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.
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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.
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
