Jali's Journey: Road Trip to Melbourne

Our road trip to Melbourne took us to some lovely spots, mostly following the coast around the south-east of the country. We enjoyed a relaxing stay in Eden - a small town by a beautiful coastline. We spent three nights in a beach-front cabin that was just metres from the sea. A really special spot. We enjoyed some dips in the sea and found a lovely secluded spot behind some rocks with a perfect sea pool for skinny-dipping. The local area has a whale-fishing history and when the season is right, people flock to the area to spot whales. We enjoyed a day out exploring some of the historic whaling station sights and lookout tower.

A couple of nights were spent near Nicholson where we visited nearby Raymond Island - a short ferry hop onto a small island where koala's inhabit the local trees. There's a 'Koala Walk' that leads you down residential streets and you can look out for the furry creatures dosing in the trees. It was a great place for a picnic too and of-course the obligatory playpark session.

Onwards to Cape Paterson (near Inverloch) for a stay near the rough and rugged coast with some wet and windy weather. No sunbathing on the beach here, just walks in our wet-weather gear.

The journey continued to the end of the Mornington Peninsula where we caught the ferry in Sorrento that would take us the 40-min trip across the bay to Queenscliff. There were dolphins jumping through the waves as the ferry set off (Jonny missed them as he was in the toilet...). Queenscliff is a lovely little town and it's a shame we only had time for a one-night stay at a cosy old cottage with lots of character. We enjoyed fish and chips and a relaxing evening watching 'The World's Fastest Indian' (a great film about New Zealander Burt Munro who raced motorbikes).

The next day we set off to drive down some of famous Great Ocean Road. This starts in Torquay and snakes its way unsurprisingly along the coast south west of Melbourne. We had a lunch stop in Torquay with time to visit the Australian National Surfing Museum. This was a pretty cool place and entertaining even for non-surf buffs like us.

The journey took us through some pretty spectacular coast - beautiful scenes with huge oceans, rolling waves and vast skies. We stayed two nights at Apollo Bay in the Eco YHA there. This allowed us to take a day trip to the lighthouse at Cape Otway, Australia's oldest working lighthouse. Sam and Ben enjoyed walking up the narrow winding steps to the top where we enjoyed some special views out to sea. We then went on to see 'The Twelve Apostles', a famous spot on this route that is packed with tourists who come to see the cliff towers that stand tall and mighty in the sea along the coastline. It was certainly an impressive sight and unsurprisingly busy - not just with people on foot but with helicopters buzzing overhead giving people rides down the coast.

We left the coast and made our way to Melbourne - our final destination on our Australian adventure. We had four-days booked to explore the city and then to make our escape to the airport. With an Air BnB booked at a house north of the city in Coburg, we could take a train to the centre for some sight-seeing and much-needed souvenir shopping. While in Melbourne the sun shone and we enjoyed hanging out in Federation Square, riding the trams, walks in the Botanical Gardens, visiting the impressive ACMI - Australian Centre for Moving Image and walking down some of the quirky graffiti covered side streets.

The last night of our stay was spent packing and repacking our bags, throwing away the non-essentials to make room for souvenirs and travel keepsakes. The next day was to be an early start.