Australia: Part III of V

*mattinindonesia.blogspot.com is now over 5,000 pageviews. I am truly grateful and humbled by all the people interested in my time abroad. Thank you so much for all the love and support. You are the reason that I wake up every day when my alarm goes off at 4:35am. I do it all for my fans...and the troops.

When: 29 December – 31 December

Where: Melbourne/Great Ocean Road

When we got to Melbourne on the morning of the 29^th, our first task was to get the rental car. We rented a car for this section of our trip too because we wanted to check out the wineries on the outskirts of Melbourne and, more importantly, Great Ocean Road.

About an hour northeast of downtown Melbourne is the Yarra Valley region. There are a ton of wineries here and we wanted to check a few of them out.

The first one we stopped at was Panton Hill Vineyard.

This was a very small vineyard and we got to chat one-on-one with the owner/operator while tasting some of his wines. The guy was super nice. He answered more detailed questions about running a winery (from Nate) and more entry-level questions (from me).

The guy had lived quite a life and he was a lot of fun to talk to. His products were great, as well. He had this tool that acted like a filter to pour the wine into each glass. He makes and sells them and they help instantly air out the wine (pictured below). I could definitely tell a difference between the wine poured through it and the wine that wasn't.

He had some really tasty wines as well as a couple special liquors that he makes. Apparently the magical number on the liquors is 18%. He explained why, but I didn’t understand. All I know is that one of them tasted just like honey and was awesome.

We stopped on the main road in the Yarra Valley region to grab some lunch. After lunch, we went to a massive winery that was the complete opposite of the family-run Panton Hill Vineyard. This place was Domaine Chandon. It was huge. It had amazing views (pictured below). It was busy.

It wasn’t a very personal feel, but their wines tasted good (I am no connoisseur so they all tasted pretty good). They were the only winery of the 3 that charged for tasting.

The third winery we visited was Oakridge Winery. This winery was a cross between the first two. It was a decent-sized operation, but it wasn’t too busy and the guy who led our tasting was super nice and informative. After our tasting, we hung out on their property for a while and just chilled.

Our next move was to head back into the heart of Melbourne and check in at our hostel in St. Kilda (really close to downtown Melbourne). But before we got back on the highway we decided to check out Yarra Valley Dairy to do some cheese tasting. Some of the cheeses were just okay, but one in particular, that I’ve forgotten, was fantastic. The place was about to close and they were kind of hurrying everyone along, but it was worth the stop.

We then drove back into the city and checked in at the hostel. This hostel was quite large and had everything we needed. We got there for “Happy Hour” and each tried a Victoria Bitter which is one of the more heavily-advertised beers in Australia. Awful. Just terrible.

The two of us then went walking the streets and headed into the main dining area that was close to our hostel. There were tons of options (anything, really: Mexican, American, Italian, etc.). We settled on Indian*.

*I have become a huge fan of Indian food since moving out here. I don’t think I had ever really had Indian food before coming to Asia. Anyways, it’s awesome. If I find an Indian chick who loves KU basketball and can cook—game over.

I had the chicken tava. It was amazing. We then walked off dinner and stumbled upon this liquor store, 600 Beers.

They have over 600 types of beers to choose from, including…

Those loyal readers of mattinindonesia.blogspot.com remember back to the Dale’s Pale Ale reference from my Colorado trip with Ian and Chance from last summer. Fantastic beer. Can’t get it in Lawrence, KS but you can get it in Melbourne. smh

****

The next two days were set aside to travel the Great Ocean Road. South Australia (Adelaide’s state) and Victoria (Melbourne’s state) both have some incredible coastline. The drive was absolutely gorgeous and was the first time I had really taken a road trip for the purpose of the road trip instead of the destination.

No road trip is complete without munchies, so I grabbed a bag of gummies as we filled up with petrol*. Nate got to experience what a sweet-tooth I have and how much I love sugar. This particular bag of gummies had some very unique shapes (pictured below).

*Gas is called petrol in Asia/Australia.

