Melbourne in 2 days…

Day 1…. nothing planned, but we want to see something of Melbourne to take away as a memory… what to do? A bike tour. So we found Freddys Bike Tours, just over the Yarra River and booked ourselves into his 4.5 hour Best Bits of Melbourne trip. Nothing stands out, just a very well put together guided tour around central Melbourne with some good stories along the way. Interesting to see Cook’s Cottage (Capt. James Cook, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook) in the middle of Fitzroy Gardens, apparently shipped brick by brick from Yorkshire in England, however it was his parents house, not his! And we stopped at a wonderful, very boho, cafe for lunch in Fitzroy, Grub… hummus, falafels, avo, sourdough… very hipster 🙂 Anyway, on with the story…

Day 2…. and the Great Ocean Road. This road was built by soldiers returning from the First World War, as a memorial to those soldiers who had lost their lives in the War… as such it is the worlds largest war memorial. A 13 hour trip from Melbourne, down the Ocean Road to the 12 Apostles and Port Campbell. A beautiful day, blue sky, sun, and ‘only’ 28C. Starting at the little seaside town of Torquay, HQ of Ripcurl and Quicksilver, and yes, the surf was great, we travelled about 100 miles along the road. On the way visiting Waits Rest, up in the rainforest, for a walk amongst the giant eucalyptus trees and tree ferns. And then to the highlight of the day, the 12 Apostles, of which there only appears to be 9. These are sea stacks just off the coast, washed by seas that have come all the way from Antarctica. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Ocean_Road

Two wonderful days in Melbourne, but now to Tasmania, the jewel in the Southern Ocean…