Melbourne 2014. Chapter 3: The Great Ocean Road

Let's take a moment to think about what is named Great. The Great Barrier Reef, Alexander the Great, the Great... Outdoors? Ok, that's a rubbish list. Want to know what's not rubbish? I'll tell you. The Great Ocean Road, that's what. Welcome to the meat of the series. The meatballs of a meatball sandwich. The chicken slices and croutons in a Caesar salad. The shirtless Jacob scenes in Twilight.... no, wait. Ah, welcome to Chapter 3.

Well it is called a road, and roads are meant to be driven on. This one's called the Great Ocean Road for a reason. Well firstly it runs alongside an Ocean, and secondly, it truly is Great. The Great Ocean Road runs for 243 kilometres along the south-eastern coast of Australia and is listed as an Australian National Heritage. On one side you have an ocean that spans as far as the eye can see, and on the other side you have endless green mountain ranges that evoke images from Lord of the Rings and Jurassic Park.

Zoom in for Hobbits and Dinosaurs.

The actual route and road seems like something the God of Driving (is there one?) painted onto this part of the world. If you enjoy driving and road trips in general, this is the road for you. As soon as my trusty GPS had enough of trying to find me the most remote country roads and actually spat me back out onto the Great Ocean Road, the view forced an audible "Whoa" out of my mouth. Because the mountainside winds in and out, you can see the road span out in front of you, snaking it's way down the coast and every time you get to one of these bends, you're treated to a panoramic view of the Ocean.

With a more agile car, better driving conditions and a bit more bollocks, you would have quite an adrenaline rush pinging round the bends. That is, until you inevitably run into a tourist like myself slowing down to admire the view. It takes absolutely nothing away from the drive though, no matter what speed you're going at.

The first town I passed on the Great Ocean Road was Lorne, which is a nice little seaside town mainly geared towards tourists. A few kilometres later, I ended up in Apollo Bay, the nearest town to A Room with a View. From a tourists' point of view, Apollo Bay is just one main street with the beach on one side, and a row of shops on the other. There are a few surf clothing shops, one provisions shop, a food court, a few other restaurants, and a few hotels. Apart from walking on the beach and the greenery that surrounds the area, I recommend checking out Dooley's Ice Cream and Apollo Bay Seafood Restaurant. Dooley's boasts Multi-award winning home-made ice creams including the 2013 Champion of the Australian Grand Dairy Awards. I had the honey malt flavour and the richness and creaminess of it was truly something to behold. There's also something about eating ice cream in cold weather that seems to appeal to us Asians. Apollo Bay Seafood meanwhile, like most of the seafood joints here, has fresh selections of all kinds of seafood done whichever way you want. I have never seen such a confusing array of options when ordering  Fish & Chips.

Apollo Bay Greenery.

Having passed through Apollo Bay, the 2 remaining items on my itinerary were the 12 Apostles, and the Cape Otway Lighthouse. You have a choice to make here. Either shoot straight ahead to the 12 Apostles and go to Cape Otway on the way back, or follow the natural flow and stop by Cape Otway first. I chose the first option and almost regretted it, I will tell you why later. The road from Apollo Bay to the 12 Apostles though, which is in Port Campbell, makes for a slight change of scenery compared to the earlier driving. It is still single lane driving and lots of bends, but the scenery changes to a lot more greenery as you progress inland.

A few broken speed limits and a lot of dangerous picture-taking whilst driving later, I reached the 12 Apostles. Let me get this straight out of the way. I have no idea if there really are 12, although I will trust the name and assume there are. There are nice walkways built to enjoy the view of the Apostles and Melbourne's weather reared it's head here. I had about 10 minutes of lovely sunshine for pictures and then it immediately began to rain quite heavily. 10 minutes later, the sun was out again. Fickle.

The 12 Apostles though, are amazing and truly a sight to behold. The sheer scale of them, with the ferocious ocean waves lapping at their feet make for majestic viewing. If it was not raining, and there were less tourists, I would have gladly taken a seat and just watched the waves attempt to bring them down for quite awhile, taking in the mix of crisp autumn air and salty ocean breeze. Right next to the 12 Apostles is the Gibson Steps. Here, you actually get to walk down onto the beach and marvel at the cliffs from the bottom. Not as popular as the 12 Apostles, but if you are there, I would highly recommend making a quick stop at the Gibson Steps as well, if only for a different perspective. They say a picture speaks a thousand words. Well if that were true, we wouldn't need blogs, just our Facebook albums. But anyway, enjoy some pictures of the 12 Apostles.

Taken from Gibsons Steps.

