Melbourne and Sydney 2019/2020
Day 1 - 21 December - Napier 23•C, Wellington 23•C, Melbourne 17•C
We checked in at 9:15, our bags were checked right through to Melbourne. Flight left Napier at 10am, a bit of a bumpy trip and landed in Wellington at 11am.
We sat in the terminal and caught up with Andrew’s Mum & Dad, and Liz’s Mum, had a coffee etc. Originally we were booked on a Singapore Airlines flight to Melbourne but due to them changing the plane we were switched to a Qantas flight leaving about 1/2 later, ( we were told about a month ago ), and for our trouble we were given $250 each, so we went and picked that money up from the Singapore Airline office. We checked through security into the International lounge at 2:30Pm and waited. Our flight was late arriving so we didn’t board until 4:15, and left at 4:30pm. The flight was ok with a bit of turbulence in places, we had 3 seats for the 2 of us so had a bit of room to spread out.
Our flight landed in Melbourne at 6:20pm, through customs etc no problems, grabbed our bags and rang for a shuttle to the Jucy Car Rental yard ( as we were out of hours we dealt with a parking company ), which arrived after 20 minutes. Drove to the yard in Tullamarine and picked up our car for the next 11 days; a nice little Hyundai with a Jucy coloured stripe on the sides!
We drove out at 7:30pm and headed into Melbourne on Western Ring Rd ( M80 then M1 ) and ( after a bit of complicated driving through Southbank with U turns etc at the request of Google Maps ) we found our accommodation for the next 6 nights at 250 City Road ( booked through AirBNB for $890 ). We parked the car in the building ( after working out the car lift ) then up to our apartment on the 20th floor, with a view towards the Yarra River, Crown Casino and the skyscrapers of Southbank.
We went out for a walk at 9pm to get tea ( Merrywells, next to the river ) then walked along river, and then to Woolworths nearby to get supplies and home at 10pm.
Day 2 - 22 December - Melbourne 21•C, cloudy then fine
I got up at 5am and went for a walk to shoot down by the Yarra, and wandered back home at 7am. We had breakfast then left at 8:30am, walked to the river then along to Princes Bridge then over to Flinders Station, walked up Swanston St, down Burke St mall ( the Myers Christmas windows were getting unveiled so queues of people waiting to see them ), we grabbed a coffee at Myers ( after Liz had done some shopping ) then carried on wandering through town. Eventually wound up in Melbourne Central Mall for lunch ( some Pho… yum ) at 12.
Next we walked through to the State Library Victoria building and took photos for a while in the La Trobe Reading Room, with it’s massive dome and 4 storey space. After an hour of taking photos we walked down Swanston St to Chinatown and then back across the river to our apartment at 2pm
We rested our feet, and our eyes for a bit.
We headed out at 5pm and walked to the Crown Casino, donated some money to their coffers, had tea at the massive food court ( Italian tonight ), then walked down river past the Convention Centre and back Home at 8pm
Out again at 8:30 ( this time with camera gear ) and took some photos of the Seafarers Bridge with the buildings of Southbank until about 9:30 pm then walked home, arriving at 10pm.
( a quick note about the photos in this blog; they are taken straight from the camera… )
Day 3 - 23 December - Melbourne 23• Dec - fine then cloudy then fine
The alarm went off at 5am and we walked to the Shrine of Remembrance to shoot the sunrise. As we arrived 5 hot air balloons launched from Albert Park and drifted past. After shooting for an hour or so we walked back to our apartment at 7am and had breakfast.
We headed out in the car at 9am and drove south to St Kilda and along the beach road for a bit then back inland to the Nepean Highway and through to Mornington for coffee and cake at 11am. This pretty little town was quite busy with market stalls in the Main Street and lots of people around.
We headed back to the Nepean Highway again and south right to the end of the Mornington Peninsula at Portsea, and then out to the Point Nepean Regional Park. We couldn’t drive to the fort at the very end of the peninsula as we had hoped, and didn’t want to pay the $15 ea bus fare from the car park so we walked the 15min out to Observatory Point to the beach on the Port Phillip Bay side of the peninsula. This was a nice little beach but the flies on the walk and even more so at the beach were quite unpleasant so we didn’t hang around.
