Melbourne and surrounds

We arrived at the Arts Center in Melbourne's Southbank neighborhood at noon on the 17th.
Jack met us and we put our bags in his car. That day we ate pho for lunch and walked around the CBD (central biz district) before meeting Jack at the end of the day to go home.
During our stay here we stayed with Faye, Jack, and Kupa who live in the SE suburb of Melgrave. At dinner we finally had a home-cooked meal; thanks Faye! Julie and I were lucky enough to stay with them, through the generosity of Jenn's friend Sally, who is longtime friends with Faye.
Friday we had a nice sleep-in morning, much needed after many early mornings on our Wayward Bus trip. We took the train into the CBD and spent our day wandering about. We hit the Victoria Market and picked up various items for an impromptu picnic lunch of Turkish bread sandwiches we filled with local salami, ham, cheddar, and pesto! Yum! Other highlights were taking the City Center Circle tram to the Rialto Observation Tower for a bird's eye view of the city (found the PwC and Mercer buildings); took the local tram to the Royal Botanical Gardens (which I think are far more beautiful than Sydney); had dinner at Tiamo 2 restaurant on Lygon Street; and managed to get into the Spiegeltent to see the Le Clique show-which was really amazing!
Saturday we headed to the Healesville Animal Sanctuary. On our way we stopped at a lookout in the Dandenong mountains, where we could see clear across the greater Melbourne area. On our way to the animal reserve we lunched in Healesville, where Julie had her 1st ginger beer (non-alcoholic) and I had my first Oz hamburger, which was tasty-their burgers all seem more homemade and therefore a little tastier than US burgers, believe it or not!
The animal reserve was neat-we got to see the animals up close, our faves were koalas, echidnas and the platypus! This night Jack treated us his delicious Oz bbq!
On Sunday morning, Jack outdid himself with a hearty Oz breakfast with eggs and bacon! Later we went to the St Kilda neighborhood to take in the local crafts market and that evening we took a short boat ride from the pier to see the cute little fairy penguins which Julie was keen on doing. We fortunately found this tour instead of getting up early and spending the whole day down in touristy Philip Island!
After that whirlwind tour of Melbourne, we left early Monday for Ayers Rock. We are grateful to Sally for hooking is up with her friends Faye and Jack!

Great Ocean Road to Melbourne

On Monday 12 Nov we got onto a bus run by Wayward Bus to see the sights from Adelaide to Melbourne. Our driver was Lawrie, who was not only a skillful driver but also full of information about many of the places, sights, and flora & fauna we saw along the way.
Our trip lasted 3.5 days, and a week later I(X) can't remember all the little coastal towns we saw. I'll try to hit the highlights-some things have to be left for all of you to see!
Day 1.
We drove into Adelaide Hills into Hahndorf, a touristy German town. We were there quite early so only a bakery or two was open. We stopped at sand dunes in Cooranga(?) National Park. We had our first views of the ocean since leaving Adelaide! We also stopped at a small restaurant run by aborigines and had a brief tour of local flora & fauna and history by one of them, Gordy. Julie got to hold a lizard and learned the local insect repellent plant! This evening we spent in Robe, a town famous for its crawfish, or lobster as we know it in USA. We had some for dinner-delicious and fresh! Our hotel was Guichen Motel, which was cozy and charming and also had the restaurant we ate dinner.
Day 2.
We visited the town of Mt. Gambier, which is on the slopes of an extinct volcano. There is a lake in the volcano which is the town's water source and apparntly changes color from a black-blue in winter to aqua in the summer. This night was spent in Port Fairy, which had a nice bay to walk along. This day we saw a lot of small port towns-all started by whaling or gold rush. We also had a lot of rain today!
Day 3
Today we drove through another extinct volcano, which once was farmland but has been converted into a wildlife sanctuary for kangaroos, koalas, and emus. We finally got onto the "real" Great Ocean Road with great views, just as dramatically beautiful as CA highway 1 but of course different. We saw several sights including Loch Ard, London Bridge, and the 12 Apostles. This night was spent in Apollo Bay.
Day 4
A half day drive into Melbourne. We drove through a lot of weekend beach towns, and as we approached Melbourne we had some nice views. We met up with Jack Hamilton, a friend of a friend who was kind enough to open up their home to us while we were in Melbourne.