The Ozzie holiday

Gosh, I started writing this on 27.2 and see when I finally finished it ;P

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Our holiday got off to a good start when the cheapest category car we rented for 19 days, a 1.3l Hyundai Getz, was upgraded for free to a Toyota X Trail. And did I mention that it was a 4WD? :D Yay! That meant we could throw all our luggage, 1 Samsonite, 1 trolley bag, a huge duffel bag containing all our food, a tent, a hook-on baby chair PLUS minibeanie's pram, into the car without that sardines-in-a-can feeling. Another advantage of having a 4WD was that we could go off the beaten track in search of olive groves hidden in obscure locations (no thanks to inaccurate & badly drawn maps from the local tourist information center). Then of course, dada had some off-road fun ;)

Mount Zero, so obscure that it wasn't on our Tomtom GPS maps

minibeanie loving the wheel & all the fancy knobs and switches

We spent nearly 3 weeks in Victoria, Australia. We had the warm hospitality of my cousin, Eileen, and her husband to thank for letting us put up at their house. minibeanie was also really happy playing with his cousins :) We'd many memorable moments at Eileen's house - the Ozzie barbie, the kids taking a communal bath in the backyard, the quiet evenings after the kids have slept and us adults having cheesecake and wine.....

Our plan was to visit the Great Ocean Road & Yarra Valley for 4 days each with the hope of making day trips for Puffing Billy, the only steam train in Australia, and to see the cute penguins on Phillip Island. Well, at least on paper that was the plan anyway. First off, we loved Great Ocean Road (GOR) so much that we extended by a day and 2 days before heading to Yarra Valley, the devastating firestorm in eastern Victoria broke out. We made alternate plans pronto and decided on another wine producing region, Grampians. As for Puffing Billy and Phillip Island, there was no time not to mention the fact that Puffing Billy was right in the line of fire, so to speak. Besides, with the total fire ban around, no way the steam engine would have been used - we would have been sitting on its electric cousin Puff Diddy instead.

The Great Ocean Road
The GOR drive was spectacular with its undulating coastal roads with crashing white surf on one side and towering cliffs on the other. But much has already been written and I don't think I can do justice to the natural beauty and tranquility of the place in a few sentences.

We spent our 5 days driving to the 12 Apostles, looking for the blueberry farm in vain, enjoying the beach in late afternoons and enjoying a Devonshire cream tea at a 1900s guesthouse that had obviously seen better days together with its grumpy proprietress. We also had our fair share of fish & chippies - excellent flaky fresh fish coated with guilty crispy batter. hmm....

The Grampians
A few things stood out in my memory about Grampians. The beautiful, luxurious brick house we rented right by a golf course frequented by a 30-strong herd of kangaroos, the aptly named Best's wineyard (one of the few family owned vineyards left in Australia) that still has a 1860 vine from France and the 4WD experience of driving up mountains in search of Mount Zero olives.

Pinot Noir!

Bunjil, the traditional creator land of the land, & his 2 dingoes

A few Firsts
We arrived right smack in the middle of Melbourne's worst heatwave on record. 46.8C. It's impossible to describe the crushing heat or the wind that does not refresh but add to the heat. If there was hell, it probably felt like that. I felt like one of the many chickens that I'd merrily popped into the grill. Walking 20m from the car to the refuge of an air-conditioned mall was enough to make minibeanie turn beet red - it was that bad.

There was minibeanie's first time on the beach. I'm glad he was past the age of putting sand into his mouth ;) He liked it even if the water was rather chilly.


Then there were the animals that minibeanie got to see up close & personal. Cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, guinea pigs, kangaroos....



minibeanie is (older than) 1 year, 7 months & 1 day old