Back to the car and drove back to Sorrento for some lunch and a look around another nice little town, obviously servicing an area of reasonable wealth given the types of shops. Back to the car at 2pm and drove back to Melbourne on the M11 etc, arriving back at 4pm
We rested for a bit and then out again at 5 to the Casino, then tea in the Casino, back to get camera gear then to the north bank of the river to shoot the flames that get launched outside the Casino at 9pm, then back to our apartment at 10pm.
Day 4 - December 24 - Melbourne 24• - cloudy then fine 24
We got up at 8:30, breakfast etc then left at 9:30am. We were booked on the 11:10am Puffing Billy Train out of Belgrave Station, so we drove east through Melbourne ( including the flash looking Toorak area ) and onto the M1 and east. After exiting the M1 we drove though the countryside and into Belgrave. We picked up our tickets at 10:30am ( joining the hordes of people trying to buy tickets with the next 2 train already sold out ) and jumped on the train, leaving a little late.
Puffing Billy is a narrow gauge heritage railway running on a line that was built in 1900, originally running from Fern Tree Gully to Gembrook but now running from Belgrave to Gembrook ( the Fern Tree Gully to Belgrave section was replaced by a modern train line connecting to Melbourne ).
We chugged our way through the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges for an hour to Lakeside ( which was as far as we were going ) and then jumped on the waiting train heading in the other direction. This return train was standing room only. The train goes through some beautiful areas and at times has stunning views south ( although today it was too hazy to see very far ). We arrive back at Belgrave at 1:50pm
Back in the car and we drove to Olinda for some lunch at 2:15 at Dudleys and sat in the sun ( it was cloudy and cold at the start of the train trip but was now sunny and hot ), had a look around the little town ( most of which was shut for some reason ) and then drove over Mt Dandenong and then dropped down to Ringwood and then back into town, and home at 4:30pm
We drove to Port Melbourne for tea at a Japanese restaurant at 7:30pm. This area looks like it is in the process of being upgraded with lots of new buildings and houses being built, in amongst older buildings. After tea we drove to Princes Pier and took photos of the ‘legendary’ wharf poles and buildings. We arrived back home at 9:30pm
Day 5 - 25 December - Melbourne 23•C - fine
We got up at 5am and drove back down to Port Melbourne to shoot the sunrise at the piers/beacon where we were last night. Sadly the gate to Princes Pier was locked and there was no way to get to the end of the pier to shoot the piles. So we hung around the area between the 2 piers as the sun rose on Christmas morning.
We left there at about 6:30am and drove back to our apartment, grabbing McDonalds for breakfast on the way. We both fell asleep for a while, and woke up about 11am.
We headed out for a walk through the quiet city streets, in the hope of being able to explore the laneways. Unfortunately due to some of the ‘laneways’ being enclosed arcades we didn’t really get to see what we wanted. On the plus side there were quite a few cafes open so we stopped for a drink on Swanston St and then wandered over to Parliament and then down to Burke St and jumped on a tram ( the trams are free within the city centre, so it saved us walking at no cost ) along Burke St and jumped off at Southern Cross Station.
We walked through the station then out to the west side into the Docklands area, past Marvel Stadium and then back along through Docklands Park, across Webb Bridge and then back to our apartment at 2pm via the river side, and grabbed an ice cream.
We rested for a bit and then cooked a Christmas dinner of steak and pasta and walked to the Casino at 7pm and home again at 8:30pm
Day 6 - 26 December - Melbourne - cloudy then fine 27•C
A bit of a sleep in until 8am today, had breakfast then left at 9:30am, walked to the Yarra and then follow the crowd to the MCG for the 1st day of the Boxing Day Cricket Test Match between Australia and New Zealand. We found our gate and joined the queue to get in, and got to our seats just as play started at 10:30am. The atmosphere in the ground with 70,000+ people in it was amazing, and even more so when NZ got an early wicket and the NZ fans jumped to their feet. Sadly the rest of the day ( and the game, and the series didn’t go so well :( )
We stayed at the game until 3:15pm then walked back along the Yarra and into town. We shopped through the Boxing Day sales. We then jumped on a free tram as far as the river and then walked home at 5:30pm.
