Australia Holiday - Inverloch to Melbourne

From the Ocean to the Airport - 14th November
After all the wonderful, sometimes quirky, places we stayed it was somehow appropriate that we should end our trip in a concrete cell. Plain white sheets, white walls and a swipe card for entry. We were at the Melbourne Airport Ibis Budget.(A$114/night) - clean and convenient.
Inverloch Surf Beach
Earlier in the day we had stopped at the Inverloch Surf Beach and then headed back towards the City. Our lunch stop was a Cafe in Baxter from where we carried on into suburbia before joining the bayside coast at Frankston. We had a look at the beach which was OK but we had been well and truly spoiled by the Prom and Inverloch. A very helpful Lady at the Tourist Office copied a map of the Airport and of Moorabbin where we were going to visit an old colleague. We drifted slowly up the coast with plenty of time to spare and took the Beach Road, the famous weekend cycle route. Blackrock and Sandringham were stop off points along the way. Parking in the beachside car parks was very expensive. In the town of Brighton, much nicer than the one in UK, we stopped to buy flowers for the people we were visiting. The Florist was a bit depressed about Australia, reckoned greedy unions were strangling the economy. Possibly they are but Brighton looked pretty prosperous to us, perhaps the Union Leaders live there? Lots of small individual shops like the Butcher and Baker, unlike the UK of today. Anyway we had a date in Moorabbin which we found easily although our route was pretty circuitous and took us through some smart suburban streets.
The P's house was a lovely wooden structure with big open plan Kitchen Diner.
They had prepared dinner for us, a cottage pie to die for, which was a nice surprise. With three kids, two dogs, a cat and the Aussie Lifestyle they were doing very well.
Beach Huts at Brighton
Our last drive in Australia was to the Airport and in darkness but we were given good instructions and followed them North, straight through the City. Impressive infrastructure and good views of the skyline along the way. I think we used a toll road along the way which has to be paid in the same way as London's congestion charge. We did get slightly stressed when we got stuck in a traffic jam because the Hotel had told us we had to check in by 10 pm or we might lose the room. Melbourne Airport is not the easiest of places to drive around but we found our Hotel, signposted as a Formula 1, in good time and decided to return Yaris 3 early. That meant filling the tank at the BP station. Luckily TW was alert to the fact that if we went out the wrong exit we would end up back on the Freeway and return to Melbourne City - aagh. Fortunately we went out the right way, found Hertz and said cheerio to our little Yaris 3. They were quite jolly at Hertz so we were happy it would be looked after. Not sure what they thought about the Koala in the boot. Sorry, we obviously could not take it to NZ, there are not enough Eucalyptus trees.
Always a bit of a relief to get the cars back unscathed. The Rental Companies all try and sell add-ons like CDW and Roadside Assistance and we do not take any of them. We do have our own Annual Policy that is much cheaper but it would no doubt be a struggle to sort out any claims.
Location: Inverloch VIC 3996, Australia

Comments

  1. Devid tomas20 July 2018 at 10:45

    Awesome blog, thanks for sharing. You can start your journey of Australia from Sydney. When here, you can rent a superb luxury villa with swimming pool at your holiday accommodation. This place is famous for its traditional tourist activities. You can see its Opera House, where you can have a feel of its rich tradition.Accommodation Townsville

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Italy - A postcard from Tuscany

Image
 An Italian Escape With Covid in abeyance and another health issue resolved it was time to head South for a week in Italy. Bologna 17th May 2022 We chose the noble City of Bologna as our starting point and BA from LHR our carrier of choice. We had a shedload of BA credits from all our cancelled flights over the Winter so we even took checked luggage! Really great to be landing in Italy and even better that they did not make us line-up in the 'Other Passport' queue, we were straight through the e-gates onto the Marconi shuttle into the City. Bologna Station is a bit of a maze and we struggled to find our way out. Eventually we found a long overpass that took us to the front of the building and a Taxi to our digs for the first two nights. Coincidentally this was in Via Marconi. I thought the comms pioneer was an adopted Englishman but clearly he is very well remembered over here. Our La Dolla Apartment was really nice and modern, a bit of a contrast to the lobby and stairs but th...
Read more

Bordeaux to Nimes on a bicycle Day 4 to Castelsarrasin

Image
25th  September Day 4 Feugarolles to Castelsarrasin 84km Hunting for snails Crossing the massive viaduct over the Garonne Really enjoying the cycling along the canal. The prevailing wind is from the NorthWest and our heading was South East. Couple that with a smooth surface and only a slight incline and you have a cycling idyll. There are also plenty of towns and villages en route so, really, it would be possible to do the trip several times and get variety by stopping at different places. So anyway, down for Breakfast on another cool day. Six cyclists now, the lead peleton had been joined by les Frères Eccossais, the Scottish brothers. After a jolly meal we headed off. I joined up with the Scots as the pursuivants, the Three Musketeers, in Tour de France terms. The yellow jersey had already left and we did not catch him. This wasn’t grape country. The fields alongside the canal were planted with a myriad of different crops including tobacco, kiwi fruits (what a...
Read more

Austria - Bad Hofgastein - Langlauf - Cross-country skiing and the village in Winter 2012

