On the road again

We did a road trip to Adelaide and back last week. There via Victoria and the Great Ocean Road, back through the NSW outback.

It's great to get out there now and again, to experience some of the familiar sights, and explore new spots too.









So it was lunch at the Dog-on-the-Tuckerbox, afternoon tea at the Ettamogah Pub (where else?)

Then we overnighted at Nagambie, a pleasant little town in north-central Victoria which we'd never heard of. It's the birthplace, we discovered, of the famous racehorse Black Caviar, who was born there.

Next day I got to visit two scenic areas I'd long been curious about: Lerderderg Gorge and the You Yangs. The latter are visible as a small group of pointy hills from all over Melbourne. Great places to spend more time at.



 






On via world-famous surf beach, Bells Beach. Not much surf happening this day though. 

It's the Great Ocean Road now, and it truly is a very scenic drive. Somewhere here, near Lorne, I'd made my only other trip down here. Over 40 years ago I'd hitch-hiked down from Melbourne, and got a ride from a couple of young chaps who were cheerfully imbibing from beer bottles as they drove. A lot of this went on in those days. The car hit a post on the edge of a cliff. We limped into Lorne, I crossed the road and hitched straight back.

This time I was doing the driving and it all went a bit more smoothly.

Under Lorne Pier we discovered an enormous seal frolicking and fishing for our entertainment.

Spirits of ferries past and present

I took the Bass Strait ferry over to Tassie and back the other week, as you do.

These days it's the Spirit of Tasmania plying backwards and forwards between Melboune and Devonport, or more accurately, it's Spirit 1 and Spirit 2. It was a comfortable ride each way, with a greatly improved layout of spacious lounges and eateries.







There's a gap in the accommodation options for single travellers though, in my opinion. You either spend the night in a communal recliner lounge area, or you spend an extra $200+ on a cabin. The previous ferry, the Abel Tasman, had a very civilised intermediate dormitory option with spacious, curtained-off bunk beds.

Older Tasmanians often refer to the Princess of Tasmania as the quintessential Tasmanian ferry, but that one was before my time. For me it was the Empress of Australia, which was doing the Devonport - Melbourne run between 1972 and 1985. On that one you were allowed to sleep on the floor in the little space behind the rear toilets.

(Photographed in the Maritime Museum of Tasmania in Hobart)

Melbourne's modern bits

The previous post may have given the impression that nothing ever changes in Melbourne. Well that's not quite true.

Since I left the place four decades back they've stuck up lots of modern looking things, several rather tall buildings, and a roof above the old shot tower (to house a modern shopping centre).

They've also replaced most of their ancient trams with super duper new ones, and renovated several little old laneways into super-trendy nightlife haunts.

On the subject of trams again, Melbournians are so proud of their trams that they often forget that hundreds of cities around the world have excellent tramway systems. When young royals Harry and Megan dropped in the other week, Melbourne rewarded them with ........... wait for it ............. a ride on a tram!

Haunting Melbourne

 

I guess I was haunting Melbourne the other day, in that I was wandering around some of my old haunts from all those decades ago when I lived there for a while. 

Some bits of Melbourne haven't changed much. Like Flinders Street Station, the house in Hawthorn where I lived, Burwood Road at Glenferrie, and Glenferrie Road itself (though it's looking much prettier these days).

 

I was amazed also to discover tram number 981 still running! I used to drive this tram over 40 years ago. It worked out of the Kew depot and it was a museum piece even then.