Part 4 - Mid - to - Late June, 2024 – Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Australia

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Melbourne

Great Ocean Road

Approaching the luggage carousel, we find our driver waiting for us.  She takes one of our heavy bags, placing it in the trunk of the car like it weighs half of its actual weight.  Being spent from our travels to this point, I let her handle my bag too.  She is a wealth of information.  I furiously take notes on the phone for locations, and how to get there.  Temperatures are in the 50’s.  After registering at the hotel, and unpacking we are on a mission to find a pharmacy, for my cough, and a restaurant.  We are famished as we didn’t get any food on this flight.  We find both, the latter being a Greek restaurant.  A salad and platter of appetizers fills us for the evening.  We are in bed by 10, worn out for the day.

We wake early, the first thing on our list after breakfast, is - laundry.  Google maps provides us with a few options within a mile or so.  More than once, the map shows our destination to be in the middle of the block.  We find it strange, especially when we don’t see a doorway where Google tells us there is a laundromat.  We gradually figure it out.  Melbourne develops spaces between buildings as mini malls, with small shops or restaurants.  They have also developed area for small shops down alleys I wouldn’t normally walk down in the States.  Our laundromat is down one of these alleys.  Starting down the alley we notice a very busy coffee shop.  We start feeling comfortable, continuing on, looking for our laundromat.  A little further on we find it, although it would be easy to miss, it is not much wider than 12’, just large enough for 8 machines.  Again, as we wait, we walk the neighborhood, first enjoying a cup of tea at the coffee shop we passed on the way.  Laundry complete, we are ready to see Melbourne.

Tram driver's lunch

Referring to my notes from our driver, we want to catch the #35 tram, City Circle.  It is a free tram ride around the downtown area.  The tram looks like one of the old-style trolleys, we find out from the tram driver indeed it is.  The first ones were used in 1923.  At the end of the circuit our driver disappears….  We are not certain what’s going on.  A couple sits down in the seats next to us, “You may want to sit facing the opposite direction, this is now the back of the tram.”  Sure enough, our driver is in the driver’s compartment at the other end of the tram, ready to go.  

Flinders Street Station
and tram

We stay on for part of the next circuit getting off at the Flinders Street Station, Australia’s oldest train station and landmark.  We plot out our position to photograph one of the trams passing in front of Melbourne’s famous landmark.

Rail lines to
Flinders Street Station

We tour Melbourne’s downtown area on foot, finding a Chinese fusion restaurant, good but not great. We wander through Queen Elizabeth Gardens; follow the Yarra River to the Rod Laver Arena, home of the Australian Open.  We enjoy sunset, walking through the city, picking up a few spring rolls for dinner.

Old and new

The next morning, we wake early to work out at the gym.  The first time in a while, we are not alone.  Finishing our workout, we head down for breakfast then on to the Melbourne Museum.  We learn that the indigenous people of Australia had pretty much the same experiences the indigenous people North America had.  They suffered and died from diseases, lost their lands because of resources other people wanted, and other atrocities.

We ride the tram for one more lap around downtown Melbourne, stopping at the docks, a newer residential neighborhood along the water.  We search for a restaurant for our last dinner in Melbourne, it takes three tries before finding one.  The first is booked up, requiring a wait of a couple hours for a table, no thank you.  The second has just opened.  Working our way down the menu our waitress tells us three of the four items we want to order are not available, on to the next restaurant…  We find another Greek restaurant; no waiting and they have the foods we want.  Jackpot.  We savor our meal, planning for tomorrow’s adventure.  We will be meeting Craig for our three-day two-night photography tour of the Great Ocean Road.

Great Ocean Road

Erskine Falls

In my research on places to see in Australia, the Great Ocean Road popped up several times.  A YouTube video showed us spectacular sea stacks and beaches.  Subsequent research revealed only one-day tours of this area.  Start in Melbourne at 7, ride to the area, hop off and on the bus at a few locations, then get back on for the several hour ride back to Melbourne, arriving after dark.  Not our idea of a fun time, especially for such a photogenic location.  We are after a three-day, two-night photography tour.  Digging deeper, I find We Are RawPhotography, a company that provides workshops, classes, and photography tours.  They are not available to take us but have someone that will work out well, Craig.  He has lived in this area all his life and has been shooting the Great Ocean Road for 15+ years.  Craig is a great driver, guide, photographer and instructor.

