Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road

From Perth we flew to Melbourne and got again fantastically welcomed by Nikki & Robin, the great fellows that we had the pleasure to meet in Galapagos last year. They took us for a tour to the South of Melbourne, close of Rosebud, where it was supposed to be a bit windy – means Steffen taught Robin a bit of flying the kite. And the good news is, as it is a bay, THERE ARE NO SHARKS there! Uhuu^^

The day after, we joined Michal and Lydie to Phillip Island, a peninsula at the South of Melbourne, for trying a bit of surfing

and see (from very far…) the Penguins.

Then we visited sunny Melbourne, its skyscraper, its river,

its rowers,

its Eiffel tower… (which, in fact, is the Spire of the Arts Centre),

and its Fed square (it is the Australian version of “Federation Square”, coming from the tendency to shorten loads of words!).

As well, loads of trendy, fanzy, cute places…

Many pieces of street art and funny graffiti, mostly around Little Bourke Street. We also learnt a lot about prisons, convicts, the gold rush, criminals and other exciting things!!

Of course, another good thing that Melbourne has to offer is its bars and restaurants. So we tasted good beers and wine at The Little Creatures bar in the Fitzroy neighbourhood. (We were feeling so good that we forgot to take good pictures  ;) )

Then it was time to leave for another road trip, with another hired van: the “Hippie Camper” brings us from Melbourne to Brisbane – about 2 000 kilometres further North – within 5 weeks.

So we started to drive on the very famous Great Ocean Road, ready to discover fantastic landscapes, beaches, animals…

… and other campervans (making Steffen jealous!). Here is a little overview of this impressive piece of the Australian Coast:

 

The beautiful Johanna Beach in the evening

and at sunrise.

some (alive) kangaroos,

some koalas at Cape Otway,

The 12 apostles (that are not 12 anymore!)

...and Port Campbell National Park.

More pictures of Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road here:

Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road