Day 3 of my Great Oz Trip - Sydney (Skydive or Bridgeclimb, Whale watching)

Sydney is a rather charming place. Yes, it is. I felt rather happy there :)

We reached Sydney at night and managed to find our way to Sydney Harbour YHA. Highly recommended place to stay! Right in the center of Sydney and very accessible to the places of attraction.

Sydney Harbour YHA

We woke up on a Friday morning and had our breakfast at The Rocks Farmers Market, which opens from 10am to 4pm. Location: corner of Argyle and George Streets. Just a few minutes away from Sydney Harbour YHA.

They have a range of delectable food stores. We had the Wagyu burger which tastes yummz.

After breakfast, we made our way to the Bridgeclimb centre and signed up for a climb in the evening (it being cheaper on weekdays).

Website: http://www.bridgeclimb.com/The-Climbs/Pricing/

There are a few types of climbs available

Express climb: smaller group of 12 people, can finish climb in 2 hr and 15 min (inner arch).

Discovery climb: up to 14 people, can finish climb in 3.5 hr (inner arch + guide on achitecture).

Bridge climb: up to 14 people, can finish climb in 3.5 hr (top arch). 

We did the Bridge climb in the evening slot. 

While waiting for our time of climb, we walked to Sydney Opera House, and also to Mrs Macquaries Chair which is situated at one end of the Botanical Gardens.

Billowing sails of the Opera House

View from Mrs Macquaries Chair

Story behind the Chair

The Bridge Climb

No handphones or cameras allowed on the climb. So we bought the photos that the instructor took for us on the bridge.

We had kangeroo and emu pizza for dinner while sitting by the sea. The meat tasted rather chewy.

Night view of Opera House

After a walk around the harbour, it was back to hotel and rest for us.

FYI: Sydney visitor centre located at the Rocks 106 George St. (collect brochures 9.30-530pm)

or 33 Wheat Rd, Darling Harbor (9.30-5.30pm)

Day 2 of my Great Oz Trip - Great Ocean Drive (Port Campbell-Port Fairy-Melbourne-Sydney)

Outside of the hostel in the morning...

After breakfast at one of the cafes in Lord Street, we intended to set off to Warnambool which is 66 km away, and continued drive to Port Fairy (another 29 km away).

:- breakfast option: 12 Rocks Beach Bar and Cafe breakfast (8.30am-11pm) - smoothies

:- if required, refuel at Caltex petrol station (32 Lord St) before leaving, else petrol stations avail at Warnambool/Port Fairy (Caltex 53 Albert St) as well.

En-route, look out for London Bridge (after Port Campbell, before St Peterborough)

(Optional) Childers Cove (good views according to Let's Go guidebook pg 629)

Grotto - beautiful reflections

London Bridge has fallen down.. the middle portion collapsed due to forces of nature.

Port Fairy Highlights

:- Waterfront, whale watching spot at pier. (Due to time constraints, we didn't make it to Port Fairy as we took a more leisurely pace taking photos and admiring the sights).

:- lunch options:

Time and Tide Cafe (down a dirt rd just out of town towards Portland)

21 Thistle Pl, PORT FAIRY 3284. Open Thu-Sun 9.30am-5pm. (It is now only open on weekends)

Then ice cream at Rebecca's Ice Creamery (7am-6pm) 70-72 Sackville St. Yummy mango.

(We went to Time and Tide Cafe and it was closed. Apparently, they had just switched to operations during weekends only :( We decided to go to the town centre, and had lunch there instead. There is a quaint old school sweet shop in town, and we bought some old school sweets in a glass bottle.)

We had lunch at Rebecca's cafe in town.

Here's what we had:-

Strawberry milkshake - yums

Beef burger.. Yummyyyy

Portions were big in Oz, so we shared our meals (thereby saving $ too!)

Take Princes Highway (1) to Geelong (265 km)

Estimated driving time required: 3.5 hr (excluding stopover time)

:- take a few stops if required to stretch those legs and toilet breaks. 

:- drive within speed limits as there tend to be police patrols hidden in some corners

If there is time, can stop over at Geelong for a look-see and early dinner @ waterfront, which was what we did.

Some of the famous wooden posts of Geelong...

Gorgeous weather...

Ice-cream van

We set off for Melbourne Avalon airport to return the car by 7.30 pm at the Europcar keydrop counter at Avalon airport. Off we go to take Jetstar to Sydney!

Day 1 of my Great Oz Trip - Great Ocean Drive (Melbourne-Lorne-Cape Otway-Port Campbell)

We took Emirates (very comfy airlines) from Singapore Changi Airport at about 22:30 hours, and reached Melbourne Tullamarine airport at about 8:40 hours in the morning.

We cleared the customs and went out of the airport to walk to the Europcar Counter which was across the road from the airport. You can opt whether or not to pay for excess (car insurance), and to pay extra $ to register for an additional driver.

Got into the car - car check, and set up the GPS.

Our drive:

Ford Falcon

First stop: Lorne (about 2 hours drive)

From Melbourne :

:- take M1 Princes Highway, then take Geelong Ring Road to bypass Geelong (75 km)

:- Exit to Princes Highway (can pump petrol at Lorne if required)

:- Continue drive to Lorne (69 km)

Lorne - lovely town

:- We stopped for lunch, and took walks around trendy cafes, boutiques, shops.

:- Meal options: Qdos (take Otway St from Mountjoy Pde, then Allenvale Rd)

http://www.qdosarts.com/cafefunctions.aspx?page=cafe

:- Grandma Shields Bakery in Cumerland Resort cplx on Mountjoy Pde (award winning pies, A$4). Unfortunately we didn't manage to find the bakery :( not sure if we got the coordinates wrongly or the Bakery shifted. We ended up near a park which was fortunately along our way to our next destination.

