Not an obvious tourist anymore

28.9.2010 | Day 59 | 26 474 km | Melbourne, Australia

It’s almost 2am at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport and it seems more and more a bad idea to start our second road trip in just 8 hours from Auckland, New Zealand. Flight departs at 6am and the quality of sleep at  this airport we’ve “had” is terrible. But that’s future, so let’s rewind three days back, all the way to Adelaide.

Adelaide ex-F1 circuit, a must-see for a motorsport fan

The change from +30 degrees Southeast Asia to +15 degrees Australia was surprisingly a very pleasant one. Just by walking out of the airplane made you feel and breath the amazingly fresh and cool air, just the way we had it in Finland! Finally no excessive sweating around the clock and walking around Adelaide was easy. But, it also meant a trip to a clothing store to get a hoodie, a t-shirt with a jacket wasn’t enough to keep you warm. We only had one day in Adelaide, but we didn’t really need more; The city is relatively small and compact and you can walk through it several times during a day. Of course, there would always be things to do and discover for more than a day, but this trip isn’t about getting into the details anyway. Still, Adelaide was a fun city and a very nice change, since there was nothing “must” to see, so we could just wander around freely without having to think about how we can see it all. As a big motorsport fan, walking through the ex-F1 street circuit, now hosting a V8 Supercars event, was a fun experience for me.

After a long and nice night at a small hostel, we finally got to the main thing; A road trip to Melbourne through The Great Ocean Road. Getting into the car for the first time was a funny and a scary event, as it was the first time driving the car from the right side. Using the mirrors properly seemed impossible and trying to figure out where your left front corner was extremely hard. But, with good concentration it started to go smoothly with only once taking the wrong lane, although there were A LOT funny moments with the reversed turn signal and windshield wiper controls in the wheel…

First day of driving was only getting to the coastal road, but offered some great scenery south to Adelaide. It became clear that driving in Australia is real fun and pretty easy, as there were virtually no traffic on the small roads we drove. We ended our day after 13 hours of driving to Warrnambool, saving some money and sleeping in the car in the middle of nowhere parked to a grass area beside a public toilet. It would have been a good night’s sleep, if it wouldn’t have been so damn cold! On the next day, we finally reached The Great Ocean Road and it’s not advertised for nothing; It’s simply an amazing drive. It gave us the same thrills that Highway 1 gave us three years earlier in California, driving the coastline up to San Francisco. But at this road there was a lot more to see and we stopped almost always when there was a scenic view park available. I can only advise that if you’re going to visit Australia, do yourself a favor and rent a car and go to see this coastal road, you won’t be disappointed!

Watching the views at the shores of Great Australian Bight

The Great Ocean Road, not the worst road I have driven...

Free city tram, a great way to
take a tour around Melbourne

After the road trip, we ended up to Melbourne, returned our car and searched for a decent and a cheap place to stay. We had two days to explore this city and kinda like Adelaide, Melbourne doesn’t really have those “must” things to see. We ended up touring two days separately, going for the places we both wanted to go without any compromises. Here it struck me what had changed; We were being treated as normal human beings and not someone who needs a massage, a tuk-tuk ride, copywatches or t-shirts every 50 meters. We no longer stood out from the crowds and there were no eager salesmen trying to get our money all times, and that felt good! Strangely enough, going back to Singapore, this was the third city in a row where I walked through a Formula 1 track. Again, walking the streets of Albert Park Circuit was a great experience and a strange one too, seeing the track in it’s normal everyday use.

Melbourne skyline from the Shrine of Rememberance

But, now it’s time to leave Australia behind and finally head to New Zealand, easily in the top 3 places I wanted to go on this trip. Next six days we’ll be doing another road trip, from Auckland to all the way to south, ending our trip in Invercargill. We’ll see what happens along the way…