1st July – Monday
An early start, Sheilina kindly dropped us all the way to the airport, luckily at 4am there is not any traffic, so we got there quickly. After saying bye at the drop off area, Bhavni and I dropped our bags off and chilled until the flight which was just before 7am. I had most of the breakfast which included vegetarian sausages.
With the time difference we arrived in Melbourne just before 9am local time. The airport customs was something else; it felt like we were entering china, with a queue of mostly Chinese people, signs in Chinese and people on the phone disregarding the signs said no phones allowed.
So i got my passport checked just fine, but for Bhavni, the person behind the desk said that immigration would like to have a word with her…. so we went to immigration who stated asking what she was doing and what her flight out was, Bhavni turned to me and asked for the itinerary (which is when he released i was with her), he took one look at the itinerary and then left us through. This Bhavni looks way to conspicuous….
After that fiasco and the dog sniffing in the convict line, we finally made it out. I had pre-booked the sky bus to the hotel, which took us to the central bus garage in the city before another bus took us to the hotel – Causeway 353. This was actually quite a good little business hotel, right in the city centre on Little Collins Street.
They gave us a room right away, not a view, but i did not expect one and frankly it did not bother us in the least. After freshening up, we made our way down – it had just gone 12 and we were hungry – right outside the hotel there were lots of small eateries and we got some filled bagels. While we were eating it became lunch time for the businesses, it became really busy, so we had picked a good time.
After eating we walked to Federation Square, just a couple of blocks away. Its quite a big area and there were performers all around the edges. It was fun noticing that Bhavni and I were walking around in tshirts, whilst everyone else were in sweaters and coats. We went to the tourist information at the square and got a few leaflets and ideas, before catching a tram for a few stops. That was a bit crazy as the tram was really full and uncomfortable, but a least we could say we took a tram in Melbourne.
We got off at near the Immigration museum – it was near 3pm and we went inside and had a wonder until closing time at 5pm. From there we went for a walk around the south bank area of the city and back across to the hotel before getting ready for dinner (after getting a local sim).
We had arranged to meat Priya – a friend of Bhavnis – in the city near one of the casinos not far from the south bank, about a 15 minute walk away. Priya had been in Melbourne for quite a while and really loved it. Meeting with her we decided to walk through south bank to a restaurant. We picked an Italian restaurant; the food was quite nice – gnocchi – though the waitress was in quite a bad mood.
I was feeling quite sleepy by the end of the meal, so after dinner we went to the train station so Priya could go home before returning to the hotel.
2nd July
Making it a early start, we woke and went to breakfast (included), which was a reasonable buffet, before venturing out. We caught the free bus to the closet point near Queen Victoria Market, were we wondered around for a while. There were lots and lots for fruit and vegetable vendors, so Bhavni and I bought some fruit – mostly satsumas, bananas and apples. There were quite a few random shops around but nothing that stood out.
From there we walked to the Melbourne museum. We starred to wonder around our selves but luckily a tour was starting just then which we joined. The guide was quite good and took us for a quick overview of all the main areas. After we had a look around ourselves at a few things before going to the Treasures of the Middle east exhibit, which was a special exhibit of treasures that were hidden from the Taliban. There were some serious gold artifacts there from areas along the silk road, including the main attraction; a prince who had been buried with his 5 wives each with many kg of gold jewellery.
Having seen the exhibits we left the museum (following a suggested walk), going into china town. We went looking for a restaurant that Priya had suggested – we eventually found it, but luckily it was closed as it looked like a place we would not want to eat. Instead we found a Vietnamese restaurant called fire paper on the main streets which was more to our liking.
We decided to go to St Kilda’s, but we walked, it was quite a long walk but quite pleasant as it went south through Albert Park, and we watched the large city scape start to dwindle behind us.
On reaching St Kildas we had a look around the sea front and then had some hot chocolate and coffee at one of the restraints there on the sea front, because we were peckish from the walk we gave in and ordered some (as it turned out soso) garlic bread. We watched the sunset over the harbour before walking back. It went from twilight to completely dark by the time we got back.
Getting back to the hotel we got ready before meeting Priya, where we had dinner at a very crowded Mexican restaurant. It was quite strange as all the food – tacos etc had no beans in them, just soya or tofu. It was not that bad but not very satisfying.
