Last Stop Melbourne

Feb  21st  - My flight was at 10:00 am and we dropped our car at Europcar well before time. Luckily we didn't bang, so the formalities were done quickly. Our first problem started at Virgin Airline check-in counter. We were 5 of us and we had five bags to check in. Each bag had to weigh less than 22 kg. My bag had my kids stuff as well and it was weighing 28 kg. But my husband was checking in a luggage of only 15 kg. They didn't agree to compensate with my husband's luggage. I had to repack my suitcase to reduce the weight. I found that quite absurd!! Anyways, it was just an hour flight to Melbourne and it was ok. The inflight entertainment didn't work for me and the air-hostess was quite clueless. 

Again, I had booked a car at Melbourne at Europcar. Here, they didn't have the car that I booked. Funnily, my husband and I were recollecting the Seinfeld episode where he is in a similar situation. They gave us a Volkswagen car and we had to wait for such a long time, for them to arrange for a car seat for my toddler. Only after we started travelling, we realised how horrible the car was. Anyways, I had made my reservation at Punthill South Yarra Grand. I had booked a 2 bedroom apartment for 3 nights, which costed me about Rs. 42,000. It took us a good 45 minute drive in the traffic and it felt like I was in a city.

Like in every other place, the apartment had air-conditioning only in the living room. It was quite hot and stuffy in the bedroom. But the location is fantastic. There is a tram station and railway station nearby. The eateries and shopping places nearby are fantastic as well. The people at the reception were very warm and helped us in planning our things to do. The day we landed, it was white night at Melbourne. We went around 5 to explore the place and the atmosphere was just mind-blowing. They were people performing dance, skits and various acts. The street food and shopping were brilliant. I'm so glad we went around 5 and explored the place. While we were leaving at around 9:30, the place was jam packed and there was no place to move.

Feb 22nd - We had tickets to watch India - South Africa Match. It was way too hot but a good match to enjoy

Feb 23rd - We did a bit of shopping. I had booked a table for hubby and I, at Vue De Monde. The experience was to die for. Oh boy, I forgot to mention that during the day I did eat at Adriano Zumbo. The desserts... I'm still drooling

Feb 24th - We checked out by around 10:30 to drive to Great Ocean Road. Here is the deal, you type Great Ocean Road on GPS, it takes you through the highway. While we were driving, we were wondering as to why we can't see the ocean. We then figured that the GPS always shows the shortest route. I then remembered the stops and we found our way to Torquay. From there on the drive was so inviting. We took pit stops at so many places to enjoy the view. It was almost 7:30 pm by the time we reached 12 apostles and it was the sun was just setting. You can just sit there for hours and enjoy the beauty. 

I had booked my stay at Best Western Great Ocean Inn, Port Campbell. This place is hardly 10 minutes drive from 12 apostles. I had paid Rs. 16350 for a single night for 2 rooms. The room was quite basic and nice. We had dinner at this place, which was right opposite the ocean. Good food and this was the only place which was open late. 

Feb 25th - You can order your breakfast at the hotel, provided to inform them by 8:00 pm previous day. Since we didn't, we checked out and headed for breakfast at a cafe. After that, we again stopped at 12 apostles to enjoy the beauty one last time. We then drove without any stop back to the city. We did a bit of shopping at the outlet mall. After all the shopping, we went to Queen Victoria Evening market. The place had brilliant food. We were all pretty tired just travelling so much. We headed back to the airport early. Guess what? I had bid for my return journey as well, and we had all been upgraded to Business Class.

Th travel back home was wonderful and we had such a good time at Australia.