(probably the strangest edible gummy I've ever seen)

One of the most prevalent observations from Nate and I was how blue the water was. We live a few hundred meters from the water in Jakarta, but it is nothing compared to the water/beauty of Australia*.

*It’s kind of a shame I live in Jakarta. Indonesia is a beautiful country, but I am stuck in the polluted capital. Oh well. I have vacation time.

There were several self-described “hippie towns” on the drive. We stopped in at Apollo Bay for lunch. The towns seemed lovely. We saw a lot of surfers in these towns and some massive homes built high in the hills overlooking the beach. I don’t know if I would want to live in one of these towns. Great Ocean Road is a two-lane road and the traffic got pretty backed up when we got near each of the towns.

The only purchase that was made at 600 Beers was Nate buying a quadrupel beer from Belgium for us to share. It was fantastic. Very tasty. We didn't have a place to keep it cold on the drive, so we found a nice place on the beach at Cape Otway to stick the bottle for half an hour to get cold (pictured below).

The main attraction at Cape Otway is a lighthouse. We drove to the lighthouse and started to walk through the gift shop to go see it. I knew that there was a fee to go see the lighthouse because I heard a dad in the parking lot say, "I don't see what we had to pay for. It was just a lighthouse." Nate and I tried to just walk through like we owned the place. After getting through the doorway a guy said that we needed to pay. I turned to Nate and said, "I heard some guy say that is was just a lighthouse and it wasn't worth it." The employee said, "Well, he didn't do it right." As if there is more than one way to do a lighthouse...

The main feature on the drive is the 12 Apostles. The 12 Apostles is this formation of large rocks that are just off the shore. We looked up and were told several variations of the name, but according to the informational plaques at the scenic lookout there are a total of 12 “rocks.” Of these 12, 9 were visible. Two of these have fallen into the ocean: one in the 1990s and one in the 2000s if I remember correctly. That leaves 7 standing “rocks” that are pretty cool. We got there around 6pm, so our lighting wasn't ideal. It was still quite the sight.

There was a lot of advertising for helicopter rides to get a bird’s-eye view of the 12 Apostles. I think we saw 3 different locations that were selling rides and a total of 6 helicopters.

Great Ocean Road was mostly scenic from the car and beach until the 12 Apostles area. Once there, there were a ton of scenic outlooks for varying formations that you would have to walk a few minutes to see.

After the 12 Apostles there is a main highway that leads back to Melbourne. It cuts through the mainland and there is no shoreline to be seen. A lot of people take this road and head on back.

We decided to keep on going. We had read online that there are more scenic areas further down the road and that they were worth checking out. I’m glad we did.

My personal favorite was a place called the Bay of Martyrs. I think this place was just as pretty as the 12 Apostles. It probably isn’t as famous because they are more spread out, not directly on the shore, and are a little bigger. We got to see the sunset there and it was gorgeous.

The next thing we wanted to do was find a place to crash for the night. We drove another 40-some kilometers into the city of Warrnambool.

We got into the city around 9:30pm and we were worried that we might be spending another night in our rental car. Thankfully, we stopped at a little bar to see if their kitchen was open (it wasn’t) and if they knew of any place we could crash for the night. The bartender used to work at a hotel and was able to reserve a room for us. It was really cheap for Aussie prices, so we should have known what we were getting ourselves into. If you can picture a hotel where you fully understand that there is a roughly 20% of you getting stabbed in the middle of the night, that is it (pictured below).

After dropping our bags, we headed out to see if anything other than McDonald's (with all-due respect, and I'm sayin with all-due respect, to MickeyDs) was open. We found an Italian place called Bambino by Bojangles. It was a pretty cool environment and we were both drawn to the pizzas on the menu. I got the half Aussie (ham, egg, onion) and half Meat (just tons of meat).

I thought it was fantastic. Nate not as much, but who cares what Nate thinks. It was great.

We then went back to the hotel and hoped to wake up in the morning.