After saying bye, we went back to the hotel and prepared for the next day before calling it a night.
3rd July – Wednesday
After buffet breakfast, as we were earlier than expected, we phoned up Avis to ask if we could pick up the car earlier – the answer was yes but at quite a bit of extra expense, which was not with the extra hour, so we stuck with the original plan.
We instead checked out leaving out bags at the hotel and walked to federation squire where we picked up some leaflets about the great ocean road, before catching the free tourist bus.
The bus was really good, telling us a lot about the points of interest around the city and taking us to places like the stadium. We were tempted to go round more of the stops, but as it would get quite late to set out, we got off near the Queen Victoria Market stop and went to the Avis rental on Franklin Street. We had booked an intermediate car, but the person behind the counter asked if we wanted a full size car for and extra $30 a day. No we said, so after a bit more time he said he would let us have the upgrade for $15 a day. We still said no. In the end there was no immediate car so we got the double upgrade to a Toyota Aivion for free; a really brilliant car.
Stopping by the hotel we collected our bags – took a bit of time – before heading out of town towards the Great Ocean Road, past Geelong. I think we were spoilt with the scenery in New Zealand as we had seen scenery like that before. We stopped at Split End to see the light house, driving most the way up the road, it was quite busy with tourists but still free enough for some nice pictures. From Split end we drove to Apollo Bay where we got some flat bread for $1 from a bakery to keep us going with the fruit from the QVC market.
We stopped at quite a few places for the lookouts, but the next major stop was at the 12 Apostles. We had managed to get here about an hour before sunset, so we had plenty of time to walk around and see the colours changing on the rocks, from all the different platforms. The rocks were quite cool to see and the part of the ocean road that was really worth it (even though there are not 12). Before sunset we snagged our selves a good location and watched the sun disappear.
Getting back in the car we managed to drive to see the “London Bridge” in the twilight. This used to be a double span bridge until recently when one of the spans collapsed, and was well worth seeing with the ocean breaking through the span.
Driving on we could just make out some of the rocks belonging to the thousand islands, but it was really to dark by now, so we carried on to Warrnambool. Whilst driving we saw something crossing the road – a big cowala.
Getting to Warrnambool we checked into the Comfort Inn – quite a nice motel, got ready and went for dinner. Having a look around we finally decided on Italian and found ourselves in a deceptively deep restaurant, were we had a lovely fetticine and pizza with salad.
4th July
After a breakfast of weetabix, we checked out and headed out; it was going to be a fair bit of traveling today and the weather was not that great – quite cold. Warrnambool was meant to be a good place to see whales because the area is a nursery to humpbacks, so we drove to the whale lookout area. Steel skies meant it was quite choppy and not that easy to see, but there was one whale around far out, which stayed there slowly swimming. Lots of other tourists came and went and were excited when we told them where to look.
We carried on our journey out of town. Having had talked to the owners of the motel and they had recommended going to a park called Tower Hill not far away en route, which was the left overs from a volcano. Driving in we saw an Emu and kangaroos crossing the road with more Emus walking around. At the visitor centre we had a look at the exhibits before going on one of the really short walks and returning to the car.
Driving out we continued our journey towards Mt Gambia, with a brief look at Portland. The weather had closed in quite a bit and by the time we got to Mt Gambia it was raining. We went into the Umperston sink hole, which was quite intesting – a massive sink hole that had been planted and had benches and trees at the bottom – not many tourists with the weather, just some from china. We were lucky we had good waterproofs otherwise we would have got soaked.
From there we went north up the A66 towards Naracoorte. Bhavni was driving and we experienced some serious hail storms and squalls en-route with virtually no visibility, which Bhavni answered by driving faster ! We had got some really lovely tortilla chips in the morning along with other food for the journey so we did not need to stop.
We drove past the Naracoorte caves and decided a few miles later that it would actrually be good if we go see them, so we turned back and went. There is a famous cave there where animals eons ago have fallen in, because of holes in the cave roof. Unfortunately the cave could only be entered guided, but only earlier in the day, so we opted for a self guided visit to one of the other caves, after seeing the exhibit of what some of the marsupials that used to exist in Australia. Some of them were truly massive. It was a nice respite in the cave from the rain (which is why we saw the exhibits first as it was really raining heavily then), the caves were quite large and had many features.