Remember how I said earlier I almost regretted not dropping by Cape Otway first? It is because the one thing that changes as quickly as the weather is the light. At 5, it was very quickly getting very dark and I found out that the Lightstation actually closes at 5. The attendant very kindly allowed me as the last guest in for the day and gave me tips on how to get to the Lightstation as quickly as possible. Do take note you have to pay a small entrance fee.

I was lucky to have just made it in time to see the Lightstation. Interesting things like the fact that it is made without any cement and all blocks are hand crafted really casts back to a time before mass production and robots. At the top, I met the lightstation master who indulged me in some small talk before allowing me out onto the viewing deck. Here, you get a true 360 degree view and I know I have used this word a little too much but it is breathtaking. You are treated to a view of the deep blue of the ocean contrasted against the vivid green of the untouched nature surroundings. I had time to snap a few pictures and within 15 minutes I was back in my car. Hopefully I didn't cause too much of a delay in closing up shop for the staff there.

After all that, my final adventure was driving back to A Room with a View. It was close to 6pm, and like I showed in the previous chapter, it is pitch black without any street lights. Add the pressure of massive SUVs blowing past you and flashing their lights, I was lucky that the sweat from my palms did not make more a flood.

So there you go, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else in between, that is my experience of the Great Ocean Road in a nutshell. There are a few more sights to see if you have a bit more time and venture further but that was all the time I had and what a great one it was. I went back, jumped in the bubble bath and prepared for the next days' 4 hour drive back to Melbourne City, which will be another massive post for the next chapter.

For more pictures, feel free to visit my Facebook album here. Alternatively, Google+ has a great “story” feature which looks great, here. And finally, I will be making a short compilation video of the pictures which will hopefully be coming soon.

As always, if you have any feedback, or just want to say hi, drop me a comment. Thank you for all the encouraging feedback I have received so far, it is all truly appreciated. Stay tuned, keep calm, and I will see you in the next one.

Melbourne 2014. Chapter 2: A Room With A View

A room with a view. That's exactly what it is. Using a description as the name of your lodge is quite a bold idea I must say, and not something many places can do successfully. I imagine if Marina Bay Sands were to adopt that approach, it would be called, A Casino and Queues and Tune Hotel would be A room with a bed (and not much else). Not exactly names marketing think tanks are raving about, I dare say. But nevermind that, A Room With A View completely justifies the name and what a view it is. In this chapter, I will be reviewing the B&B in which I stayed for 2 peaceful nights, away from the hustle and bustle of the city life that I have grown so accustomed to.

Like many Bed & Breakfast style lodges in the area, A Room with a View does not do much marketing online to garner interest or anything like that. You don't see ads on tripadvisor screaming for you to book for a cheap rate in the next 2 hours only! Nope. In fact, if you don't specifically go looking for it, it's not an easy place to book. Word of mouth I suppose is their main form of marketing and that's how I heard about the place as well.

Booking it online is pretty easy. It's all done the old school way so back and forth emails with the very friendly and helpful Angelika, who owns and runs the place. There's something a little quaint about a place that doesn't have credit card facilities and so payment options are either cash, or wire transfer. A small fee can be placed through paypal to secure your reservation.

Driving up to the place is another matter. From the main road up to A Room with a View is a 2km single lane unmarked road with no barriers and more cutbacks than the Malaysian Government. Believe me, driving up this road any time after 5.30pm (when it gets dark) is like watching a penalty shootout where the losing team will be executed. Intense and sphincter clenching the whole way.

Like this, but winding and without markings.

Let me get you a pair of new pants.

Once you do get there though, it is a nice small place and Gary Millar bounds up smiling to meet you as you exit your car. A strong handshake later, the keys are in your hands and the 2-storey suite is yours. No pre-auth, no let's see some ID, no this is how you adjust the temperature or anything of that sort. It's refreshing. You have a small compendium basically just stating the basic rules and some additional information about the place, and a form to order the next morning's breakfast.

Step through the doors and boom, my jaw hits the floor and stays there for a good 2 minutes. This is why this place is called A Room with a View. Simply stunning and majestic. I can honestly say I have never stayed anywhere that has a view that rivals anything close to it. Lush green rolling hills (which you just drove up) all the way down to the ocean which then stretches as far as the eye can see. If you are as lucky as I was, you can wake up to a sunny day with double rainbows and all kinds of birds chirping just outside the window. Even if this were just a shack and a roof, the view alone would more than justify staying here (well not quite, but you get my point).

Some say there is still a dent on that floor today.

