Actually we were just planning a trip to an island in our very own shores due to budget constraint. But then since we have some MAS Enrich points we thought that we should take advantage of it. We decided that it should be Australia. But where in Australia? Indecisive between Sydney Opera House and Great Ocean Road, we finally decided that we should see both places.
Our plan was like this : Take a flight from Kuala Lumpur ("KL") to Melbourne for a self drive through the Great Ocean Road. Do some shopping at Essendon Factory Outlet in Melbourne. From Melbourne we take another flight to Sydney and then back to KL.
Day 1 (16 March 2012)
On March 15, 2012 we (me, my husband and our 13-month old baby) took Air Asia to Melbourne. It was a late night flight at about 2300 hours local time. Since Melbourne is 2 hours ahead of KL, we reached Melbourne at about 0700 hours Melbourne time. The flight was full and you can imagin as we reached the immigration, there was a big crowd. We were made to stand there for at least an hour due to inefficiency of the airport personnels in handling the passengers. After 80 minutes of waiting and queuing, finally they cleared us. I really think that the airport should have a special lanes for those with small children just like any other airports.
We were definitely not happy with the way Tullamarine Airport handled the passengers especially after a long, cramped flight and travelling with a baby. Without wasting time, we went to the building nearby the airport to collect the car from Europcar. We booked the car at Rentalcars.com and we were going to have the cars for 2 days before we returned it in Melbourne city.
Our car for the 2 days......big enough for 3 of us..
Our first destination for the day is to witness the Great Ocean Road, which is famous for its breathtaking and amazing views. From Tullamarine Airport we drove straight away to Tourquay, stopping at Geelong and Lorne before we spent the night at Port Campbell.
Filled with hunger and excitement, we made a stop at Coles Supermarket to get some ration for the day and night and then to Geelong. Here goes some pictures we took at Geelong.
I found these a bit weird. It just stood there like huge toys in the middle of nowhere, guarding the beach or maybe playing beach volleyball.....
You will find sculptures in almost all places of interest. This one may not look like one but close to the scupltures with human as the centre that I found around Melbourne.
Before we reached Port Campbell, along the Great Ocean Road.
To Quicksilver fans, you guys can check out at Quicksilver outlet. We managed to grab Reef's flip flop or selipar jepun as the Malaysians call it for AUD5 only!! These items were on clearance I suppose because the other flip flops were priced at AUD10 from original price of AUD20. And just a piece of advise: as soon as you get in Australia and if you are going to do a lot of walking, get yourselves a pair of flip flops. We will need them while you are here and can bring them back home as souvenir too.
Pls remind me to upload the picture later.
More pictures along the way..
The 12 Apostles before sunset.
Visitors could go closer to view the 12 Apostles. We did not go down as it was already night time. It gets dark very fast, in 10 -15 minutes time from sunset to a complete black night. So if you want to sitness sunset and still want to see the 12 Apostles during daytime, be there before 6 pm.
Port Campbell, where we stayed the night before our journey tomorrow.
Here are some pictures at the Port Campbell Motor Inn.It looks modest from the outside but very nice in the inside, spacious and feels at home. We had good sleep that night.
 |
| It's cold mummy, that's why I need my winter jacket. |
No comments:
Post a Comment