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Day 18 – Wednesday, February 4
First time flying Qantas Airlines. It was a very nice plane and an uneventful flight of less than two hours. I arrived mid-afternoon and checked into the Flagstaff Gardens Hotel. I walked down to the Yarra River and hung out on a lounge chair and watched the boats and kayaks go by.
Melbourne is a very cosmopolitan city with a large immigration population including as many as 20,000 Koreans. I headed to Koreatown for dinner and was not disappointed. I’ve learned if you go into an ethnic restaurant and all the staff and diners are from that ethnicity, the food is always authentic and delicious. The bibimpap was both.
Day 19 – Thursday, February 5
Today is a group trip down the Great Ocean Road see the 12 Apostles. In my group was a couple from Colorado, another from Canada, an attorney from New York and two Americans sisters, one of whom lives in Scotland. There was a lot of time in the van so we got to know each other quite well by the end of the day.
The 12 Apostles are stunning but it was a long way to drive to see some rocks sticking up out of the ocean and take a few pictures. Other highlights of the day included a very nice lunch of lamb chops, a short hike through an ancient rainforest in Great Otway National Park and seeing a koala and some kangaroos in the wild. The drive back along the Great Ocean Road was very picturesque as well.
Day 20 – Friday, February 6
I spent about four hours with a private tour guide named Mark. We covered so much ground! The beauty of a private tour is being able to spend as much or as little time as I choose depending on my interest level and seeing so many hidden gems. Mark was so knowledgeable and interesting – the time just flew! I particularly enjoyed the Shrine of Remembrance . Watch at least the first couple of minutes of this video: Ray of Light Incredible! My initial impressions of Melbourne prior to this tour were a bit underwhelming – Mark changed all that!
Chinatown was the destination for dinner. Mark showed me an inexpensive restaurant where only the locals eat. It, too, was excellent.
Day 21 – Saturday, February 7
Saturday is another travel day but my flight for Adelaide doesn’t leave until mid-afternoon. Mark and I had quickly walked through the Queen Victoria Market on Friday. I decided to head there and spend more time and grabbed a Burek, which is a popular Turkish street food.
From there, I rode a local train to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which also houses the Australian Sports Hall of Fame. The tour of the Cricket Ground was led by one of the approximately 180,000 members of the Melbourne Cricket Club. Currently, there are about 175,000 on the waiting list for membership and the average wait is 18 years. There are currently over 6,000 members who have been in the Club for 50 or more years. The grounds hold about 100,000 spectators for matches but once held 130,000 when Bill Graham came there in 1959.
The tour was great, but left me no time for the Hall of Fame since I had to head to the airport for my one hour Virgin Australia flight to Adelaide. The flight was on time and uneventful. I checked into my hotel and had a sense of deja vu. Although the hotel was nice, it was located on a rather seedy street and was surrounded by all night massage parlors. Sort of reminded me of Frankfurt.
Day 22 – Sunday, February 8
On Sunday, the destination was Kangaroo Island, a 45 minute drive to a ferry where I would spend most of the 45 minutes wondering if I was going to lose my breakfast. I didn’t.
It was a very full day that included a stop at Raptor Domain with a birds of prey presentation, lunch and a tour at Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Distillery, a visit to Clifford’s Honey Farm, Pennington Bay, and finally a wine tasting at False Cape vineyard.
Between stops we would peer out of the bus looking for wild kangaroos and koalas, but saw instead a highly venomous tiger snake, wild turkeys, and giant termite mounds. I got back to the hotel about 10:30 p.m. A very long day.
Day 23 – Monday, February 9
While millions were getting ready to watch the Super Bowl (Adelaide is 16.5 hours ahead of Chicago), I was on a bus headed for the town of Mannum on the Murray River for a two hour lunch cruise. (This would be only the second time since I started watching the Super Bowl in the late 1960’s that I would not watch the game live.)
The cruise was underwhelming but the lunch was nice. I did enjoy visiting a museum in Mannum where I learned all about an incredibly devastating flood that occurred in that area in 1957.
Day 24 – Tuesday, February 10
I started the morning with a guided tour of the Adelaide Central Market. This was the best market of the trip. Everything I tasted was amazing – meat, cheese, ice cream, sweets, falafel, you name it.
I took a long walk later in the botanic garden and then took public transportation to Hahndorf, a cute little village founded by German immigrants in 1839. Unfortunately, I arrived after 5 p.m. only to discover that most everything was closed.
From the Botanic Gardens:
From my trip to Hahndorf:
Day 25 – Wednesday, February 11
My flight to Dubai is scheduled to depart at 10:40 p.m. so I have most of the day to spend as I please. I slept in, had my last breakfast in Australia (no vegemite sandwiches this morning) and left my bags with the hotel staff.
I spent several hours at the South Australia Museum and discovered when I arrived that admission was free! One could spend days there and not see everything.
I later walked around a pedestrian mall area near my hotel. They were holding an autograph signing with some of the golfers playing in the LIV professional golf tournament starting the next day. You golf fans probably recognize this guy.
.(Ian Poulter, for you non-golfers)
I got to the the airport over three hours early because I had access to a lounge. I got to the gate about 30 minutes before boarding when I decided to take out my hearing aids for the flight. I start digging in my backpack to look for my charging case and after vainly going through every zippered pocket, I frantically tear through the contents of my suitcase. No charger.
Now mind you, I had spent over an hour lounging in my hotel room in the morning and had double and triple checked every inch of the room to make sure I was leaving nothing behind before I left the room. I called the hotel and, sure enough, I had somehow left the charger behind. There wasn’t enough time to go back to the hotel or even to have them send it over to the airport and hand deliver it. Ugh! What to do? More on that in the next post from Dubai.
Now it’s time to take off for my 13 hour non-stop to the UAE.
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