If you have time, here are the optional sights I noted in my itinerary...

:- (optional) Erskine Falls (30m waterfall): take William St, eventually be Erskine Falls Rd (10km each)

:- (optional) a shorter walk would be to Teddy's Lookout that gives sweeping views of forested mountains abutting wide open ocean (30 min walk, go up Bay St from Great Ocean Rd, and make a left on George St.)

Second stop: Cape Otway (about 1.5 hours drive)

:- From Lorne, continue drive to Apollo Bay (45 km)

:- On the way, Koala sightings at Grey River Road (about 200 m in) look up @ gum trees

:- (optional) Continue drive to Cape Otway to look at the 1848 lighthouse with Koalas on the way (22 km + 14 km each way). A$16.50 per entry per person.

Hi Koala!

Third stop: 12 Apostles near Port Campbell

:- From Cape Otway, drive to 12 Apostles (83 km). Good to catch sunset view of the 12 Apostles.

:- Gibson steps to the shore.

:- The Arch, London Bridge and the Grotto 

:- Loch Ard Gorge is at the same area (good spot to see penguins during moonlit evenings).

Along the way...

Almost sunset...

Check in Port Campbell Hostel (stay for the night) - 10 minutes away from 12 Apostles. 

The hostel is clean, and not very packed the time we stayed. There is a common kitchen where you can cook and prepare breakfast. Oh, and the toilets and showers are common too. It's quite comfortable and cheap for us (about S$94 for one night stay), just staying for the night.

Details of Accommodation:

Port Campbell Hostel

Reception: 8-10am, 5-10pm.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g261662-d1063659-Reviews-Port_Campbell_Hostel-Port_Campbell_Victoria.html

Port Campbell Hostel

Meal Options: Lord Street, where most restaurants and shops are

:- Nico's Pizza and Pasta for dinner (6pm till late). 25 Lord St. Large pizza. YHA discounts avail.

:- Cafe on Lords (cheapest eats of pies and sandwiches)

:- Cray Pot Bistro (40 Lord St) - crayfish

Next Up: Day 2 of My Great Oz Trip

Itinerary for my 14 days Australia Self-drive Trip (Sydney - Canberra - Melbourne)

I went to Oz for a 14 days free and easy, self-drive trip during end 2010. It was a very fun trip! Australia is easy to get around in, and the well constructed network of roads means that self-driving is a must in order to get flexibility to go anywhere there :)

I have been approached by my friends for my trip itinerary, and thought I will also share them on my website.

Here's a brief summary of the places I covered:-

Day 1: Great Ocean Drive (Melbourne-Lorne-Cape Otway-Port Campbell)
Day 2: Great Ocean Drive (Port Campbell-Port Fairy-Melbourne-Sydney)
Day 3: Sydney (Skydive or Bridgeclimb, Whale watching)
Day 4: Sydney (Paddington, Birkenhead)
Day 5: Sydney (The Rocks market, Bondi Beach)
Day 6: Blue Mountain (Katoomba, Leura, Blackheath)
Day 7: Blue Mountain (Blackheath)-Hunter Valley (Pokolbin Vineyard)
Day 8: Hunter Valley
Day 9: Hunter Valley-Wollongong-Jervis Bay-Kangeroo Valley-Canberra
Day 10: Canberra
Day 11: Canberra - Melbourne
Day 12: Melbourne (Federation Square, Queen Victoria Market)
Day 13: Melbourne - Philips Island Day Tour (Penguin Parade)
Day 14: Melbourne (Brunswick St)

I spent about 3 months in total to plan for the trip. All in all, I spent about S$8,500 for two pax all inclusive i.e. air tix, tickets, meals, accomodation, shopping etc. Exchange rate was 1 AUD to 1.29 SGD then.

Pre-trip Preparation 1- GPS and Australia Maps

Before the trip, I prepared for the self-drive trip by getting a Garmin GPS, and uploaded open source routable maps into the unit. I settled on a Garmin unit because unlike other brands, it allows user to upload any map they want into the GPS. I was reluctant to part with $$$ to rent a GPS unit which has the Oz maps pre-loaded, nor to buy the Oz maps from Garmin, so I spent about 2 weeks to find out how to upload the maps. 

In addition, I used Google Maps to store the points of interest into the unit, so that I can just select the points of interest i.e. destination without having to go through hassle of typing in the address every time I want to go somewhere. 

Of course, now that you can rent a GPS unit along with your car rental, I suppose getting a GPS unit and uploading of the Australia maps may be redundant. However, I find that having my own GPS unit means that I can use it even when I was walking on the streets and use it as a form of navigation, plus I was able to store the points of interest in advance as mentioned earlier, therefore saving me time and hassle.

Pre-trip Preparation 2 - Visa Application

Remember to check if you need a visa to enter Australia, and to apply for one in advance. For Singaporeans, this may be done relatively easily via the Australian Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) website: https://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETA/etas.jsp 

Pre-trip Preparation 3 - Car booking

It's important to book your vehicle online before your trip, to ensure that the vehicle you want is ready for you when you touch down at the airport. Furthermore, being a self-drive trip involving long hours behind the wheel, a good comfortable, safe car is necessary.

After comparing costs across the various car rental companies, I went with Europcar which gave me a better deal. 

For the Great Ocean Drive, I rented a car in the "Camry or similar" category for about S$120 for two days. When I went to retrieve my car from the airport, the car rental company gave me an auto Ford Falcon.

For the drive from Sydney to Blue Mountain, Hunter Valley, and Canberra, I rented a car in the "Corolla or similar" category for about S$240 for four days. The car rental company gave me an auto Audi A4 when I went to collect my vehicle! Woo Hoo! With such a great car, driving was a breeze :)

Next Up: Day 1 of my Great Oz Trip