Vivacious Victoria

Two years together! To celebrate our second wedding anniversary, Jun and I decided to go to Australia. We chose to go to Victoria and Tasmania for two weeks.

Our first week was spent in Victoria. We based ourselves in Melbourne and went around the surrounding area. It was a wonderful time there. We essentially fell in love with Melbourne!

Day 1

We arrived early in the morning and went through immigration without any problems. But when it came to getting our baggage we ended up losing one of our bags. So we had to go make a claim to see if our bag could be found. Fortunately the airline—Cathay Pacific—did find the bag and sent it to our hotel later that day. But it was strange since it was a direct flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne. Once the claim was made we went out to Hertz to get our car. We received a really nice Hyundai and were soon ready to head into Carlton to our hotel. I was a bit nervous about driving on the left side of the road, but it ended up being easy.

Once we found the hotel we were able to check-in and park the car, but had to wait for our room to be ready for later that afternoon. Jun and I decided to walk around central Melbourne and explore the area. We were both half-asleep from the overnight flight, but we enjoyed going around the city. Our favorite place was Victoria Market. It was a neat place with such a hodgepodge of things to see and buy. By mid-afternoon we were ready for a nap and went back to the hotel and went straight to our room for a shower and a nap.

When we woke up we were only up to going out for a walk to find some food to eat at our hotel. After finishing up eating we went to bed.

Day 2

On our second day in Melbourne we spent most of the day at the Royal Botanic Gardens. The gardens were gorgeous and had a spectacular variety of plants.

We decided to walk towards the gardens from our hotel. We walked around Carlton Gardens and went down towards Flinders Station towards the Royal Botanical Gardens. While on the walk we found one of the alley lanes with graffiti art in Melbourne. It was an interesting mix of styles and was a really neat sight.

From there the walk to the gardens was nice and relaxing and we were able to spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon there. We also stopped by the Shrine of Remembrance as it was next to the gardens.

Then we spend the rest of the afternoon doing some shopping. The last thing we did that day was to go to the state library. The library was really nice. The main reading room was neat. After that we went to dinner and called it a day.

Day 3

We had a road trip to Grampians National Park! The drive was beautiful and the park was amazing. We took a hike towards Pinnacle Lookout. The walk was amazing. There were incredible sights of the surrounding area. The closer we got to the lookout the rockier it got. We had to cross these large slabs of rocks. And went we got up to Pinnacle Lookout the sight from there was beautiful! It was wonderful.

On the way back we went a different route and saw the lake on the other side of the trail. This second trail had only Jun and I on it and we got to spend some wonderful moments in such a serene environment. Soon we were ready to go back to Melbourne.

The drive back was equally nice. On the drive back Jun was doing research on where we should have dinner, and he found an Armenian restaurant not far from our hotel. So we ended up having Armenian food! It was quite delicious and made me nostalgic for my time in Armenia.

The Armenian food was a great way to end the day!

Day 4

This day was one of animals. We drove down to Phillips Island where we saw koalas, wallabies, and little penguins.

We first went to the Koala Conservation Centre on the island. The place was really nicely kept. And it was fun trying to find the koalas sleeping in the trees. They were of course sleeping since they sleep for about 20 hours a day! Jun and I had fun trying to find them in the different trees. They were so cute. I really enjoyed just walking around to find the koalas.

From the centre we had an amazing lunch by the sea at The Cape Kitchen. The food there was delicious, and the view from the restaurant was breathtaking. We enjoyed it so much that we took a quick walk around the grounds before we left.

After lunch we went to Churchill Island Heritage Farm where we got to see what a historic Australian farm was like. It was a really neat place. And we got to see a variety of animals there. The most amazing animals there were the wallabies. They were more active than the koalas!

When we were done with the farm we drove towards the Nobbies and explored the natural habitat of little penguins. While it was gorgeous there, it was so cold and windy. I left my jacket in the car, and hallway in our walk along the boardwalk I was regretting my decision. Besides being cold in the sea breeze it was really beautiful. We also got to see the little penguin burrows along the cliff. There were also geese and rabbits in the fields as well. After the walk we found a café where we got some hot chocolate that was a nice relief!

By the time we were done with our drinks it was time to go to Penguin Parade to end our day learning about little penguins. We chose a guided tour and it was amazing! Our guide taught us a lot about the penguins and pointed out how the little penguins lived. It was really cool to see them come out of the water and head back to their burrows. They were so cute. And it was really neat to see them go through their rituals. We had such a wonderful time there.

By then it was late and we had to drive back to Melbourne. When we got back we had an adventure trying to navigate the city to get back to the hotel. After figuring out the streets of Melbourne at night we finally found our way back to the Eminence and went to bed.

Day 5

Having driven long distances for the previous two days, we decided to stay in Melbourne. More like I insisted that I needed a break from driving and convinced Jun to spend the day in the city. It was worth it though. We slept in and then went out to have brunch at Victoria Market. After a nice meal at Victoria Café we bought some seafood at the market for dinner that night. We returned to the hotel to drop of the seafood and then went to visit the Old Melbourne Gaol.

The goal was really interesting. There was a play about Ned Kelly that was informative. There were a lot of interesting facts about the prison system in Melbourne—both historic and contemporary. We also got to experience what it was like to be arrested in Melbourne in the 1990s in a very interactive experience.

Once we were done with the museum we went for a walk along the Yarra River. And from there we went back to the hotel to cook our mussels and shrimp. It was an amazing dinner.

The final thing we did was to go the IMAX theatre near our hotel to watch Venom on a really large scene. The movie was actually fun. When it was over we went back to the hotel for the night.

Day 6

Our last full day in Melbourne and we took a road trip along the Great Ocean Road. We actually started by going backwards. We first drove to around the Twelve Apostles. We visited Loch Ard Gorge and London Arch in addition to the Twelve Apostles. All of them were amazing. They were gorgeous natural formations and we were glad we took the time to drive out there to see them.

For the rest of the afternoon we drove along the Great Ocean Road and stopped at different places to admire the view along the road. To be honest driving along the road was exhausting as there were a lot of curves along the road. The views, however, made up for the driving.

By early evening we had returned to Melbourne and had a nice dinner at a Chinese bistro near our hotel. The rest of the evening had us packing and getting ready for the second leg of our trip.

Day 7

We woke up early and checked out of the hotel. Then we went to the airport and returned the car. We checked in with Qantas for our trip to Hobart. Everything went really smoothly and we were soon on our way to Tasmania.

The first part of our trip had been amazing. Melbourne was so wonderful! Jun and I agreed that we could easily live in this city.