There's so much more than just that though, and I'll continue to the facilities. The 2-storey suite comes with an outdoor patio to have your breakfast on with the birds if you so wish to do so. My favourite part though, is that it comes with a 2-person jacuzzi and bath foam to go with it. Fantastic and perfect for a romantic getaway or a honeymoon. 2 things it does not come with is a toothbrush, and wifi. Gentle reminder then to bring a toothbrush with you, because I did not, and let's just leave it there and move on to the lack of wifi. This is an absolute blessing. No wifi and a very very weak phone signal means you are completely disconnected from the world and truly in a bubble (no pun intended) of your own. If you have not tried this, I suggest you do so. The freedom you feel is refreshing and for the first time in a long time, the lack of distraction from the constant social media updates actually gave me time to listen to my own thoughts.

Being so secluded also means I experienced some of the best sleep I have had in a long time. All you hear is the distant wish wash of waves and then soft bird chirps in the morning. It is absolutely pitch black as well. Once you turn off the lights, on a moonless night you can hardly make out your own hand if you put it in front of your face. Look up outdoors and the sky is filled to the brim with stars, something we city folks probably don't see or appreciate too often.

My hand. And no, this is not just a black square from MS Paint.

Last but not least, is food. Breakfast was complimentary during my 2 night stay which was very kind of Gary. Chocolate croissants, scones and butter croissants with jam and marmalade. Latte and orange juice. I almost took a bite out of my screen just typing that. Some of the best croissants I've ever eaten and it's all home made by Gary himself as well. Sublime.

Apart from breakfast though, there really is nothing to eat anywhere close by. The only option is to take a 15 minute drive to Apollo Bay which has quite a few restaurants on it's main street. The food there is pretty good, but that's for the next chapter.

If you're travelling to the Great Ocean Road and have plans to spend a couple of nights there, I really cannot recommend A Room with A View highly enough. Hit up Gary and Angelika Millar and unplug from the world for a few days. Your body and mind will thank you for it.

Again, there is a lot more to come in the next few chapters and this is just the beginning. The rest of the Great Ocean Road, the Twelve Apostles, and Melbourne City are just some of the highlights that will be coming soon so stay tuned. If you missed the first chapter, feel free to read it here.

For more pictures, feel free to visit my Facebook album here. Alternatively, Google+ has a great “story” feature which looks great, here. And finally, I will be making a short compilation video of the pictures which will hopefully be coming soon.

As always, if you have any feedback, or just want to say hi, drop me a comment. Thanks a bunch for reading, I hope you have enjoyed it so far. Come back for the next few chapters.

Links for the services I used:

A Room with A View

Melbourne 2014. Chapter 1: Ah Uh Uh Uh Uh

They say travel is food for the soul. A few months back, my soul had an impulse craving for some Australian flavours. The trip was actually originally planned as a romantic getaway (no, that’s not what the chapter title refers to) to the Great Ocean Road for 6 days to escape the hustle and bustle of Singapore city. Unfortunately, due to complications at the very last minute, it seemed I would be flying solo on this one. Therefore, some adjustments were made and I would only be spending 2 nights at the Great Ocean Road and the remaining 3 nights in Melbourne City.

Over the next few posts, I will detail my short journey to the state of Victoria which I hope you will find entertaining and maybe even helpful if you’re planning to go there.

I thought it would be nice to have a picture that said Welcome to Melbourne,
but I don't. So here's a picture of the road to Geelong.

What’s a great trip without a few trials and tribulations along the way right? Mine started off with an absolute showstopper of one that threatened to derail the entire holiday before it even began. Well, now that I think back on it, there were actually a few.

Would've been nice to have a picture
of the aircraft. I don't though, here's
one from the inside.

Firstly, I had booked my flight tickets with Malaysia Airlines just before they had announced their record losses and MH370 went missing. I had my fingers crossed for 3 months or so, hoping they wouldn’t close up shop. Thank the heavens they did not (well, that should actually be thank the government, but we’ll let that pass), and both the flight to KL from Singapore and subsequently to Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne was without fuss and I arrived at about 6am.

Upon touching down, I was in for a huge shock. Now, to get to the Great Ocean Road, there is really no way but to drive. I booked my car early on through Discovery Car Hire who were great. When I showed up at Europcar, my car was there and we went through the obligatory registration process. Just as the attendant was about to hand me the keys, she informed me they would need a card for payment as expected. What I did not expect though, was that they only take credit cards with embossed numbers on the front. I only carry debit cards. Item number 1 on my itinerary was immediately in jeopardy. *cue dramatic music*

The lady at Europcar though was helpful enough and pointed me over to Redspot (another car rental company), and they accept debit cards. You know the feeling when, with the scores tied in a basketball game and a buzzer beater shot goes and the ball is circling around the rim? Well it was not quite as dramatic, but that’s how I felt waiting for the card pre-authorisation to go through the machine. It went through, the crowd cheered (crowd of 1) with relief, and I picked up my Nissan Almeira; Nissan’s equivalent to the Toyota Vios. I paid more for it compared to a Volkswagen Golf. However, at least I had a mode of transport now and finally started off on my journey out of the city.