Tasmania Part 2

Feb 19th - We were a bit tired from our previous night trex and checked out by 11:00 am from our apartment. I had read so much about "Jackmann & Mc. Ross Cafe" at Battery Point, that I had to try it. One word to sum up the place - BRILLIANT. There were too many items that we wanted to try and the food is fabulous. Wish we had our breakfast there every day. We then started driving toward Launceston, which was about 2 hours away. I had booked Quest Launceston. Finally we got a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment. The apartment is huge. Obviously, they had air-conditioning only in the living room. Really? How are you expecting people to sleep in the bedroom? They did arrange for fans and air coolers. Anyways, I had paid $470 for 2 nights. The location of this place is good. Very close to the shopping district. 

After freshening, we went shopping at the nearby places and picked up lovely stuff. Right after that, we drove to Cataract Gorge. It's a beautiful place, with a kids play area, swimming pool, huge area to walk and run. Also there was this bridge, from where you could see waterfall. I got excited seeing peacocks roaming around the area. There is a chair car to have an aerial view of the place, but it wasn't working on the day we visited.  We just spent too much time here enjoying the place, that we forgot that all eateries shut by 8:30 pm. We just had dessert from this amazing place and that was our dinner.

Feb 20th - We got out by 6:00 am to explore Cradle Mountain. I had booked Cradle Mountain Canyoning for my husband, while we were to hike up the place. The drive to Cradle Mountain took about 2-2.5 hours. At one point, it was like we were driving through clouds, so misty and scary. After successfully reaching the place, my husband geared up for his canyoning, while I set out for my hike. The hike (6.5 km) was very nice and my husband loved his expedition. I was dead tired, carrying my son during the hike but I met such lovely people who chatted with me along the way. Luckily here, we do get things to eat at the cafe. We left cradle mountain by 2:30 pm and reached our apartment by 4:30 pm. We had dinner at a lovely mexican restaurant nearby and finished our packing to leave the next day.

My New Love - Tasmania

For some reason, I was super excited to visit Tasmania. I read so much about it and it just looked beautiful in pictures. I had booked Qantas Airline from Adelaide to Hobart.

Feb 16th - Had to get up early to catch my flight, which was at 7:15 am. I was travelling via Melbourne Airport. The flight was comfortable and they offered us a good breakfast. The total flight duration was 5.5 hrs, with a stopover at Melbourne for about 2.5 hrs. I had booked a car for us at Europcar, which I had to pick up at Hobart Airport. The other thing about Australian airports are that, you need to pay $4 for each trolley you need. We thought we could get a GPS while we pick up our car, but unfortunately they didn't have GPS. Now we had no idea how to go to our apartment. We saw a store nearby, where we picked up a GPS for about $100 (Forgot the store name).

I had booked Woolmers Apartment. It was again a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment. I had paid almost Rs. 31,000 for 3 nights. Again here, there was no air-conditioning in either of the rooms!! Really, how do you guys survive?? It was cool outside, but inside it does get stuffy. Luckily, they had table fans that we could use. This apartment was smaller than our previous one at Adelaide. After refreshing, we went out to eat at a nearby cafe. The only advantage of staying at this apartment was the location. It had coles, Woolworths and so many eateries near by. 

We then went out to check out Mt. Wellington. The drive up and the view was just brilliant. There was something magical about the whole place. It was sooooo cold. It was mentioned in the website that it is warmer up here than the city, but it was super cold. We didn't have proper jackets. But that didn't deter us from enjoying the beauty of this place. On our way back, we ate at an Indian restaurant next to our apartment.

Feb 17th - We set out at around 10 am to go to our Bruny Island Cruise. We had to go to the Bruny Island Ferry Terminal. It took us about an hour to reach and our car was the last car to get into the 11:00 am ferry. It was the first time I was seeing that you can actually take your car in the ferry. The ferry can carry about 60 cars. The ferry ride to the island takes about 20 minutes. The only way to travel inside the island, is by your own vehicle. I had booked the 2:00 pm cruise and we had 2 hours to explore the place by ourselves. We first went to this cheese tasting place. The cheeses were amazing, but they said it would not survive through the flight journey to consume it back home. Our next pit stop was at a berry farm, where we had yummy ice creams. The view from that place was brilliant. We were on time for our cruise and they informed us that we were not layered enough and it would be very cold out there. They were sweet enough to give us all jackets to survive the cold. The cruise was just brilliant and everyone must do it. It ended by 4:30 pm and we had to catch the 5:30 pm ferry. We were again the last car to get into the ferry. Thank god for that, otherwise we would have had to wait for 2 hours.

