Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road - Nov/Dec 2025

 

 Day 6/50

Stupid fridge in my room makes the loudest groaning noises all night so I’m awake at 4am cause why not. Alarm at 5.

Packed and in the cab by 515.

Fiji Airport is small but absolutely beautiful. The premium lounge was like a garden of luxury with amazing fresh fruit and top-notch coffees.

Flight was delayed a bit and only 1/3 full as it was an Airbus A350/900! 66 rows of 3/3/3 - that’s almost 600 seats!!!

Once we got this behemoth off the ground, it was smooth sailing for 5 hours to Melbourne.

That’s when things went a little sideways. The fly-by-night car rental agency I used decided to completely cancel my Car Rental. Good luck finding an affordable car on a Friday. Thank God krista wasn’t here for these performances. I don’t think she would’ve dealt with this well, and also thankful for black Friday sales as I was able to wrangle one through Expedia. Not a very flashy sports car as I ended up with a beautiful Soccer Mom Honda CRV in Candy Apple Red!

After getting in the wrong side of the vehicle a couple of times and turning the windshield wipers on repeatedly instead of signaling, I was extremely thankful for having some experience on the left side of the road for the last two days on the motorbike.

There was a McDonald’s next to the car rental, so I popped in for a quick five dollar happy meal and was glad to be able to donate my children’s book to the Family at the next table with a beautiful little five-year-old girl.

I have an uncanny ability to land in major world cities on a Friday in the pouring rain and have to drive at least an hour to get to my accommodation lol.

After navigating a couple of M motorways, I snuck through the edge of downtown into the Olympics district and found my accommodation - The Georgian Inn Bed and Breakfast. Let’s go circa 1915 with a combined square footage of 75 ft.². (6x12) lol

Another reason to be thankful my wife isn’t here for this part of the adventure. 

Shared bathroom across the hallway. Hardly any room to park in the back lot. Several losers with their cars occupying two spaces.

Quick walk to Mad Patties - burger joint with great loaded fries. Sprinted quickly to the Aldi food store to get some aloe vera gel so that my sunburned legs wouldn’t ignite the bed while I slept.

Wandered through an area west of the Olympic grounds, where there was amazing Vietnamese food

Adults of all ages, from their 20s to their 50s, walking around in groups, stopping in at a pub for a pint and a visit. Reminded me so much of London in the summer.

17 hour day is long enough. We will see what kind of trouble we can get into in Melbourne tomorrow!

Day 7/50

Melbourne

430 am wake up again? Sheesh! Ok - research things to do for an hour before breakfast.

Stuck up a conversation with a bunch of Aussies from all over the country in the breakfast room. Good Lord, these accents are going to take a while to figure out.  The smaller the place someone is from, the different the accent and euphemisms are. Crocodile Dundee on steroids. 

Eggs, bacon, the consistent staple - beans on toast !! - and out the door for a major day of city hiking.

When I woke at 4:30 AM this morning, little did I know what God had in store for me today. Other than finding a Catholic Mass to attend on the first day of Advent, I had nary a plan.

With so many more daylight hours than what we have in Canada right now, before nightfall, I would have attended not one but two masses, one catholic and one Anglican, the parliament buildings, several museums, a protest march, thousands upon thousands of shoppers who thronged to downtown Melbourne for last minute Black Friday deals, dozens of stores new to me not seen in a North American setting, shopped at outdoor markets the size of 5 Costco’s combined, wandered through 15 parks and down kms of riverside paths, witnessed and participated first hand in the installation of an Anglican Archbishop, and put more than 28,000 steps on these old bones.

Ferris Bueller had nothing on me today as I went to all the places and saw/did all the things.

After attending the Catholic Advent Mass at St Patrick’s and walking about 20,000 steps already, I needed a break, so I thought I would pop in to St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, built 1899-1935. Having been to a few Anglican masses over the years with my friend KP and, most recently a glorious funeral in Calgary to honour my friend Richard’s father-in-law, I thought it would be great to see an actual Cathedral.

Little did I know that an installation of The Right Reverend Dr Ric Thorpe BSc, BTh, DMin

as Archbishop of Melbourne and Metropolitan of Victoria was happening right as I walked up the front steps.

Hundreds of onlookers with security preventing us all from attending as it was a ticketed event, sold out and over 1000 people packed the inside with a 60-person choir, multiple instruments and an even larger pipe organ than St Patrick’s.

I thought about dropping my friend KPs name to get me in, but my worldly charms worked well on the assistant head of security, who whisked me in a side door and found me a seat, as I was dressed rather well and prepared for any possibility of the event today.

90 minutes flew by with praises from across the country and England, where he and his wife/family came.

It was amazing when he came around the outskirts of the church during a lengthy musical portion so I could congratulate him personally, as the lineups afterwards had a thousand people in it.

The finale of Pipe Organ music was absolutely off the charts and something you might hear at Phantom of the Opera. I was moved to tears, thanked the organist, and had to pop over to visit the pianist/guitarist and 2 vocalists who led many parts of the mass outside the mass chorus.

It was the most remarkable event to be a part of, and I was so glad to be in the right place at the right time.

Great Ocean Road

Day 8/50

4am again? Seriously? Stupid brain.

Throw everything back in the suitcase and backpack and jump in the car, headed south to the Great Ocean Road between Torquay and Apollo Bay.

Definitely no traffic on the road, and got a nice head start.

Pulled over an hour down the road and got the Canadian special at the BP fuel stop - 50 cents off a litre and a free large latte! SCORE!

For the life of me, I couldn’t find my freaking reading glasses. I had used them in the car before I fueled up, and I turned the car upside down, looking for them, checked beside the fuel pump and every pocket I owned. They literally vanished.