As it was getting late we pretty much carried on driving to Adalaide, where we parked next to the Grand Chancellor Adelaide and checked in before parking our car a few blocks away for free parking (rather than pay $30). We got ready and then went looking for food – this became interesting as there did not seem to be many places ones we saw were closed. Eventually we found some food at the Casablanca restaurant and went back to the hotel. It was quite cold so we used the hot tub in the room !
5th July – Friday
It was a nice early start as we had to get to the car before the zone became active. We had some wheetabix for breakfast then for to the car before 8.30 am and drove to the Adelaide Hills on a beautiful day. The Adelaide Hills is a very famous wine growing region, with over 20% of Australian wine originating from here in the Berossa Valley. En Route we stopped at Willanstown at a famous cafe for a light meal, before continuing on the scenic route. This took us to the whispering wall, which is a dam, having just the right curvature that you can talk at one end and be heard clearly at the other end.
We stopped at Jackobs Creek as it is really famous and everyone knows the name; it is quite nicely done as a vineyard, but we did not appreciate the wine that much, unlike quite a few of the tourists. We carried on to Taunton and stopped at the I-Site for a map of the vineyards and followed their suggested scenic drive to some of the smaller vineyards. I think not many others had to use a spittoon, but I would be very merry had I not – especially with the port from one of the vineyards.
We stopped in Salters Vineyard for lunch, having a really hie looking meal of flat breads with various dips, before visiting one more vineyard – amazing how many ex kiwis there are around.
From there we drove to Handhorf, which is a old German village. We parked at one end and had a walk around looking at the little shops, before having a long conversation with a chocolateer there.
We drove back to Adelaide and had a bit of trouble fining free parking, eventually fining a tight space to fit into near to where I had parked the day before. After getting back to the hotel, we got ready and I headed back out for dinner. We went for dinner to Jasmine – an Indian restaurant run by a Mr Singh. Although there was not a massive choice for vegetarian food, when it came it was really nice, and they did a aubergine dish substitution for me. No wonder it was quite busy.
After dinner we went back to the hotel and I went back out to move the car to a better location, which was now much easier, before having another spa in the room to warm up. I had even asked for extra heaters as the room was a bit cold.
6th July – Saturday
We woke quite early and after our breakfast of weetabix, we went to fetch the car which we then drove and returned to the Avis centre in the North Terrace, which only took us a few circles around the one way systems. Getting back to the hotel, we had tea then and checked out, leaving our bags. We went to the Adelaide Market which was quite bustling with nearly any food you can think of available. We had a pleasant wonder around before getting a coffee/hot chocolate and croissant from one of the cafes and getting amused by some people saying that seats are taken to others. We bought some tangerines for the journey.
After we had a look at the parliamentary buildings before having a walk in the museum nearby allowing us to avoid the intermittent rain. The museum had a really big collection of Aboriginal artwork and artifacts and we walked through some of the natural history areas also.
From the museum we visited the Art Gallery, where some of the artwork was quite strange to say the least – eg dead fake horses, though there were some nice items also.
After we went trough Rundell Mall and got some food – a Burito, before going back to the hotel to collect our bags and wait for the taxi pickup to the Airport.
The lady behind the reception desk (who had helped us for the last few days) was really nice and helpful and checked on the taxi for us.
We got the taxi and got to the airport ($22) and checked in for our flight around 4pm. Our flight was at 17.15pm to Perth, on which we had food.
We got to Perth close to 19.15 local time and was picked up by Ashish (Rupals brother). We were taken to Rupals house where we met Rupal and Mayash and all there guests over kachri butteta.
After with another friend of theirs arriving we went out for coffee and then to the other side of a park to see to city lights, before going back with Ashish to his house to sleep – a bit cold with no heating.
7th July
Waking at Ashishes house we had eggs and Nashto for breakfast. Deciding to do some laundry we were a bit delayed in leaving as we were meeting at Rupals house in the morning. We went via a restaurant called Spice Tree (which has a cook from kenya working there), to pick up some Jelebi and Ghatia. We met Milan (Rupals uncle), who apparently had been on a cruise to new zealand at the beginning of the year and met up with Zuli there.
