Road Trip!...

So my husband had 2 weeks of for the Christmas holidays. and everyone at his job was asking him what he was going to do for those 2 weeks holidays (vacation to us Americans). He had something in his head that he wasn't sharing....not even with me. Christmas Day I find out we are taking a road trip south, I thought cool! On Thursday the 27th of December we got into his car and drove down to Wollongong, New South Wales where his sister lives. It was a pretty long drive (just under 12 hours) but very scenic. We stopped off at Micky D's for breakfast as it's the one thing that would be consistent from town to town and state to state. In the States my usual Micky D's breakfast consisted of 2 sausage biscuits and 2 hash browns, here in Australia my order is 1 sausage mcmuffin and 2 hash browns along with a standard cappuccino from McCafe because they don't have biscuits at Maccas, because biscuits down under are what we call cookies. Wollongong was nice, we didn't make reservations, just showed up at the Best Western and managed to get the last room, which overlooked the golf course and the beach just beyond the course. We went to my sister-in-laws and she was totally shocked as other than immediate family, no one knew we were driving down that way. We went to Bald Hill Lookout in Stanwell Tops, where many a hand-glider jump of this area and fly into the wind. 

We drove over the Sea Cliff Bridge which was built over the water because there were many rock slides and the rocks always fell on the highway, so they decided to build it away from the cliffs, so that's why it's called the Sea Cliff Bridge. 

After a day in Wollongong, we headed south into Victoria on our way to Melbourne, as we decided last minute why not spend our first New Years Eve somewhere different. On our way down to Melbourne we went through this little town in Glenrowan, VIC, where in the late 1800's Ned Kelly who was wanted by the police for killing 3 officers, was captured and late hung in Melbourne, VIC at the age of 25. After that, a short stop for a food break at McDonald's for a 10 piece chicken McNuggets with sweet and sour sauce. :)   Two hours later we arrived at our hotel the Best Western Atlantis in Melbourne. When we went up to our room I was disgusted and nauseated to smell strong cigar smoke. My husband called reception and asked them if this was a non-smoking room and he said yes, (it's a non-smoking hotel) so my husband says this is unacceptable and long story short they moved us down a few floors that had a better view, the stinky room only had an air-shaft, no view of anything. The view we had (thanks to the feral smoker(s)) was a view of the Docklands, where the fireworks were going to be set off New Years Eve. Thanks feral smoker(s). Melbourne is a lovely city, reminds me a lot of Zagreb and Boston, it's a city that's geared for sports, AFL (Aussie Rules Football), tennis, rugby league, soccer and even cricket (yawn). It's got a lot of cafes and bars in lane-ways (little streets usually behind major streets previously and sometimes used for deliveries).  It was cold in Melbourne the few days we were there, I had to buy jeans as I was so not expecting cold weather in the heart of summer. We went to the beach in St. Kilda, there were quite a few people there, but not many in the water, more to enjoy the fresh air. We went to Costco! And I found out I can use my card from the states in any Costco here in Oz, I heard they're building one up here in Brisbane in August, I sooo can't wait! We wanted to eat at this Croatian restaurant but we got there just as they were closing so we wound up going to the casino, The Crown Casino, we ate at this really cool Italian restaurant called Cervo Cafe Bar, the food was delicious and they had the wine that I love. We found a place in Fitzroy that makes really good bagels, Beans & Bagels, and my everything bagel was pretty tasty. For New Years Eve we bought 2 bottles of sparkling and toasted in the New Year the first time together ever, while watching the fireworks from our 15th floor window. It was awesome to see so close up and better than being outside in it as we didn't have to deal with the drunks on the streets afterwards. 

January 1st we checked out and headed even further south to Mount Gambier, South Australia, the town where my husband was born. We drove a fair bit and drove on the Great Ocean Road, the scenery could take your breath away. We took a bathroom break at The 12 Apostles, a rock formation on the beach. 

 We stayed in another Best Western, this one had the worst mattress of them all and the smelliest of rooms. We passed the house where my husband grew up, we also passed by the hospital where he was born, but it looks as it's in the process of being demolished, funny thing is the hospital wasn't even around for 20 years before it stopped being used. Go figure. We went to the Blue Lake, that is one amazing lake as it's always blue, you cannot swim in it, but it's stunning in the deep blue of it. 

 January 2nd we got back in the car and headed back home, we had the GPS and Google Maps on our phones and we picked the quickest route. Little did we know at the time we would be driving in the middle of nowhere for miles. We stopped in a little town and stayed at some random hotel as it's a long drive from Mt.Gambier to Brisbane, we needed to stop for sleep and food. On the 3rd we got up early and left, had breakfast an hour and a half later at Micky D's in Forbes, NSW. We left West Wyalong 6:13am and arrived home same day at 7:40pm. Even as a passenger that long a trip tired me out, but one thing I can say is that we did it. Driving from Brisbane to Melbourne is like driving down to Florida, only thing is driving down in the middle of the night is not a smart thing unless you have a bull bar on your car or truck as there is a great possibility of hitting a kangaroo. Whereas driving down to FL is all lit highways, not these 2 lane highways here in Australia. We had fun and I know now that I would definitely love to go visit Melbourne again, but maybe for a bit longer than just 3 days.