Jumped back in the car to head south, and they were attached to the seatbelt hanging up in the air and dropped in my lap. It’s going to be one of those days.

Stops at a few viewpoints and beaches, followed by the Great Ocean Road Arch, Erskine Falls and the post office in Lorne.

The 333 steps down to Erskine Falls was a lot easier than the 333 back up. That’ll be enough cardio for the morning.

Back on the Great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay.

This is where the road puts you to the test. I liken it to a combination of the elevation of the Road to the Sun on the way to Kalispell, Montana, with the windy curves and the narrowness/potholes of the road to Hana in Hawaii. Throw in numerous tour buses, flying around curves and crossing the centerline in both directions and you’ve got yourself a nice little adventure.

Oh, did I mention it’s 9° with a 50 km an hour west wind and pouring rain off and on?

I’m starting to understand the hardiness of the Australians I know in Canada. Canadians are tough when it comes to winter experiences, but the Aussies have to deal with everything from super crazy heat to some crazy wind and cool temperatures with rain coming sideways off and on.

Food prices in this country are a little excessive. Thank goodness you don’t have to tip but trying to find anything for lunch under $25 is an actual challenge. Even a burger at McDonald’s is $15 and the Australian dollar is only a tiny bit weaker than the Canadian dollar. Most supper/dinners are $40-75. Grocery store sandwiches fit the bill for lunch and then spend a bit of money for supper.

Drove to a local rainforest and did a hike after the rain stopped. Drove to the local lighthouse and got in half price because you weren’t allowed to go up the lighthouse because of some severe wind damage last week. Toured around the area and took some pictures and video and visited the Scout group that was hiking the area.

Back in the car and a long drive to the 12 apostles national Park to take some pictures and video of rock formations in the ocean that are crumbling very quickly.

I think this might be the windiest place on earth I have ever been.

The waves crashing on the shore reminded me of videos of World War II in Normandy, whose beaches are on my bucket list to see.

I watched some helicopters takeoff and land, giving rather expensive tours of the area.

I drove into the tiny village of Port Campbell and located my backpackers hostel and settled in on the deck with a book and a glass of wine to relax after a very busy day.

After the three minute drive around town, I think the entire population with tourists may be under 300 so we will wander around and find a place to eat in a couple hours.

Day 9/50

Last night’s sleepover in a boarding room house in Port Campbell was an interesting experience. The last time I stayed in that kind of a setting was a hostel with my new wife Krista on our honeymoon in England in 1999.

Six rooms, some with bunkbeds some with doubles or queens, I shared the building with a couple 20 year-old girls, a couple 65 year-old guys and a couple 32 year-old gentlemen.

The conversation and dynamics over late night beverages was very entertaining. The young people stayed up late and slept in late. Us old farts went to bed early and got up early.

I was sleeping in beautifully around 4:30 AM quite pleased not to be up before the dawn when the alarm clock went off in the room beside me and the older fella made as much noise as humanly possible gathering himself together and getting out of the house 30 minutes later lol. God must have an amazing sense of humor.

Cup of tea and away I go shortly thereafter

I cannot spend any more money on overpriced pub/restaurant food. Hiked over to the grocery store and bought a banana and two pepperoni sticks for five dollars - breakfast of champions.

Hiked the Great Ocean Road National Park trails above Port Campbell and through the river valleys. No less than 60 wild little bunny rabbits running absolutely everywhere.

I inadvertently stumbled upon a very large, dark chocolate brown kangaroo that LEAPT OUT of the bushes to my right across the path and onto my left, a whopping 2 m in front of me.

Scared the absolute BeGeezus out of me!

They don’t look that big in the zoo. When they’re standing right in front of you, jumping up in the air, I can assure you, they are a lot bigger!

Headed back to the car to change out of my brown pants into a new pair lol before heading down the Great Ocean Road again.

Hopped in the car and down the highway for a couple hours stopping at every cool tourist rock formation in the ocean thingy place and took pictures and videos while visiting with the same 5 families as we all convoyed from place to place. Lol. Met some wonderful people.

Ended up in a tiny village, Nullawarre, the last at the end of the Great Ocean Road ( unless you’re coming from the other direction - and it’s the first! ) Had lunch with a few local farmers and talked crops/cattle/weather and wished I had another day to go be a farm boy here as it would be such an eye opening adventure.

Alas, back on the tiniest of back roads past thousands of sheep and even some barley/wheat/canola fields freshly cut. A couple barely paved C highways, then B, then A then eventually the M1 back into NW Melbourne.

I booked an Airbnb room for $45 near the airport as I have to take my rental car back early tomorrow before my flight.

What do I stumble on?

A COSTCO!!!! LET’S GO!!

I filled the car up to half full as the manager of the car rental agency threw in a free half tank of gas! Yay!

The Costco was extremely similar in most ways to those in North America with a few different brand names and a lot more noodles and fish than Calgary. I stumbled on new luggage 25% off, which I threw in the cart because my slightly damaged $20 Kijiji special from 10 years ago has been completely demolished from the last three flights!!! It is going in the garbage and I got more than my money’s worth out of it!

I also treated myself to a denim hoodie combination jacket thingy, because why not and I have never seen one before. 

I’ll make a completely separate post with all the photos from Costco that might be of interest.

I had a piece of pepperoni pizza with a lovely family from Melbourne. Mum was Muslim and from New Jersey and they moved here 20 years ago. We got caught up on all things North America and I got some good pointers for travelling over the next month.

Quick 30 minute drive over to my Airbnb. Super hot shower and free laundry services! #WINNING!

We’ll settle in and do a little cyber Monday shopping and hopefully to bed early.

Best end to the day? 20 minute FaceTime video chat with Jacob from the Caribbean. Best day ever.

Another great day in Australia!