Melbourne, The Great Ocean Road and back to Melbourne Again...

In our last 'exciting' installment Zoe and I had just got back from a restaurant and were about to go to sleep. The next day we had breakfast in the hotel before venturing off to explore Melbourne. We went to the Melbourne Museum, the Victoria Market and Zoe visited Lonely Planet whose hotel reservation website she has been writing. We also went on a walk round Melbourne recommended in our Lonely Planet guidebook.

The city is very picturesque. Here are a few photos we took along the way.

The Old Magistrste's Court and Tram



A Miscellaneous Government Building



The Yarra River



Flinders Street Station



A Small Section of the Skyline



Funky Building in Federation Square



In the evening we had booked a few months in advance to eat at Vue de Monde. Here's what The Age has to say about it... Review.

We had the 9 course degustation menu but we only managed 8 courses in the end. I had matching wines with each course. The food and wine were extraordinary. My favourite was truffle risotto. Zoe's top dish was the gazpacho/tomato/cosomme thing with dry ice pictured below (incidentally this did not count as a course)...









The next day we set off down the Mornington Peninsula to Sorento where we caught the ferry to Queenscliff and then onto the Great Ocean Road.



This is Zoe on the ferry...



And here is the ferry coming back the other way...





Ray and his wife Christine had recommended the Mornington Peninsula, Queenscliff Ferry and Great Ocean Road to us and we are very glad that they did.



Here's some of the scenery that the Great Ocean Road takes in...











One of the best things about the drive is that there are so many deserted beaches to explore.



There was a warning on this one but it was a bit of a mystery as to what was being warned against. Sudden sand storms perhaps?





There were some interesting cliff faces to climb.

Unfortunately Zoe got carried away with us having the beach all to ourselves and decided to go skinny dipping (please avert your eyes now if you are of a nervous disposition)...



(Andy - if you would like a copy of this picture with the censored sign removed send £20 to my PayPal account).

Below is a more salubrious picture of our names written in the sand...



One of the most famous sites along the Great Ocean Road is the 12 Apostles.







This sign tells a little bit about how they were formed...



Here's an apostle in the making...



On our first day we drove to Lorne and stayed there for the evening.

The Beach at Lorne



We went out for a nice meal in a local restaurant that had been recommended to us by the staff at Lonely Planet when Zoe had visited them.

We also visited the waterfall there and went for a walk around the park.



The walk was more dangerous than you might think...



The Great Ocean Road doesn't just have scenery. It also has Cheese World and a Cheese Factory.





Cheese World was slightly disappointing as it turned out to be a cheese shop with a selection of cheeses slightly smaller than you would get in an average supermarket. Still the factory looked impressive.

On the second night we stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast just outside Warnambool. The only thing I really didn't like about our flat in Sydney is that it had no bath. I guess with most of Australia being in drought baths are a bit naughty. Still, our room in the bed and breakfast had a great big spa to lie in so the environment would just have to cope...



We ate in a seafood restaurant recommended by the proprietor of the place we were staying in. I had the lobster which was excellent. Zoe thoroughly enjoyed her Special Oysters with bacon, cheese, spring onion and Ketjap Manis.



Today we drove back to Melbourne (about a three hour drive). We are about to go for a curry.