Feb 18th - The next day, again we set out by 10:00 am to explore Freycinet National Park. This was almost 2.5 hrs drive one way from our apartment. The drive was just beautiful. We are considering settling down at this place. You do see so many wallabies on the way. At the national park, we got this $60 pass, which could be used across all national parks of Tasmania. Since we were 4 adults and we wanted to explore 2 national parks, this was a cheaper option. We had packed our lunch and ate before we set out for our hike. There is very little eating option out here, so I was glad we had things to eat. We initially did the Wineglass bay lookout, which took almost an hour to climb. I was so proud of my little one. He did the whole hike by himself. The view was FABULOUS. Completely worth the hike.

I badly wanted to hike and go to the Wineglass Bay beach. Hubby was unsure if we could do it with our little one, but we took the chance. It is a 2.5 hour hike return and the beach was brilliant. I'm so glad that we did and the little one enjoyed it to the core. It was a bit difficult with the little one but he made it super easy and enjoyable for us. I would strongly recommend people to this hike.

By the time we were done, it was almost 6:00 pm. Our car was also running out of petrol. We rushed to find a petrol pump and a place to eat. Everything was shutting down. We saw so many animals while we were driving back. It was a tiring day but absolutely worth it.

My First Stop - Adelaide

After I had booked my tickets through Malaysian Airline, I got a mail stating that we might get upgraded to Business Class based on the amount we bid and we would get to know only 48 hours before departure. Bidding was done and my son & mother-in-law got upgraded. 

Feb 11th - Flight departed from Chennai at 11:45 am and we reached Adelaide on Feb 12th 8:15 am (local time). Hubby travelled in business class on behalf of my son, since he refused to sit there without me. The flight journey was brilliant. The crew from Chennai to Kuala Lumpur took very good care of my son. They were constantly smiling and trying to satisfy all our needs. The crew from Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide were less friendly when compared to the previous flight. But my hubby said, the staff at Business Class were extremely attentive and took very good care. I had requested for Hindu Veg Meal and the food option was quite good. My son preferred my veg meal to his child meal.

Feb 12th - We took the big taxi from airport. The taxi driver was an Indian and he was making fun of our luggage (Yes, I don't travel light). Actually in my defence, I was carrying a 30 kg suitcase, for my son & me!!! That's not bad. We were staying at Istay Precinct (also knows as Oaks Precinct). I got a fabulous deal from makemytrip, which was a 2 bedroom apartment, for 4 nights and it costed about Rs.36,000. I just couldn't resist the offer and I booked it. The only problem was there was no housekeeping service and it had a single bathroom. Since we reached the apartment by 10:00 am, they couldn't offer us the apartment immediately. But upon seeing my child, they gave us the apartment.

The apartment was decent sized and had all the basic amenities. The only problem was the 2nd bedroom, didn't have an air-conditioner. It was quite stuffy for the people, who were sleeping in the bedroom. We freshened up and set out to see the Gleng Beach. The tram station was about 10 minute walk from the apartment. The food around the place is just brilliant and the beach was nice as well.

Feb 13th - I had booked my Barossa Valley Tour through Taste the Barossa. Honestly I don't drink wine, but we were doing it just for my husband and neighbour, who wanted to do wine tasting. The guide was very informative and showed us everything that we knew on our way. I saw apple, pear and grapes on the way. I just wanted to pluck the apples and eat it, but I was just behaving myself. We first stopped at the Whispering Wall. When you whisper something on one end of the Wall, you can hear it crystal clear on the other side. All the vineyards were fantastic to look at. I did eat the grapes at the vineyards and they were super yummy. We stopped at about 5 vineyards and they had a good time drinking.