We left again at 6pm and drove to Richmond to meet Liz’s friend Penny and her nieces etc at the Mount View Hotel rooftop bar for a few drinks then drove to Fitzroy to the Rainbow Hotel for dinner at 9pm. We left there and drove home at 10pm.
Day 7 - 27 Dec - Melbourne to Sale - 27•C - fine
We got up at 8am, had some breakfast and packed our bags. Today was the start of our road trip portion of our holiday; driving to Sydney.
There 2 things that need to be explained before I write the rest of the diary:
we had originally intended to fly in and out of Melbourne, and take this second week of our trip to head inland into North Victoria / South NSW, but when booking the flights it was significantly cheaper to fly home from Sydney, so we decided to drive Melbourne to Sydney and see that part of Australia
Before we arrived in Melbourne, and during our stay in Melbourne, there were bushfires occurring in NSW, mainly north and west of Sydney. There were some small fires in the south east corner of Australia ( the area we would be driving through ) but nothing of any significance. So when we left Melbourne there were still small fires that we would pass, but none affecting the roads / routes we were planning to take.
We left the building for the last time via the car lift and headed south. We first went for a lap of the Grand Prix circuit in Albert Park then found a petrol station and filled the car up ( The petrol price at the time was $1.41 per litre for 91 octane ).
We drove through to the M1 and then headed east, turned onto the A440 ( after missing the right turn and going the long way ), and drove towards South Gippsland.
After winding through pretty countryside we stopped at the little village of Loch, just off the main road for an early lunch at 12. It is one of these historic little places that the main road now bypasses, but instead of dying it has become a little arts / craft community and the buildings on the main street were well maintained, and there were 3 cafes to choose from for lunch, which was good for us.
After lunch we carried on east and turned off at Toora and headed up the hills to Agnes Falls. After a short 200m walk through the bush we arrived at the top of the falls, which are the tallest single drop falls in Victoria. There is no access to the bottom of the falls so we took some photos and video from the viewing platform overlooking the falls and gorge then headed back to the car.
After rejoining the highway we carried on east across the plains of eastern South Gippsland and arrived in Sale at 3:00pm, and we checked into the Rivers Apartments and Hotel ( $130 for 1 night ) just to the west of town. After dropping our bags we drove into Sale ( which is quite a big town, but similar to most country towns in Australia ) and found a shopping mall and grabbed a coffee and had a wander around. Liz bought a new case for her phone and we got groceries. Back to the hotel to rest for a bit.
We headed out again at 5pm and drove south to a “historic swing bridge” that we had passed earlier in the day. Now in NZ language a swing bridge is a pedestrian rope/cable bridge which swings when you walk on it, but in this case it refers to a bridge which turns on a pivot to open and allow tall boats to pass through.
We wandered around and across the bridge then drove back into town and headed to the local RSL Club for dinner, only to be told that the chef was away until the 6th January. So we headed next door to the “Gippy” ( Gippsland Hotel ). After ordering some meals at 7:30pm and grabbing a table, we finally got our food at 8:30pm ( they were very apologetic, but we were very hungry ). We got back to the hotel at 10pm.
Day 8 - 28 Dec - Sale to Cann River, 26•C in Lakes Entrance, 36•C in Cann River, hazy
I got up at 5am and looked out the window to see what I thought was mist blanketing the landscape, so I decided to head out and take some photos. When I got outside I realised it was bone dry outside so it was thick smoke haze that was hanging around not mist. I wandered down to a nearby walking track and to a bridge that crossed a nearby river and took some photos then walked around the area for a while, down walkways and farm roads to see what I could see.
I got back to to the hotel at 8:30am. We had some breakfast, and left at 10am. After a quick stop for petrol we headed south then east to Golden Beach across the flat dry plains. The beach itself did not look inviting for a swim so after a look around we headed back through Sale and northwards on the Princes Highway.
