Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Crikey Escape Down Under - Part 3 - Great Ocean Road Day Tour - first take

This entry is long overdue. The whole Melbourne experience was way back in May, but the excitement and fresh air are still lingering as if it just happened yesterday. Before I had gone there, I asked a few friends who studied in Australia on which places of interest should I visit in the land down under. Apparently, there are a whole of lot of places need to be visited. Compliment to that, the internet also provides innumerable reviews, pictures and experience of other travelers, which really put me in a predicament. Time was short and the money is way too limited. In fact, the visit to the Melbourne Visitor Center confirmed and further enhance my predicament. There are simply too many exciting places to be visited in Australia, particularly in Victoria, the state where Melbourne is the capital city.
 
We had two days for rambu ramba and there were 3 options - Great Ocean Road (a scenic tour), Philip Island (a wild life experience) or lazying around Melbourne town. Out of 3 people, finally Mr. X and me chose the first 2 activities. We had to forgo the scheming around town kind of experience. This was because we had a brief tour around town using the town hop on hop off bus. What a loss, but we still needed to choose. Perhaps next time.
 
During the journey, here were the activities:
 
Bell's Beach - visit to the surfer's paradise, among the very famous spot in Australia for surfers, where Patrick Swayze and Keanu rode the waves in one of the movies (forgot the title laaa). The toilet was very nicely painted, featuring the native's art. Toilet pun cantik ramai org amik gambo....we should really try that in Malaysia. What do you think?
 
Reserves on natural rock formation along the road - stopped by at a lighthouse, picnic beach, breakfast, lunch all overseeing such a breathtaking view of the ocean.
 
Rainforest walk - Otway rainforest, tall trees, with shrubs, should be a tropical kind of forest, but so nice. Very unlike our jungle.
 
Koala Center - besides seeing them in nature, also got parrots and ducks in the wild. They'd come to you when you offer that special food. Very tame.
 
Twelve Apostles - natural landslide and limestone phenomena along the coast, ciptaan Yang Maha Hebat.
 
London Bridge, Lord Arch Gorge and the Wreck - among the unique names given to some of the stops along the way, correspond to their shapes, histories and phenomena. 
 
I truly had a great time along this journey. We shared a mini bus with 2 Americans, 2 Dutch, 1 Korean lady, 2 Japanese and 6 other Malaysian visitors. The tour guide was awesome

No comments: