Melbourne Weekend - Part II

Note: See Part I and Part III of my trip for the beginning of the weekend.

On Saturday morning after my Vegemite, butter and toast breakfast, we got up early and drove out of Melbourne to the Great Ocean Road toward the Twelve Apostles. I have read up on Australia and even did a report on the country in middle school, but I don’t remember ever hearing about or seeing pictures of these amazing natural rock formations. Apparently until the 1920s the site was known as Sow and Piglets until it was renamed 'The Apostles' for tourism purposes. Somehow this turned into 'Twelve Apostles' even though there were only nine of them (now there are eight, as one was reclaimed by the ocean in 2005).
After seeing them, I would put it at #3 on my list of things to see in Australia after the Opera House and Great Barrier Reef. Scroll down for pictures, but back to the story for now.

Nat and I used my Lonely Planet guide to point out sights along the route that twists and turns along the Victoria coast. I'd love to come back and cycle at least a piece of the road - the twists and turns along the coastline would make for a very scenic and difficult ride. The only downside is that the roads are so curvy that it would be a bit dangerous, but definitely worth it.

At one point the guide suggested that we go to Cape Otway lighthouse, the oldest in Australia. We turned off the main road and were told in the description to keep our eyes above to spot the wild koalas hanging from the eucalyptus trees. A few miles down the road we stopped and saw this guy.



The lighthouse ended up being not worth seeing, but we stopped back by the koalas to get a few more shots, then it was on down the road.  We made it to the Gibson Steps in another few hours and took the short walk down them to the beach.

Just a little further down the road we saw the visitor's center for the Apostles, and a little further to a helipad.  We walked up to the short line ($95 for a loop of the Apostles, $145 for a bigger loop that includes the Apostles and London Bridge formation, and a few more even larger loops that were more expensive).  We quickly decided that a flight was worth it.



After the ~20 minute flight, we walked around and took a few more pictures before starting on the drive back to Melbourne. We didn't follow the coast on the way back to save time, so there wasn't much in the way of excitement on the back. Highways are highways.

We planned our night around the Deck of Secrets from Friday night, this time focusing on the highest concentration of bars. It was near Chinatown, so we walked through the streets until we found a restaurant for dinner. We met up with a few of Nat's friends and bar hopped to Lily Black's, Loop, Double Happiness, New Gold Mountain, Meyers Place which were all OK. A few we just peeked inside and then left before you think we were doing a true pub crawl.

The best bar by far was called The Carlton Hotel. When you walk in, there is a soft red lighting and a huge bar. A massive stuffed ostrich with a pearl necklace guards the door and multiple stuffed peacocks line the shelves. A mounted giraffe head was posted on one wall and a psychedelically painted rhino was on the other. I'm not sure if they were real/legal, but they added to the uniqueness of the bar. The crowd was very eclectic, with tattooed hipsters and trendy socialites alike. It had multiple rooms as well as an outdoor patio that looked out over the street. Not only that, we went up a few flights of stairs to their roof bar, called Palm, for a view of the city. It had more of a beachy theme, but provided a contrast for those looking for a different vibe.

Although we multiple places, we still turned in fairly early to rest up for the Cycling World Championship the next day.  Stay tuned.