After getting to Rupals by 11.30 isn we had a second breakfast and then all of us went to Kings Park, which is a really nice park overlooking the city centre. As the sun was shining it was quite pleasant, although cold in the shade. We walked to the memorial there near the children’s hospital before getting back in the cars as they had not found any good parking all this time.
So we headed to Freemantle (which is a port) and parked there. Having a look around the market there, then leaving the girls, Ashish and I grabbed some beers on the down low, avoiding the others. We looked at some of the ships sailing bye before heading back to Rupals house and having tea.
We had phoned Bhavesh (Meenas nephew) and he came and collected us and went to his house, meeting Ecta and the children. We had a bit of fried food and Bhavni ran into a random person from her school, who sat there complaining about life.
After saying bye we were dropped back and had chips (as Mayesh had been out to get these flavoured chips especially), before Rupal droped us to Ashish’s house as he had gone home tired earlier.
8th July
We woke up a little late and were suddenly supprised as Ashish was home (he had said that he was going to work). We got ready and had breakfast – eggs for me and bread and naasto for Bhavni, before going to Rupals.
After talking for a while we took a bus, almost from outside the house, to the city centre. Bhavni’s aim was to look for an eggless cake as it was Rupal wedding anniversary. That was fun as we went all around reading ready made cakes and asking at lots of bakeries (after asking the I-Site). We eventually found one that does it, but had sold most of their cake, having 3 slices left. They could have made some muffins for us, but it was going to be very expensive and late, so we wondered off. Instead we found a Harre Krishna shop and bought some Gulab Jambuns from them. Accomanying this we got some sobet from Coles and a gift card. We could now return as we wanted to be back early as the other guests were leaving.
Taking the bus we were back at Rupals by 3.30 and the food disappeared with all the guests eating the Gulab Jambuns. Mahesh then went to the airport to drop the other guests – who almost missed their flights, after which we went out shopping to get some food.
We made Taccos for them and Ashish came after work to join us. We spent a while sorting our luggage for the early start the next day.
9th July – Tuesday
We had to wake up quite early as we had an early flight. We got ready and I knocked on Mahesh’s door as he was our lift and not to be seen. Eventually he appeared and we had some early morning tea (alarm bells ringing), before going to the airport. He said there would be no traffic, but there was and I stared to be a little stressed. We eventually got the the airport and managed to check in, though we could not get seats next to each other, but at least we were on the plane which took of at 8.30am.
Due to the time difference we arrived in Darwin at around 13.30 and got through customs, picked up our bags and then got to the crazy busy car rental counters to pick up our medium sized car – a Toyotta Corrola, which included 400km. Getting out into the 30+ degree day, we drove into town to our hotel – the Cullen Bay Resort and checked in. The room was quite nice and had a really good view of the Marina.
It was now 3pm, so we freshened up and then headed out driving to the museum at the east point. The museum was quite interesting, showing lots of animals that are poisonous/deadly as well as a really big crocodile that was a menace to Darwin. The other exhibit was about the destruction of Darwin during a hurricane in the 70’s.
We then drove to east point and had a quick walk around before heading into the town centre and having a walk around there, seeing the sunset from the park. After we headed back to the hotel and freshened up for dinner – we were just going to the end of Cullen Bay as there were many restaurants there.
We eventually found ourselves at a Thai restaurant on the waterfront, which was entertaining as they gave us some stale bread to feed the fishes.
They were a bit cagey on vegetarian food, and in sited that the papaya salad would be awful, well it came and was superb with Bhavni and I finishing the lot. If only the same could be said for the main meal – Thai green curry. Bhavni took it first and made a face, I tried it – it was sugar syrup. So I companied to the waitress, who’s reply was that they always made it like that. Well after finally complaining for a while we got the bill with the curry removed.
We were a little peckish still so we went to the Lebanese restaurant near by and had some babganush and pastry. We decided to make a booking for our return to Darwin. After we went back to the hotel and settled in for the night – though we had a drunk trying to get into our room in the middle of the night.
