The Great Ocean Road and the Grampians

I joined the cheapest backpacker tour I could find, with $10 discount because it's low season. =) The 3 day tour cost me AUD 185 excluding accommodation.

It was quite a diverse group. We had 13 people on the tour excluding our guide- Eddie. 5 of the girls/women are travelling on their own including me (others from UK, Israel, Germany). (Travelling solo is good because you can meet all these people, if you're travelling with your friends in a group, you don't have much chance to talk to these other people.) There were a Japanese couple (the Japanese woman wore leather shoes even for hiking!! No heels but still...), a Canadian couple, two Australian women, and one couple whose wife got sick along the way.

Personally I prefer to see more culture and history in my travels, so I can't imagine spending months in Australia the way many of them in the group did.

We started out early, leaving Melbourne for the Great Ocean Road. The highlight of the day, of course, was the sunset at the Twelve Apostles (there are only 10 left actually, I wonder if they're going to change the name, haha!).









And we can see penguins on the beach after sunset! Can you see them??


A close up view


The next morning we went to see the London Bridge, it has fallen down a few years ago, I think they shouldn't have named it the London Bridge in the first place... haha!!



And when it broke, two people got trapped, and after they got rescued, they were interviewed by the press, and subsequently the man and the woman got divorced, not from each other, but from their respective wife and husband. =P

Then we head over to the Grampians.

Mackenzie Fall


Jaw of Death


Does it look like I'm jumping??


We all loved the place we stayed in, it was so warm and cozy with the fire burning in the living room.


The next morning, we started our hike up to the Pinnacle.




This is the Pinnacle


Grand Canyon of the Grampians


Then we walked down to Halls Gap and had our lunch surrounded by kangaroos.


There were even kangaroo babies in the afternoon near the Brambuk Cultural Centre. So cute, both the baby and the mother bent down at the same time! =)


For more photos, click here

Great Ocean Road & the Grampians 3 day tour (Australia 2008)

Sovereign Hill

It's a lot cheaper to go to Sovereign Hill on your own from Melbourne instead of joining any tour company.

First get to the Southern Cross Station and take the train to Ballarat (9:08am for Mom-Sat, 9:28 for Sunday), and when you arrive, a special Goldrush special bus will take you directly to Sovereign Hill.

This is the Southern Cross Station at Melbourne


On arrival at Sovereign Hill, if you show them your train ticket, you can get a 10% discount on the entry price to Sovereign Hill and a free Cobb and Co Coach ride.


So, what is Sovereign Hill?? It is basically an outdoor museum. You can see what an early gold digging area looked like. There are costumed guides all around.

You can even pan for gold there!! Initially I thought there aren't any gold in the river, but look what the guide found.

Can you see the gold???


I like the Chinese immigrant area


These posters look so old and authentic...


And the bowling saloon!!


And the shops, I especially love the printing shop and the apothecary shop.

The apothecary shop


You can give an anaesthesia with these drugs... haha!!






And there is a doctor's office inside with a bloody apron and the surgical equipment.


The print shop


I bought these for souvenirs

They're so funny!! You can click on the picture and magnify it to read the words.

Again, for more photos, click here.

Sovereign Hill (Australia 2008)

Philip Island

Hundreds of tourists went to Philip Island for the penguins every night.

I joined the Bunyip Tours, It's the CHEAPEST one I can find on the internet. It's just AUD 99. Remember to look for coupons in the booklets when you get to Melbourne, I got AUD $10 off my Philip Island day trip from a coupon in this booklet. My trip to Philip Island just cost me $89 with the Bunyip Tours. HAHA!!

Also according to the Tour Company website, it is a very environmentally friendly company, it has balanced its carbon footprint and use recycled paper for their brochures!! Join their tour the next time you go to Philip Island!!

I've joined their tour at the company office at Flinders Street.



There are 3 more Chinese girls on the tour apart from me, one is from China, one is from Hong Kong (these first two are working as nurses at Brisbane) and one is from Taiwan. haha!! The Taiwanese girl is on working holiday visa, and I learnt a lot about working holiday visa from her, she has quite bad English, so I talked in my poor Putonghua... =P HAHA!!

Apart from the penguins, we also went to a wildlife reserve to see kangaroos, wombats, Tasmanian devils, and a winery along the way before going to Philip Island.

After arriving at Philip Island, we went to Woolamai Beach...


The Nobbies, Philip Island, where you're supposed to be able to see fur seals in the islands really far away if you use binoculars...



As at the Summerland beach viewing area, we cannot take any photos of the penguins. Our guide told us to search for them under the board walk at the Nobbies, and we found them!!!





Be careful when you get the Summerland beach for penguins if you're driving


This is how the penguins look...


For more photos from the Philip Island,

Philip Island (Australia 2008)

Melbourne- How to save money and how to get around?

From Melbourne Tullamarine airport, you can get to many hotels/hostels easily. You can take Skybus to Southern Cross Station. And then they have a shuttle bus that can take you to anywhere in town.

This kind of thing is only possible in a place like Melbourne, imagine this in Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok Airport, it's simply impossible... (I know there are hotel shuttle buses for Airport Express, but these are like regular bus services, not like in Melbourne, where you get off the Skybus and tell them where you want to go at the bus station, then the shuttle bus will take you there...)



Stay at someplace near the CBD, and use the free city circle tram and shuttle, then you can save money. =P I stayed just on the other side of the Yarra River.



I don't think there're a lot to see in Melbourne. I just used one day, and it was a Sunday! I bought the Sunday Saver Metcard!! haha!! At first my plan is to buy a weekly ticket, but then I realised I can reach most of the places I need to go on foot... the tickets are so expensive, minimum AUD 3.5 for 2 hours!!!

Remember to look for coupons in the booklets, I got AUD $10 off my Philip Island day trip from a coupon in this booklet. My trip to Philip Island just cost me $89 with the Bunyip Tours.



I think the best thing about Melbourne is the views along the Yarra River to the Federation Square from the Casino at night time...



















Believe it or not, I took all the photos on a Sunday night at the city centre... I can't imagine so few people in Hong Kong on a Sunday night at Tsim Sha Tsui... I can set up the tripod and do whatever I want, there were almost no one in the streets... unbelievable...

For more photos I took in Melbourne, see here (I've uploaded more photos here than on my Facebook)

Melbourne (Australia 2008)

This blog is re-opened!

Since I have passed my exams, this blog is re-opened!! =)

Taken at college in the night we all passed. We got there late because St. Kilda Road tram was partially shut down due to maintenance... We need to change bus and then back to trams...


If you want to go to the college, this is the stop for the tram... lucky we meet some fellow Australian candidates... even when the guy told us to get off the tram one stop before, this is the right stop.



HAHAHA!!! So happy because I don't need to study anymore!!

Melbourne trip plan

Finally passed my HK exam, going to Melbourne on Wednesday night, and I will stay behind for a bit after the exam. Here's my trip plan.

28/5 (Wed) Hong Kong--> Melbourne
29/5 (Thurs) Arrive in Melbourne, settle down
30/5 (Fri) Try studying
31/5 (Sat) Exam (am +pm), waiting for results...
1/6 (Sun) See if I can find a church for morning service, sightseeing around Melbourne
2/6 (Mon) Phillip Island Day Trip
3/6 (Tues) Sovereign Hill Day Trip
4-6/6 (Wed-Fri) Great Ocean Road & Grampians 3 Day Tour
7/6 (Sat) Melbourne back to HK

Sichuan Earthquake

For more of my thoughts, go to my other blog.