We drove through Bairnsdale and then down to Lakes Entrance on the coast. This is a popular spot for holiday makers and boats as it is the only connection between the sea and the 5 lakes that form the massive inland waterways of the area. We grabbed some lunch then walked along the inland side of a waterway then across the 75m long bridge that goes from town across the inland waterway to the sea facing beach. The sky was getting increasingly black from what looked like a mix of approaching rain and smoke from fires a couple of hundred kilometres to the north.
The place was very busy with tourists so we didn’t hang around too long. We walked back to the Woolworths for groceries, just as a few drops of rain started to fall. As we were leaving Woolworths a woman came in exclaiming that “it is raining out there with real rain!”. She seemed very happy about it so we assumed it hadn’t rained for a while. Liz bought some shorts at a shop next door then we wandered back to the car at 2:15pm and drove out of town and headed inland and north again.
The drive out of Lakes Entrance is the start of the thick Gum Tree forests that cover most of East Gippsland where we were now driving.
We turned off and drove to the coast at Bemm River at 3:30pm, had a walk around and watched the locals launching their boats to go fish for Flatties ( Flathead ), we drove back up to the main road and then on to Cann River, arriving at 5pm.
We checked in to the Cann Valley Motel ( $122 for 1 night for a large room ) and unpacked, and had a wander around the town, consisting of 2 petrol stations, a hotel, a cafe, 2 motels, 2 bakeries, a few churches etc. The weather was noticeably warmer and more humid here than it had been by the coast as we were now about 20kms inland. The town had a nice quaint feel to it.
In town there were various Rural Fire vehicles and trucks who were obviously staying here to fight the fire a few hundred kilometers to the northwest of us.
We grabbed dinner at the Cann River Hotel, which was quite unexciting but filling, and back to the hotel. We headed out for a while at sunset to catch a bit of colour in the sky and then, after a bit of driving through the forest and seeing wallabies hopping around on the edge of the road, we got back to the hotel at 9pm.
We decided to book our accommodation for the next 2 nights up the NSW coast, at Bega and at Sussex Inlet.
Day 9 - 29 Dec - Cann River to Bega, 27•C. hazy / cloudy
We got up at 8am and walked next door for some breakfast. We watched the fire trucks roll up and down the Main Street as they got ready to head off for the day. Some of the trucks we saw were from west of Melbourne , about a 6 hour drive away, which shows the scale of the response to the fires.
We packed up and left at 10am and drove east on the A1 Princes Highway. We didn’t know it at the time but this is the last day that this piece of road would be open for a while ( as I write this 2 weeks later it is still closed ) due to fires.
After driving through more gum tree forest we turned off just before Genoa onto an unmarked road / parking area for Genoa Falls. We walked for a about 200m down to the ‘falls’. There wasn’t a lot of water around but there were a couple of nice drops that we photographed. Most of the area was bare rock and massive boulders, which presumably in wet months are full of water.
We then watched the local Water Dragons and one in particular who seemed happy to pose for us. If we got too close they would run away on 2 legs. The ones we saw were about 40cm in length, but I read later that they can grow up to 1m in length, which would make them a little more scary.
We also talked to a guy and his parents who was travelling to New Zealand in a few days to spend a year travelling around.
We jumped back in the car at 11:15am and drove to Genoa and then turned off to Mallacoota. Mallacoota is the eastern most town in the state of Victoria and was located on the coast near the Vic / NSW border. We had watched a program about the town a few nights earlier, so it was definitely on our radar to visit.
We drove the 20 minutes from the main road to the town, drove around the town and along the shores of the inlet that the town looks out over. It is a real holiday spot and was busy with people so we didn’t stop and get out, but headed back to the main road and carried on. A few days later Mallacoota was threatened by a massive bush fire that had 4000 residents sheltering on the beach while the fire burnt the edges of the town. That fire ( unbeknown to us ) was starting 30kms west of town as we were driving out.