****

I had one of the strangest dreams of my life that night. I still vividly remember it. I was with Nate, Barack Obama (in his college years), Andrew Luck, and an old friend from Alvamar. We were hanging out in what I can only describe as a fancy 1950s hotel that had gone to crap that was located in Jakarta. We were all hanging out and I was having a conversation with Andrew Luck (he's a great guy; you should hang out with him sometime). Anyway, my old friend from Alvamar starts throwing herself at Luck. Just over the top. The entire time I was thinking, why is she all over Luck? Nate is right over there (as if Nate ever has a chance with a chick against Andrew Luck - sorry, bro it's the truth). I then remember looking out from our suite and seeing that there was this massive green blog with eyes standing in the doorway. Everyone kind of froze and waited to see what would happen. After a tense few seconds, the blob moved on. We were spared that night. Strange dream.

The only thing we had planned on New Year’s Eve was to get back to Melbourne with enough time to explore the downtown area before ringing in the new year.

Our plan was to head back to the 12 Apostles and take a few more pictures*. We got in the car and started our trek back to Great Ocean Road.

*This was convenient because the 12 Apostles is really close to the main highway that you can catch running straight back to Melbourne. I also wanted to get a few more pictures with the sun up earlier in the day to help with shadows.

Before leaving Warrnambool, we headed to the whale nursery. The nursery is located at Logan’s Beach (pictured below).

Apparently if you are there in their winter months (our traditional summer months), you can routinely spot whales off the coast. We didn’t get to see any, but the beach looked lovely. I don’t see how it was a nursery, though. Isn’t a nursery a place where they take in animals and care for them? This was just a beach. Not sure they are doing anything for the whales, but I could be wrong.

Between Warrnambool and Great Ocean Road was a place called Cheese World (pictured below).

We had to check it out. They had a museum that featured all kinds of old equipment used to run a cheese farm. The highlight, for me, was the food. We got to taste 10 different kinds of cheese for free that were very tasty (pictured below).

After that, we decided to get a milkshake. Nate and I both love a good milkshake and this place did not disappoint. I ordered a caramel and chocolate thickshake*. Nate, always trying to be like me, got the same.

*We asked what the difference was between a “milkshake” and a “thickshake.” The lady said, “A milkshake has 2 scoops of ice cream and a thickshake has heaps of ice cream.” There was no decision to be made.

Nate pointed out that each of those thickshakes probably had a day’s worth of calories. He probably wasn’t too far off. They were incredible, though.

On the way back to the 12 Apostles, we stopped at some random sites on Great Ocean Road.

(Nate would randomly take selfies instead of taking my picture; he thought he was hilarious)

Next stop was the 12 Apostles. It was still there.

The drive back was uneventful.

We found a spot in downtown Melbourne to park overnight for $12 AUD. That was by far the cheapest we saw. The downtown area seemed lovely; we didn’t get to see too much, though.

After walking around for a while and buying an Aussie flag at a souvenir shop, we found a bar with tons of beer that was showing ESPN. Can.

(shortly after arriving, the large screen with ESPN was replaced by live music)

This place had tons of beers on tap and we continued our adventures with the Australian local brews. A list of the different beers consumed by Nate and I on NYE:

Terry’s Colonial Ale (me)

Young and Jackson’s Naked Ale (Nate)

Feral Hop Hog (me; my favorite beer of the trip)

Dog Bolter Dark Lager (Nate)

Moon Boy Golden Ale (me)

Vale Ale (me)

These were not their regular sized beers, either. It was NYE. We figured, go big or…well, we were still 9,000-some miles from home so that doesn’t work…it was NYE. We just went big, okay?

After enjoying ourselves and failing to understand multiple descriptions of cricket from a Scotsman and Aussie, we went to go find some grub. We found a Mexican place that had, as Nate put it, “probably the best Mexican food we will have until next summer.” Both of us have tried the Mexican food in Jakarta and it was nowhere near this place in Melbourne. No Carlos O’ Kelly’s, but it was good.

Dinner finished around 10:15pm. We were both still pretty sauced (waddup DD) at this point.

Out of respect for both Nate and I, the time period from 10:15pm-4:30am has been deleted from the record book. Whatever did/did not happen during that time is up to the imagination.

Here are a few images from NYE in Melbourne: