQs at any beach (remember that BBQs here mean hot plates). So we went to IGA and bought some burgers and sausages and had a little barbie. BUT we needed something to flip the burgers with SO Zac looked around the store and found a FLY SWATTER - no lie. hahahahaha

And before I forget.... before we hit the road... we had to pick up a car... this is me DRIVING A CAR IN AUSTRALIA!  Booooooyah - check that off the bucket list :)

Then we stopped at a falls - they are everywhere in Oz. This place had two look outs... at the top and then the bottom. It was easy to walk down but going back up, that was a killer.

On route along the Great Ocean Road - which is a road ( you can see in the picture below), along the ocean. It's super windy and you're very close to the side of the cliff - I was nervous (a lot of the times - I wasn't driving).

 And finally, the 12 Apostles.

Followed by Lord Arch Gorge :

After this long and full-filling day, we headed to a town called Warranabool and stayed at a Caravan Park for the night (in a cabin).

Fri - Tues will be in a different blog :)