Feb 14th - I had booked my Zoo tickets online, since I thought it might be crowded because of the World Cup. But actually, it was not necessary. It was very hot day. We were able to see all the animals,which was nice. There is no point in taking a stroller for the kid, since they can't see anything from it. They anyways have to be carried. The zoo was nice, but I wasn't really excited by it. Probably it you have a kid, otherwise you can skip the zoo here. There were so many festivals happening. After zoo, we went to do some shopping. The whole place was just buzzing with music, skits and dance. The atmosphere was just electrifying. We did a mini shopping spree, before we headed back to our apartment. Here, all shopping places shut by 5:00 pm.

At night, we went to experience nightlife and casino. The place was filled with Indians & Pakistani. There were these cheers coming from all around, each one supporting their team. Fantastic time to be there.

Feb 15th - I was super excited about India - Pakistan match. I don't know what exactly it is, but something just kicks in. The weather was initially hot, but soon enough it started cooling. My 2 year old son just enjoyed himself to the core. I was super thrilled about the result. I rushed back to my apartment an hour earlier than the match was to end, since my son was getting super hungry. Sad thing was the television in the apartment was not working. Was upset that I couldn't see the final wickets falling, but I knew the result while I was leaving.

The experience of watching the match live was just FANTASTIC. We packed our bags and were good to leave the next day early morning to Tasmania. The Indian Taxi driver had shared his number. So he picked us up and dropped us to the airport.

My Big Aussie Holiday

I recently came back from a 2 week Aussie trip. I have been planning this trip for almost a year. It all started when hubby said he wanted to go for Australia for 2015 World Cup. We managed to get the tickets for India-SA at Melbourne and India-Pakistan at Adelaide. We were initially to do this trip with friends, but due to various changes, we did it with MIL and neighbour.

Australia is huge and we wanted to do just a 2 week holiday. The number of places to visit at Australia are too many but we had less time. I certainly didn't want to go about visiting all the places, without really exploring it. The main places that I wanted to visit was Adelaide (because of the match), Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Great Barrier Reef. With a toddler, I knew it would be difficult to do the activities at Gold Coast and Great Barrier Reef. 

My travel agent, then told me about Tasmania. After reading about it, I felt I had to visit the place. I then narrowed down my list to Adelaide, Tasmania and Melbourne. Everyone were surprised that I left Sydney and Gold Coast. I just thought this itinerary would do justice to the number of days that I had. I roughly saw the places of interest in each place and I had calculated 3 nights at Adelaide, 5 nights at Tasmania and 5 nights at Melbourne. I then saw a deal on makemytrip for Adelaide hotel and I got an extra night free for the same price. So I was finally doing 4 nights at Adelaide, 5 nights at Tasmania and 5 nights at Melbourne.

Around August, we wanted to start booking our flight ticket. Malaysian Airline had put up a sale, with each ticket costing us Rs. 45,000 return. Now that was super cheap, when compared to Singapore Airline that I was getting at Rs. 65,000 return. By this time, we had decided to leave the little one with my parents. I was not confident about my decision, but I thought it would be better for the little one, considering the amount of travelling to do. And I really didn't book his ticket as well!!! 

Around last week of October, I booked my internal flight from Adelaide to Hobart in Qantas Airline. The ticket was charged Rs. 12,500 per person. Around the same time, I booked my flight from Launceston to Melbourne in Virgin Australia Airline. The ticket was Rs. 4500 per person. After a month passed, my son tells me that he will not stay with my parents and he would also travel with us. I called each airline and booked his ticket as well. Luckily for internal flight, it was almost the same price. But his ticket at Malaysian Airline costed Rs. 62,000 return. Now for a child, that was super expensive!! I was almost paying what I was paying for myself with internal flights!!

The next post will have details of all my bookings and what I did at Adelaide.