Melbourne

It doesn't take long in Melbourne to understand why it’s held the position of the world's most liveable city since 2011 (and been among the top 3 since 2002). First of all, the cost of everything is much cheaper than Sydney. Secondly, there is a free tram within the central business district, making transportation around downtown easy and convenient. It didn't come as a surprise when we found out Melbourne has the largest tram network in the world.  It's also home to six of the seven tallest buildings in Australia. Thirdly, the overall vibe of Melbs is quite relaxed and chilled out. On top of its 62,000 live concerts annually, Melbourne is known as the 'garden city' in reference to its abundance of parks and gardens. And last but definitely not least, the food is amazing. I thought Sydney had an awesome food scene, but Melbs takes the cake. We ate at a variety of restaurants, from cheap but incredibly fresh sushi to one-of-a-kind brunch cafes to high-end Italian cuisine. Not one meal let me down! We also enjoyed just wandering around the city, meandering along the Yarra River, and discovering why Melbourne's been recognised as a major centre for street art.

Hosier Lane

Another positive of Melbourne is its location to some popular tourist attractions. The first one we explored was Phillip Island, home to about thirty-two thousand fairy penguins! They are the smallest penguins in the world, standing only one foot tall when they are fully grown. Once the sun has set, groups of them emerge from the ocean to make their way back to their burrows for the night. Some of them were so full of fish that they fell forward from the weight, rested for a minute or so and then got back up and kept going. Seeing them waddle along the beach and up into the hills was one of the cutest things I have ever seen wild animals do. We were only one foot away from groups of them at one point! They are so used to humans watching them that they are completely un-phased by our presence. 

The next attraction we visited were the eighty-two beach boxes on Dendy Beach in Brighton. They provide shelter from the sun and wind, act as lockers for your belongings and can house small appliances such as barbecues. The different colours help the eighty-two wealthy residents of Brighton differentiate their $200,000 beach box from the others. Seems just a touch excessive for a tiny little shack haha...

St. Kilda is another neat area of Melbourne, with eclectic shops, funky cafes and numerous bakeries up and down the strip. It is also home to Melbourne's most famous beach, and has it's own little penguin colony. After lunch we stumbled upon a gold mine - a liquor store selling six hundred different beers! It was nice to enjoy a few of our favourites from back home that we haven’t been able to have in over eight months. 

The next two days were spent on the Great Ocean Road, voted one of the most scenic coastlines in the world. Spanning about 250km, we took a few pit stops along the way to the Twelve Apostles on our first day. The first was a lookout providing spectacular views of the windy road we spent countless hours navigating. 

Teddy's lookout

The next pit stop was a eucalyptus forest, which was the perfect spot to stretch our legs and attempt to spot one of our grey furry friends. We got super lucky seeing a few wild koalas, with one of them actually putting on a show for us. He climbed all the way down the high branch he was perched on, to sit about five feet away from Wes filming all the action, and then he climbed back up another branch where he began to make loud noises we didn’t even know koalas made! It was wild; almost a cross between a pig and a dog. Considering koalas sleep around twenty-two hours each day, we totally hit the jackpot!

Another few hours of driving brought us to the apostles themselves, packing as much punch as we’d expected. There's only eight left due to erosion, and you can see the remains of one in the picture below on the left. It was fifty metres tall and collapsed in 2005.

We also saw a wild echidna beside the walking path! After overnighting at an adorable little farmhouse near the apostles, we hit every scenic pullout on the way to Port Campbell. First there was the Loch Ard Gorge…

View from the top

View from the beach

Then there was The Arch…

And the London Arch (which used to be called the London Bridge since it formed a complete double-span natural bridge before the piece connecting to the mainland crumbled into the ocean in 1990)…

And finally The Grotto (a geological sinkhole)…

All of these sights definitely made the long journey worth it! We then took the direct route back to Melbourne and stopped at the Timboon Cheese Factory for a cheese tasting and lunch. That night we had tickets to the Melbourne Fringe Festival to see a friend of a friend from Sydney Uni perform a comedy skit with his group. Even though there were a few jokes that only Australians would understand, it was still hilarious and well worth it. Our final day consisted of a visit to the Queen Victoria Market; Melbourne's version of Paddy's Market in Sydney. After much shopping around, we finally picked out a didgeridoo that we'd been wanting for months. Didgeridoos were created by Indigenous Australians and are one of the oldest wind instruments ever invented. We're gradually learning how to play it properly, but it's so much harder than it looks! Authentic didges are cut from eucalyptus trees that have been naturally hollowed out by termites, but they can also be made from PVC piping, non-native hard woods, glass, metal, clay or even carbon fibre. Our authentic didge has been decorated in Aboriginal artwork and stands at 3 feet 9 inches tall. We can't wait to add it to our collection of souvenirs from our travels. We have flights booked home for December 14th and we'll be staying for five weeks!
P.S. Happy Thanksgiving this weekend to all of our friends and family back home! Don't worry, we've got a potluck planned with our fellow Canadians so we won't be missing out on turkey dinner!