Shy Koala

Craig picks us up at the hotel, we are on our Great Ocean Road adventure.  Our first challenge is to get out of Melbourne.  All I can say is I’m glad I am not driving.  Driving on the opposite side of the car, on the opposite side of the road is probably fine out in the sticks.  I don’t think it would be so enjoyable in the city, especially when making turns.  Do I go to the close lanes or the far lanes when turning right, or left; or which way do I go entering the roundabout…  ‘Leave the driving to the locals’ becomes my motto.

Kookaburra

2+ hours later we arrive at the official sign for the Great Ocean Road.  At times we follow along the coastline, other times we are surrounded by forest, or an open landscape.  After fish and chips for lunch we make our first photography stop, Erskine Falls, in Great Otway National Park.  We descend 180 steps arriving at the bottom of the falls.  We are enveloped by countless ferns.  Flora encompasses the picturesque falls.  Continuing up the road, Craig spots a Kookaburra, one of the iconic birds of Australia.  If you have watched any movies where people are trekking through a dense jungle you have probably heard the song of a Kookaburra.  This is the only wildlife we are able to photograph today.  We spot a wallaby crossing the road in front of us, but it doesn’t stop for a picture.  Craig describes the differences between wallaby’s and kangaroos; wallabies being smaller, with shorter legs, their coloring also differs from kangaroos.

Great Ocean Road

Approaching Port Campbell, our destination for the evening, we spot, then follow, a kangaroo hopping down the road in front of us.  We learn they are generally nocturnal, so seeing one as it becomes dark is normal.  Arriving at Port Campbell we check into our hotel then head out for dinner.  Having a population of 1,000, there is one main street.  We walk across main street to a restaurant for a pizza and salad for dinner.

Nicida composing

The next morning, we head out to some of the classic viewpoints near Port Campbell, seeing seven in all today.  We start with sunrise at the Gibson Steps.  Areas of fog roll across the hillsides above the cliffs.  Still at the same viewpoint, we turn around, there the 12 Apostles command our attention.  Not more than a dozen people are here to experience this.  After a wonderful breakfast, at Grassroots Deli Café, we continue seeing popular and hidden spots.  Craig turns off on obscure dirt roads along the highway only to emerge at another beautiful overlook of sea stacks, deserted beaches and continuous waves.

More, Great Ocean Road

More, Great Ocean Road

Each location has its own distinct view of waves pounding the cliffs or washing around and through sea stacks anchored just offshore.  Late afternoon we arrive at Lock Ard Gorge.  The parking lot is filled with multiple buses, each crammed with tourists looking for their brief view of this beautiful place.  This is how we would have seen the Great Ocean Road had we not found We Are Raw Photography.  We are so fortunate to experience this with them.  We stop at one more place seeing only two other people, before heading back to the hotel for dinner.

More, Great Ocean Road

The next morning, we head back to the Lock Ard Gorge, the full moon will set between the two of the cliffs.  We are the first car in the parking lot.  We set up, preparing ourselves for a spectacular moonset, but a blanket of clouds moves in, obscuring the moon 30 minutes before it sets.  Maybe next time.

After breakfast we head back to Melbourne.  We spot two kangaroos hopping across the road into the brush.  The only fauna left on our list are Koalas.  Craig knows of a place to find them, wild ones, not caged.  An hour later we turn off the main road to the park where they congregate.  We find one, with a hoard of tourists standing below ogling and snapping pictures.  This one is sleeping, a normal activity for Koalas.  Its face is buried in its arm, not a great portrait shot.  We join in, but hike around a bit hoping for another.  We spot red parrots and white cockatoos in surrounding trees.  They are hard to miss with their loud squawking.  Up the road, we find another Koala, but it is further up the tree obscured by branches and leaves.  On our way back to the car, we spot the first Koala, still sleeping, but it has moved a bit, just enough to see its face.  We leave, having checked the Koala box on our list.

Our return to Melbourne is long.  As we approach the big city the roads fill with numerous vehicles, all in a hurry.  We are grateful for Craig’s attention, helping us with suggestions on compositions, camera settings and overall friendliness.  If we were to come here this again, we would make arrangements to do the same tour, if not longer.  We say our goodbyes, then prepare ourselves for our trip to Queenstown, New Zealand.

Napping Koala

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark