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| This way to the Great Ocean Road |
Our first stop was Bells Beach, Torquay, where surfers go to ride the waves. I had initially planned to have a brunch picnic at the beach but it was so cold because of the strong winds that we abandoned plan!
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| Family photo taken by a kind stranger (Look at us all covered up in our winter hats and scarves) |
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| Beautiful view of the sea |
The cold winds didn't stop the surfers though! Some even changed out in the cold!
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| Left: The surfers really look like seals in the water! No wonder the Great White Shark often mistakes them for food! Right: One of the surfers leaving the ocean |
I really wanted to hang out there a little longer but our fingers soon got too frozen. Thankfully we managed to get a good parking spot where we could still see the surfing action from the comfort of our car =)
We travelled along the Great Ocean Road to Aireys Inlet to visit a famous lighthouse.
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| Look at the steep roads! |
Along the way, we passed through the little town of Anglesea and spotted a cute playground from afar. I thought it would be good to stop here and let the kids play while we had our lunch picnic.
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| Anglesea, along The Great Ocean Road |
The Anglesea Riverbank Outdoor Facilities Project is located next to Anglesea Surf Beach so it's right next to the sea. Very beautiful background if I may add! =)
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| The Anglesea Riverbank Outdoor Facilities Project (Address: 127-143 B100, Anglesea VIC 3230, Australia (located next to Anglesea Surf Beach) |
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| Big swing that could hold the weight of an adult (Yes, yes, I know because I tried :P) |
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| Climbing up the spider web and sliding down |
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| Eating our packed lunch while the winds blew mercilessly on us *brrr* |
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| Mum-in-law cooked fried rice with delicious fried chicken (it had turned cold but we were too hungry to care) |
The wind literally blew all our stuff away! "Let's move on!" the hubby exclaimed, "it's too cold!" So we did, even though my girl was super reluctant to leave!
The view of the Ocean on the way to Aireys Inlet was ah-maay-zing!
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| Look at how blue the waters are! Awesome! |
After a 10 minute drive, we arrived at our destination, Split Point Lighthouse.
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| Walking to the lighthouse (parking is not available on premise, you'd have to park further away and walk) |
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| Welcome to Split Point Lighthouse |
From the lookout at the base of Split Point Lighthouse, you can see the unique Eagle and Table rocks.
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| The first lookout where you can see Eagle or Table rock (I'm not sure which this is) in the background |
I convinced my family to explore the edge of the cliff as I'm sure the view there is much nicer.
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| Left: Stick to the path and boardwalks please! There is a lighthouse here for a reason. The rocks below are vicious! Right: Walking down a sandy path towards the ocean |
Well, I was right! The view was incredible! =)
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| At one of the base lookouts with a nice view of the rushing waves onto the sandy beaches |
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| This view is exactly what the towns along the Great Ocean Road are known for (Love this family photo of us!) |
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| At another lookout (The information boards here say that you can spot whales but no matter how hard I searched the ocean, I didn't see any! *bummer*) |
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| You can estimate roughly how far down from Split Point Lighthouse we had walked from this photo (Not very far) |
Highly recommend that you visit this place. The kids had fun running around on the boardwalk while the adults (me) tried spotting whales.
Next, we made our way to Inlet Crescent (right next to Split Point Lighthouse) where I had spotted a playground on the way to the lighthouse.
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| Inlet Cresent (Address: Aireys Inlet 3231, Victoria, Australia) |
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| Aireys Inlet Playground |
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| Double swings for kids and young at heart of all ages! |
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| There a small toilet facility here with a baby changing table |
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| One for girl and one for boy |
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| Baby Boy had so much fun on the swings! |
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| Wheeee! |
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| A good workout for the kids |
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| Baby Boy playing with scraps of wood, which covered most of the playground instead of the usual sand or rubber mats. I thought it was a good idea as they were less messy than sand yet softer than rubber mats. |
The hubby asked me, "why do you like to spend so much time at the playgrounds instead of visiting more places of attraction?"
"Because unlike Singapore, we can actually watch/play with the kids without sweating! Best liao!" *laughs*
From our experience in Sydney, we knew that we should probably start heading back if we wanted to get home on time. The Great Ocean Road is so long (stretching from Melbourne all the way to Adelaide) that after half a day, we had only managed to cover one eighth of it! There's no point going further and tiring ourselves out.
We headed back to our apartment, stopping along the way to use the bathroom while my girl played in the McDonald's playground.
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| Shot of the playground from outside |
It was only 5pm by the time we arrive back at South Yarra so we headed to the nearest Coles in the area, which was located on Chapel Street.
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| Coles Prahran (Address: 303 Chapel Street, Prahran) |
The carpark is at the back of the building. You need to pay for your ticket and display it on your dashboard before leaving for the supermarket. The carpark attendant here is very "enthusiastic" in checking so make sure you pay the right amount.
After we were done shopping for our groceries (and buying a lot of tins of milk formula because they were only one third the price as compared to Singapore), we went for dinner at the famous Hunky Dory. Conveniently, there was an outlet located within the same building of our apartment (ground floor).
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| Hunky Dory, South Yarra (Address: Shop 17 / 670 Chapel Street, South Yarra, Victoria 3141, Australia Opening Hours: 10am – 10pm) |
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| Their motto: healthy, fresh, tasty. |
We sat inside initially but the heaters were so hot (it was the first time we started sweating ever since we arrived at Melbourne!) that we decided that we much rather freeze at the outside sitting area than burn inside! I mean, we can burn anytime we want in Singapore!
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| Clockwise from left: Sitting outside the restaurant was not too bad as they had heaters outside as well (perfect!); Seafood platter with rice; Fish and rice instead of chips. |
The fish was really well done, not too hard and not too soft. The rice was tasteless though but we can't expect too much since the Westerners are probably not the experts in cooking rice. If you like fish and chips, this place is great for that =)
Can't believe that we'll be going back to Singapore soon and leaving the nice cool weather. Sigh, the grass is always greener on the other side *laughs*.
Continue to >> Melbourne Day 7: Healesville Sanctuary & Buxton Fishing
<< Back to Melbourne Day 5: Queen Victoria Market
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