If you close your eyes and think hard enough, it morphs into a Golf.

After a quick breakfast of the local cultural cuisine (hey, it’s the world’s local restaurant no?), I moved onto the highway and begun what was an almost 4 hour drive to the Great Ocean Road.

Started off sunny enough.

As always, GPS systems seem to know best, and like a local tour guide, my outdated Tomtom system decided to show me the scenic side of Victoria. For some reason, even though many a time big signboards said to keep going to get to the Great Ocean Road, it told me to turn off. For some other reason, I decided to trust it all the way and I went down many country B-Roads, often the only car in sight. This was great fun though, beautiful views that would not have been seen from the Highway and more relaxed (I’m assuming here) speed limits.

Not quite sure what happens when you break down.

Melbourne is apparently known to have 4 seasons in a day and she appeared as eager as an amateur poker player to show me her hand. The day started off gloomy in the morning, and over the next 3 hours of driving, it went from rain showers, to full blown storm, to impenetrably thick fog, and back to rain showers.

All in all, driving in Australia is very easy. They drive on the left, same as in Malaysia and Singapore, and if you are considering renting a car, I would say go right ahead. There are no tricky rules or anything and all signs are marked very clearly. The 4 hour drive to the Great Ocean Road was surprisingly alright, and once you get there it all pays off and I was immediately refreshed. Stunning stunning scenery and easily the best roads I have driven on. That will be in the next chapters though, so stay tuned.

More of this to come in Chapter 2

For more pictures, feel free to visit my Facebook album here. Alternatively, Google+ has a great “story” feature which looks great, here. And finally, I will be making a short compilation video of the pictures which will hopefully be coming soon.

As always, if you have any feedback, or just want to say hi, drop me a comment. Thanks a bunch for reading, I hope you have enjoyed it so far. Come back for the next few chapters.

Links for the services I used:

Discovery Car Hire

Relish by Wildrocket

Relish. Defined by Google as great enjoyment, or to enjoy greatly. Interesting name to another nice little cafe here in Serangoon. One of the few places that I frequent within walking distance of my house, Relish is not quite the typical Cafe. The look and feel of the place (which I'll touch on in awhile) definitely seems like a trendy place to get your coffee and chill but there's quite a bit more to this place.

What sets Relish apart from your standard Starbucks' or other Coffee houses, is that apart from a good selection of drinks, they actually specialise in burgers and a few other staple foods you would normally find in full fledged restaurants. I suppose judging by the trend here in Singapore this is where Cafes in general are heading. A fusion of coffee houses of old and proper sit down meals.

The one I've been to is located in myVillage at Serangoon Gardens, a mini mall of sorts which houses a few other interesting shops. When you step in to Relish, you're greeted by a minimalist open space approach with white washed walls which seem the trend du jour. The decor is very easy on the eye, wide open spaces with a lot of natural light from the floor to ceiling glass windows and spartan single tone furniture. It's in almost direct contrast to the established Coffee houses which traditionally have lots of dark wood and dark colours to evoke that sense of cosiness. I'm not saying this place is not comfortable, but it's definitely a different type.


Moving on to the food, there are definitely some interesting burgers on the menu. One I tried was the chilli soft shell crab burger. I have to say this is the first time I've ever even heard of something like this and interesting is definitely the ideal word. The crab itself wasn't the best I've eaten but the chilli sauce was great. Very different. I've also tried their green curry seafood, which I must say was very good. A little spicy for some perhaps but I enjoyed it.

As usual, I had a Latte and it was decent. Nothing to write home about but good enough to satisfy my caffeine fix. One thing I would touch on is the opening hours of the place. On weekdays, the lunch seating times are only from 12pm to 3pm. I'm not sure about elsewhere but here this seems to be the norm which is a bit of a down point seeing as it's not so suitable for brunch. I do believe the hours are longer on weekends. Just to quickly touch on the pricing, it's not cheap but I would say you will get what you pay for. Expect the standard 20 - 30 dollars for your meal which I found totally appropriate.

Rycommendation: Good burgers, good environment, pretty good coffee. There's something for everyone for a quiet meal outside the city centre. Worth a visit.

Relish Gardens 
1 Maju Avenue, #02-07
My Village, Serangoon Garden. 
Singapore 556679

Relish by Wild Rocket
501, Bukit Timah Road
#02-01, Cluny Court.
Singapore 259760

http://www.wildrocket.com.sg/relish.htm