10th July – Bhavni’s Birthday
After a breakfast of wheetabix, we checked out of the hotel around 9.30 and headed out on the Stuart Highway and then onto the Arnhem highway. We were making good time so we stopped at the “windows of the wetlands”, which had some nice exhibits about the wetlands and the fauna. Bhavni got into watching a video about the different environments in the area. I had to pull her away as we had to go to the Adelaide crocodile cruise at 11am.
We got there and got our tickets sorted with 10 minutes to spare, before we got onto a reasonably large boat. We managed to get some seats upstairs, and we stared sailing. The Adelaide river is really muddy and you cannot see below the surface, but almost immediately some crocodiles could be seen. The boat people lured them with some steak on a large string and coaxed them out of the water, hence the jumping crocodiles. Some of the crocodiles were massive. The boat owners had a go at one of the passengers for walking around the lower decks when there were crocodiles nearby as the crocodiles could easily get him there (especially as he claimed he was a baramundi fisher). Half way we swapped over and went downstairs for a different view, closer to the water line, but behind glass.
One of the more unusual sites was a flock of birds circling around, it was amazing none hit each other.
After an hour we were back at the docks and we carried on along the Arnham highway to the Mary River National Park, where we had to turn onto point Stuart road then onto a dirt road (which looked like the roads you see in the movies of the outback) and drive 10 km to the Wildman Wilderness lodge.
This was a really luxurious place, we were taken by one of the staff members and given a briefing over a cocktail before being show around. We got to our rooms, amazing place – individual air conditioned huts with king bed and an ensuite luxury shower room with views across the runway into the bush. Yes there was a dirt runway as some of the clients flew in.
We saw our first wallaby sheltering under one of the huts and said hello to our neighbours – who had flown into the retreat in a cesna. After we changed and then went for a walk – listening to their advice not to go near the billabong as there are some crocs there. It turned out to be a slightly longer walk than we originally thought not helped by the sparse markers and we returned via the dirt road in. After we played a bit of scrabble in the bar area before we got to the room and changed into swimming costumes and hit the pool – freezing. As the sun got lower we saw a lot more wallabies crossing the area and hiding under the huts.
Before full dark we went to the room, freshened up and then went to the restaurant for dinner. We had a bit of time before dinner, so we had a couple of cocktails – Bhavni got a special birthday one. The food was defiantly up there, with a starter of asparagus on celeriac puree followed by roasted fennel on cous cous. For desert we could not have the panacotta, so bhavni ordered some ice cream, but it came melted so it got changed to a trio of sorbet – apple, blood orange and passion.
After food Bhavni managed to get her parents on the phone, although we went outside to do so and were attacked by insects when standing still.
We then retired for the night.
11th July – Thursday
In booking the lodge we had a billabong tour included, so we were up early as we wanted to get some food first, after which we were picked up from the reception area (along with another couple) and driven by one of the staff to the billabong at 8am.
We got on a small metal boat and was given a safety briefing. They have life vests but do not wear them because if you fall in, crocodiles are attracted to bright colours, also stay still and avoid moving. That cleared up, we started our cruise. Unlike the rivers we had seen so far, the water in the billabong was clear, with lots of water lillys growing. As it was early and relatively cold, the guide said that most of the crocs would be in the water trying to maintain temperature, so we only seemed to see trails and bubbles for the most part. We saw plenty of bird life and our guide was good at pointing them out.
Our guide spotted something on the banks and we turned to have a look. A few moments later our guide was genuinely worried as it was a large crocodile on the banks; one easilly big enough to damage the boat. Whilst we turned to boat around we could see it slipping in the water and soon enough when we got the next proper look at the bank it had disappeared. Our guide gave us a hasty retreat up the billabong.
He managed to spot a couple of small crocs hiding in some foliage further up, but mostly birds were around. Soon enough our cruise was finished and we were driven back to the lodge. Whilst Bhavni freshened her self up, I went to breakfast for the poached eggs and was done by the time she appeared. We went back to the rooms and sorted our selves out and loaded our items into the car (which I brought around), before checking out. We had managed to get a really good deal for this lodge, as their website was faulty when I booked; much cheaper and the billabong tour was thrown in when it should not have been. But it was defiantly a beautiful place.
