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When we arrived in Adelaide, we decided to stay at the YHA. It was the best hostel we had stayed in in Australia. Everything was professional, the people were helpful and apart from having to pay for the internet, everything there was perfect. I highly recommend them.
The first place we visited was the South Australia Museum to see the largest collection of aboriginal artefacts in the world. I learned a lot. However, the highlight of Adelaide for me was the wine tasting tour to the Barossa valley. We got to try over 30 wines in four breweries, and had a platter of local food for lunch. Needless to say, we got quite drunk. We tried whites, reds, sparkling wines, rose wines and fortified wines. At the first stop, every wine was so good I even liked the red one (but the reds at other wineries weren't very nice). I love sweet wines so I found the fortified tawny and muscato wines, as well as the sparkling wines, particularly nice. We learned how the wine is made and why you should do things like swirl it in the glass to release the aroma's. We saw many vineyards in the beautiful Adelaide hills and the Barossa valley, and the scenery was lovely despite the fact that it's winter so there were no grapes or leaves. Finally, we also visited the chocolate factory (which was underwhelming), a wine centre and the botanical gardens.
On Friday, we began what would be a 1000km road trip to Melbourne. I was very nervous as I hadn't driven a car for almost two years, and I was in a city where I didn't know the routes. To make matters worse, when I turned up at the car hire place, I found out it was an automatic car and I had never driven one before. I had to get the lady who worked there to show me how to start it and how to change gears. She had a look of sceptical worry on her face as I eventually set off.
I managed to make it back to the hostel to pick up David and Ross, and our luggage, and then we set out for the six hour journey to Halls Gap in the Grampian Mountains. When we got close, we stopped at the Mackenzie falls and some lookouts with stunning views over the mountains, lakes and valleys below. Unfortunately I deleted my photos accidentally so I don't have the record of them. The next day, we stopped at an aboriginal culture centre, the Bellfield lake and then drove down to the Great Ocean road.
When we reached the Great Ocean Road, we went to Tower Hill Reserve for lunch and to view the animals there. They had Koala's, Emu's and Kangaroo's around and we were able to get close up and take pictures of them. An amazing chance to see Australian animals in the wild. After Tower Hill Reserve, we continued on to the rock formations. We saw the Bay of Islands and the Bay of Martyrs, the Arch, the London Bridge, the Twelve Apostles, the Grotto, Loch Ard and more. It was very beautiful and we got to see the Twelve Apostles at Sunset. We finished in Apollo Bay and stayed there the night.
The next day we drove further on, stopping at a beach called Southside Beach, and then on to Australia's Torquay. After stopping there for a pasty, we drove on to Melbourne. Thankfully we had google maps to sort out the route but it was still hell driving into Melbourne as I had no idea where I was going, kept taking the wrong lanes and dramatically stopping, getting beeped a few times, causing queues and eventually arriving at our destination. Luckily we got there at 4.30 and were told the car hire place closed at 5 so we were able to drop off our bags and then drive to the car hire place which was close by, in order to drop it off. Thankfully I had paid out for insurance too which was just as well considering there was a chip in a door and we had had to tape up one of the wheel mud shields to stop it falling off the car. I was so glad when we had dropped the car back. I hate driving in cities.
Once in Melbourne, I went for a three hour walking tour which allowed me to see many historical buildings, Chinatown and some cool street art. I learned about why Canberra is the capital city of Australia (because Sydney and Melbourne argued with each other too much), I learned about the famous Robin Hood like outlaw Ned Kelly and how a 19th century gold rush made the city so prosperous, I learned about the famous 888 movement which helped start the worldwide move towards an 8 hour work day and I saw a sleeping possum in the Carlton gardens. In the evening I attended an auction and managed to secure three trips for half their usual price - a trip to the rainforest in Cairns, snorkelling the great barrier reef, and walking in the blue mountains near Sydney.
The following day I went to the Old Gaol, once the main prison of Melbourne. They had an opportunity to experience what it would have been like to be arrested, which was quite enlightening. Then we went into the main prison itself to see the cells, gallows and to learn about the inmates. It was a very enjoyable experience. The final two "must do's" in Melbourne were the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in which I learned all about film, cinema and the history of the moving image, and the Aquarium. The Aquarium was not really worth the high cost, but I did get to see some interesting exotic animals including jellyfish, sea dragons, sharks, stingrays, and best of all - penguins. We spent just over a week in Melbourne and on 16th August we headed off to our next destination - Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.
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