We carried on driving on the Princes Highway and soon crossed the border into New South Wales. The only visible difference was that the gum trees in NSW were kept clear of the road with a 5m wide strip cleared each side.
We drove through to Eden for some lunch and a look around. The town looked a bit tired so we didn’t hang around, after a quick look around the waterfront we headed back to the main road and carried on north. We followed the Princes Highway to Pambula then turned onto the more coastal Tourist Route 9, which took us through Merimbula and up to Tathra.
We parked the car at 2:30pm and walked down from the headland to the historic deep water wharf for a look around then back up to the car, and drove along the beach front to the outlet of the Bega River and then back up and through town again.
We drove inland to Bega and checked into the Bega Village Motor Inn ( $157 for 1 night ). We dumped our bags and read about the fire near Mallacoota and that the road we had driven from Cann River this morning was now shut. If we had been a day later we would have had to return most of the way to Melbourne as most of the roads north from the Cann River area were also closed due to fires.
We walked across the road to the supermarket for supplies and then back to the motel for a rest.
We walked down the road to the very busy Bega Club for tea and a donation to their gaming machines at 6:30pm. Back to the motel at 7:45pm, jumped in the car and drove through to Tathra to shoot the sunset through the haze at the Bega River mouth. Back to the motel at 9:30pm
Day 10 - 30 Dec - Bega to Sussex Inlet to Nowra, 29•C. hazy
We got up at 8am, quick breakfast and left at 9am, drove to the Princes Highway then north again.
As we drove north the sky was getting darker with smoke and the colour of the sun was orange. As we drove past cars you could see the sun reflected in their windscreens and it looked like an orange streetlight.
We hit traffic jams at Moruya and crawled northwards.
We stopped at a little old town called Mogo to get out of the traffic jam
We were aware that there was a fire not far to the west of Mogo, but is was quite small and under control. We walked along the Main Street in the orange light of the smoke, and watched as burnt gum tree leaves fell onto the footpath. We grabbed a coffee at a cafe and sat outside. The locals seemed a little on edge and we were talking to the woman running the cafe and she said this was as bad as she had seen the smoke in the time she had lived there, but thought everything was under control. She also told us about her house which was just out of town and surrounded by bush, and of her neighbour who had decided to have a burnoff of cut down trees a few days before despite the fire ban.
The next day the town of Mogo was burnt to the ground by the fire storm that swept through the area.
We grabbed some petrol and headed north again, and got back in the traffic jams through Batesmans Bay. We stopped for lunch in Milton at 1:30pm. The smoke seemed better here but it was still pretty hazy.
As we drove north from Milton we drove through an area of forest that had been burnt out a couple of weeks earlier. We stopped and took some photos as it was sad but very pretty at the same time.
What we were also struck by in this area was the number of houses that were in the burnt out bush that were completely untouched by fire, presumably due to the hard work of the “firies”. And we also noticed the number of “thank you” signs for the same firies that people had hung on their fences.
We carried on north and turned off to Sussex Inlet, which was our destination for the night. Again this town was located on the coast, about 6km from the Princes Highway, on a road which was the only access road in or out of town.
We checked into the Jahon Motel ( $112 for 1 night ) at 2:30pm and dropped our bags, had a quick walk around town then rested. The town area had the basic amenities of a predominantly holiday spot and wasn’t the nicest looking place. We read about the increase in fire activity inland from where we were, but it was a long way away from us.
We went for a drive to explore the coast and as we were driving along the shore the radio announcer said that they were likely to be shutting the Princes Highway near where we were due to smoke. Once they shut this then we would be trapped in Sussex Inlet until it reopened.
After a brief discussion we headed back to the motel at 5pm, grabbed our bags and left town. We booked a motel in Nowra on the way for the night, and let the people in Sussex Inlet know we had left. As it turns out the road didn't shut until the next day but we weren’t going to take the risk of being stuck there, when we had a flight to catch in a few days time.
We arrived and checked in to the Nowra Motor Inn at 5:30pm ( their last room, $160 for 1 night ). We drove to the Nowra Club for tea at 6pm and then had a drive around town afterwards and back to the motel at 8pm
We booked a room at the Ibis Hotel at Sydney airport for the next night, with the plan to spend New Years Day in Sydney before flying out the next day.
