"The Nine Apostles"
RTW - Southern Australia
09/09/2013 - 19/09/2013
12 °C
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Round The World Trip
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Having flown in from Hong Kong overnight I arrived on a fresh Monday morning in Melbourne to meet up with my Australian relatives who I hadn't seen for over 10 years!
As they lived in Mount Gambier, we then left Melbourne (which I would return to explore 10 days later) and drove towards South Australia.
This meant that we could see some of the sights of Victoria too, including the Great Ocean Road, with some Geographical Landscapes that are reminiscent of the Jurrasic Coast in Dorset. The highlight of this area being the Twelve Apostles - eight stacks standing just off the coast caused by erosion.
Twelve Apostles
After taking lunch in Port Campbell, and heading off to Warrnambool for the night my exhaustion finally caught up with me and I ended up being too tired to eat!
After staying overnight in Warrnambool, we finally arrived back in Mount Gambier the following afternoon. On the following day I took my first rest day of the trip, having a long lie in followed by catching up with all the bits and bobs I was unable to do before, such as registering for graduation.
Family Day Out
After this rest, the following day I went off the visit more relatives who I hadn't seen for 13 years, and was given a tour around the town centre. After another day of resting we had reached the weekend, and we had a day out to the seaside, before a family meal and a barbeque inside the volcano, where I got to meet almost all my Australian relations.
Blue Lake
The following week was very similar. I went and joined my aunty at work in the morning, before going out with my cousins to some caves just over the border back in Victoria, as well as saying my goodbyes to my family before leaving back for Melbourne.
Kangaroo
Having said goodbye to most of my relatives, and accidentally killing a kangaroo en route, we headed off towards Sovereign Hill, an 1850s Gold Mine open air museum, giving me some insight into colonial culture.
Sovereign Hill
Heading off nice and early, we eventually arrived in Melbourne on the following day. After dropping my stuff off at the hostel in the very centre of the city, we headed off to the markets where I bought some cheap souvenirs and spent the last few hours with my relatives.
Neighbours
I then headed off towards the eastern suburbs of the city to find the street where Neighbours is filmed before heading back into the centre.
Flinders Street
Taking the free city tour bus I saw all the sights in the city, including Flinders Street Station and the South Bank, as well as using the free tram around the centre.
Melbourne CBD
Whilst the weather itself was not actually that cold, having acclimatised to 30 degrees for two weeks it did come as a bit of a shock, but the area was very nice and I managed to see wild Kangaroos as well as a Koala and emus. It was bizarre to think I was now the furthest I had ever been from home, and yet in many ways it was the most similar! Though the internal quarantine, varying time zones and different dialects did show some differences!
Posted by kmmk17 17:00 Archived in Australia Tagged animals coast city rural family rtw