We rejoined the Arnham highway and drove onwards to Kakado national park. I had to stop to get a photo near one of the towers of the outback, with Bhavni getting quite worried that i would be attacked by termites. The scenery going past seemed to be unchanging for the most part, large trees to the side and quite flat, until we were further inside the park when we started to get flood plains appearing near the rivers. At one place we came across a big lizard sunbathing on the side of the road, bush fires burning on the sides and lots of birds taking advantage of the fleeing insects. We carried on to the junction not far from Jabiru, where we turned to the Bawali visitor centre to pick up some information.
With the limited time we had we decided to drive south to Nouriangie and see the sites there. It was a good 40km drive away and we got to drive past some remnants of the escapements which were amazing to look at. The sites here were old with prehistoric cave paintings. We had to do a small 2km walk to visit the different locations and with the heat it was sweltering, so it was nice to get to some of the shaded areas and see the paintings. We had an optional summit climb (which was not that bad) which we took, it came up to the top of some of these rocks and we got some amazing views of the escarpments in the distance as well as some of the closer outlying outcrops.
Getting back in the car we drove into Jabiru and quickly checked into the hotel – the Gagudju Crocodile, just to get the room keys and drop off the bags. We then quickly carried on driving, this time north to another site called Ubeer, which is the most famous site in the park. We had to make sure we were there by 4.30pm as there was a ranger talk going on.
It was another 40km drive, past more cool scenery. At Ubeer, we had a little bit of time before the talk so we had a quick wonder and met the ranger at the “Rainbow Serpent” site. The ranger talked about the significance of the painting and the dream time, explaining that she was telling only what she was meant to by the aboriginal elders. She then took us to the next place and explained the time periods that had occurred over nearly 40k years whilst the aborigines were here; the land had been forest, desert and wetlands. The next place showed us the food menu – cave drawings redone many times of the food available in the area. Finally near the top of the riges she talked on the geology of the area before we watched the sunset over the plains with the fires burning in the distance.
As soon as the sun set we quickly got back to the car before the mosquitoes came out and went back to Jaibiru, where we filled up petrol and went to the supermarket to get some food for dinner as well as supplies for lunch the next day. That was amusing as I assumed Bhavni had paid and we walked out before the guy came out saying we had not payed …. duhhh.
It was close to 8pm by the time we got back to the hotel and we were quite tired so we did not make it to one of the slideshows in a neighbouring hotel.
12th July
We were up nice and early, getting ready and having a bite to eat. Checking out we went to the bakery and got a couple of nice rolls. There was a walk going on between the hotel complexes and the visitor centre which we wanted to do, so as Bhavni read the details we went to the Bowali Visitor centre to start the guided walk. We got there and found out that the walk actually started from the Crocodile hotel and was going to finish here ! So we started walking quickly back to the hotels along the track they were coming up, hopefully to meet them. As it turned out we got most the way to the hotel before meeting them. Joining them the ranger showed us plenty of flora and some of the features of the land around there.
The walk was nice and gentle and took about 1.5 hours. Getting to the Bowali visitor centre we were then (after a break) guided around the exhibit in the visitor centre, which was worth seeing. There was a park celebration going on and there were locals doing weaving and making other items, so we watched for a while, especially the old lady stripping some of the flax leaves to make ribbons for weaving.
After a while we left and started our drive back towards Darwin. If we had had a 4×4 and a bit more time we would have loved to visit some of the other places like Jim Jam falls. We saw a wetland area in the park on our way out, and we had to go through some heavily smokey regions with fire burning right next to the road and lots of birds circling. We also saw a (probably the same) lizard by the side of the road in the same place as before.
We stopped at a wetland on the way back and had a lookout, but we could only see things far away, although we saw a wallaby there, so we continued on until we stopped at Foggs dam. Originally we thought we could walk along the dam itself, but there was a sign saying it was closed as there was a large crocodile around. So instead we drove across slowly and saw lots of different birds.
We continued on and got to Darwin in the late afternoon, where we checked into The Leprecorn Motel – pretty lousy place on the second floor and not as clean as one would hope; anyway it was just for the night so we got ready and after Bhavni phoned her aunt we went for food to our pre-booked lebanese restraunt. We were not that impressed – firstly we were given some seats on a table without a view, then the food was tasteless and to top it of the bill was quite steep… So Darwin does not do food well. We went back to the motel and settled in for the early start the next day.