Image
A Day in Winter - 13th December 2012 All quiet at the Advent Market - Daytime in Bad Hofgastein Winter in Bad Hofgastein Bad Hofgastein Kur Park with the Stubnerkogel in the background Bad Hofgastein Kur Park - across the frozen lake Ducks to water The current High Pressure system has brought low temperatures and clear blue skies. TW had the day off and took a few pictures as she walked into town through the Kur Park. In the evening the Advent Market is full of people enjoying a Gluwein or Hot Chestnuts and horse driven sleighs criss-cross the Park. During the day, all is quiet with just a few shoppers and some very hardy Mallard Ducks in the Kur Park. Open Loop - 14th December 2012 On the tracks We can see the Langlauf Loipe (cross-country loops) from our window and we noticed that they had put in some classic tracks. Had to give them a go. Slide and Glide, Slide and Glide. Looking North in Gasteinertal Looking South No downhill today ...
Read more

USA Road Trip - Las Vegas to Zion National Park

Image
Day 12, 13 From Glitzy to Glorius A remote Ussie - Tourists at the Checkerboard Mesa A big day today as we saddled up the Hyundai to head across the desert to the Zion National Park. The roads were busy in Las Vegas but the traffic petered out as we headed Eastwards into Utah via Arizona. Not a lot to see en route other than wide vistas, big skies and very occasionally a desert town. We made a stop on the way in Mesquite at another McDonalds. Mesquite looked to be a retirement community on the Nevada/Arizona border with big Casinos and a number of Golf Courses. Amazed that there is enough water? The Virgin River, a tributary of the Colorado, flows through the City but its not very big. The name has nothing to do with Mr Branson, it was named a couple of hundred years ago after a Pioneer. A Ranch on the way We were due for only a brief incursion into Arizona but they decided to do some big road works to keep us there for a while longer. Anyway, no complaints, it was a good dr...
Read more

Wales - A Postcard from Stackpole Pembrokeshire in July 2020

Image
Heading West on a Staycation Broadhaven South Beach TW found a last minute cancellation to this 2000 Acre National Trust property.  Our cottage usually takes six so it is not a cheap deal for just two people. In normal times, of course, we would have headed east for Austria but these are not normal times.  The need for an expensive Covid test before we entered Austria made it inconvenient and impractical.  Private Covid tests cost between £150 and £200 and there is no guarantee on how quickly you get results.  To enter Austria you need the test to be carried out within the last 4 days.  So the staycation made a lot of sense.  Spending our money in the UK to help protect jobs was also a strong persuader. So with the car laden with our bikes and provisions we headed west on the 240 mile journey to Stackpole.  Crossing the Border on the Severn Bridge No Covid test was required but the Welsh did make us go through a sheep dip ...
Read more

London to Salzburg on a bike - Stage 9 - Marckolsheim to Laufenburg via Basle - 142km - Rhine Cycle

Image
French Leave - 14th September 2013 Good Morning ride down the Old Rhine Canal Into the Forest - and out of the wind Crossing the border - walking bridge at Huningue over the Rhine Another good breakfast, another shower of rain and a return to the Old Rhine Canal. Got a bit adventurous after a while and turned off to take a look at some local villages. Am afraid I went a bit around the houses in the flat farming country. Found my way back on track near Volgelsheim. The place names around here do not exactly trip off the tongue. A fierce headwind from the south made cycling very difficult so had to get my head down. I needed my Patisserie stop!  A diversion through a massive forest added distance but gave respite from the wind for a while. My downloaded Eurovelo 5 course headed for Mulhouse but I did not need to go there. I headed off to Basel. I think I was paying the penalty for not researching this area sufficiently. I could see the big Rhine Canal through the tree...
Read more

USA Road Trip 2016 - The Prologue

Image
California here we come - plus a little bit of Nevada, Arizona and Utah On a little cable car heading  the stars Day one – on the Siven, Siven, Siven – NZ1 to LA. We chose Air New Zealand flights for our trip. Two good reasons -  The price was keen and w e like them Bit odd getting on the plane knowing we were getting off half-way. NZ1 was on its way to Auckland. We were, of course, down in steerage but we were able to look at Premium Economy so that was a consolation. Not sure what we would do with all that space if we had it, would only lose stuff. Our little seats were still a giant step from Southall. The drive from Poole towards Heathrow was fine but we had a bit of a conflict with the Sat Nav lady. TW nearly threw her out of the window. For some reason she did not want to take us to our destination, she refused to navigate us to a disused gas works in Southall, does she know something we don’t? Will our little car be OK at Purple Parking? We managed to ...
Read more

Salzburg in the Rain

Image
The Sound of Raindrops on Roses Salzburg still looks pretty good in bad weather and a few raindrops on the roses didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for a wander around the narrow streets and gardens of the old town. The streets were empty as the tourists were forced inside.   We joined them eventually and had a nice delayed birthday meal at St Peters Stiftskeller. This claims to be the oldest restaurant in Central Europe, it’s been serving since 803 AD.   The toilets are much more recent. The cheap end of the menu is pretty reasonable. That’s one of many good things about Austrian restaurants.   The first glance at the menu might cause a sharp intake of breath but they normally have a few simple, standard, dishes that locals can afford.
Read more