Day 11 - 31 Dec - Nowra to Sydney Airport, 44•C. hazy
Up at 8am, had breakfast, packed and left at 10am. We headed north on the Princes Highway, turned off for a look through Kiarma ( a pretty little place on the coast ) then north into Shell Cove then through the port area of Wollongong and then into Wollongong itself. We parked at the lighthouse and wandered down to the little boat harbour and another lighthouse, then back up to the car and drove into town.
We parked in the Wollongong Central Mall at 12pm and wandered through the complex of buildings that tied into the shopping streets. We grabbed some lunch and had a look around. Wollongong seems like a nice city with a busy shopping district; not the grimy steel town that I had imagined.
We left at 1:30pm and drove up the coast through Austinmer and then along the cliffs, and over the Sea Cliff Bridge. We then drove up the winding road to the top of the cliffs and into Helensburgh. We found the old abandoned railway tunnel and station and had a look around. As we got out of the car the temperature said it was 44•C ( it had been 26•C in Wollongong ). The tunnel was located in a nice shady gully so it felt about 20•C cooler than the temperature in the sun.
Back to the car at 2pm and drove north on the A1, A6 and then the toll M5 ( despite telling google maps to avoid toll roads ) and past the International Terminal at the airport to the Domestic side.
We checked into the Ibis Budget Hotel at 3:30pm ( $324 for 1 night, we were booked into the Rydges Hotel near the International Terminal for our last night in Australia but they wanted much more to add another night). We parked the car ( $35 parking fee ) and rested.
We headed out for a walk to the domestic terminals for a coffee ( about a 15min walk in the heat ) then back to the hotel.
At 6:30pm we headed to the Matto Club in nearby Matraville for dinner. The weather had now turned from warm and steamy to cool and windy as a southerly front came through. Back to the hotel at 8:45pm, and in bed well before New Years.
Day 12 - 1 Jan - Sydney, 29•C. fine
We got up at 8am, breakfast and packed out bags. We checked out at 9:30am and drove to the other side of the airport to the Rydges Hotel, and checked in ( luckily our room was ready ). We dropped our bags in the room ( with a view over the airport ) then took the car to the Jucy depot in Arncliffe ( after filling up with petrol ) and returned our ride for the last 2 weeks.
We got dropped back to the hotel, then walked into the International Terminal and caught the train into Sydney ( $18ea, 15 min ).
We got off at Circular Quay and wandered up through town. Most of the shops seemed to be shut ( it is New Years Day ) but with lots of people around the ones that were open were busy. We walked up through Pitt St, Angel Lane ( to see the bird cages ) then up George St to the QVB Building ( which was shut much to the confusion of most people ).
So we wandered down to Darling Harbour and across to the shopping mall, grabbed some lunch at 12:30pm and wandered the shops. We wandered back up to Martin Place then back down to Circular Quay, walked around, sat in the sun and watched the boats come and go. We caught a train back to the airport at 3pm.
We rested.
We had tea at the Hotel and wandered through the terminal for a nosey then back to the room at 8pm.
Day 13 - 2 Jan - Sydney to Napier
We got up at 7am, packed our bags and walked across to the terminal, dropped our bags and went through immigration etc, and then wandered around the duty free / shops. Had some breakfast at the McDonalds and then wandered down to our gate. We sat and waited for our plane to board at 9:15, and we took off at 10:30am.
A good flight back, arriving into Auckland at 3:15pm, got our bags, cleared immigration and then dropped our bags for our flight to Napier. We went upstairs and grabbed some lunch then walked to the domestic terminal. We already had boarding passes so we sat and waited for our flight to be called at 6pm, and we took off and headed through to Napier, landing at 7pm, and then a taxi home.
Overview:
The trip was really good, and ticked off a couple of bucket list items, but will always be overshadowed by the bush fires that tracked us on out trip between Melbourne and Sydney. The drive between these 2 cities along the Princes Highway is really scenic and well worth the effort.