Longing For A Holiday That Make A Difference

It has been 11 years since my family went on a self-drive holiday to Australia. For a stretch of 18 days, my family including my mum-in-law were totally carefree, away from the hassle and bustle of our city. That was a very memorable long vacation for all of us. I recalled my husband, the only one who drove throughout the holiday, telling me that we had in total clocked up more than 18,000km. Except in Brisbane, we hired a Facon and drove from Melbourne to our resort in the countryside, then to The Great Ocean Road, all the way to Philip Island and back.

On the second day, while driving to Murray River to take our river cruise, we passed by a small animal farm. It's run by a family. The owner was very friendly. They gave us permission to walk around the premises and watch them go about doing their chores. They also kept honey bees & we were fortunate to see them at work collecting honey from their harvest. We strolled along the river bank before boarding the ferry. Some people were having fun swimming in an enclosed area of the river, supposedly done so for the public to safely swim there. They have even put up a simple slide for the swimmers to splash down into the water.

Our third day was spent on Ulupna Island. It's another interesting place near our resort. That area was actually a forest covered mainly with mulberry trees taken care by a ranger. He and his wife also had a lodge whereby guests could visit or stay over. In the day, the ranger would conduct paid guided tours for his groups of pre-arranged visitors. In fact, we have missed the scheduled time for the guided tour that day. Instead of asking us to go back on another day, he offered to provide his service. We excitedly jumped into his guide truck painted with the name "Wildlife Safari - Koala and Koo Tours".

We were really fortunate to have him with us for almost the whole afternoon as we were his only guests then. Usually he would only provide guided tour in the morning. Therefore he should be free that afternoon if not for us. We were truly thankful to him for his kindness.

The children were so thrilled to get real close to the koalas. Some of them were hugging on the lower part of the mulberry tree trunks and we could just stretch our hands to stroke and pad them. They were very shy. The kangaroos could be seen hopping here & there. We were not able to go very near to them like we did with the koalas. They would hop away when they sense people trying to get near them. Anyway, it was not too bad really, as there were times when we could go as near as about 10m away from them. We even sighted a pair of kangaroos doing the "boxing show". Of course, it was really very funny. Those kangaroos were not like those we normally see in the Singapore Zoo. They were as tall as a full grown man. Next, we also spotted another one carrying a baby kangaroo in her pouch. We also came across an owl, a bat & two eagles perching on the tree branches all at different locations of the forest when the ranger drove us around. We never imagine we could see an owl or bat in the daytime!

We did not leave that place immediately after the tour. The ranger invited us to his house which was quite near to his guest lodge. We met his wife. They kept a very young koala with them at home. According to his wife, that young koala was an orphan because his mother was killed in the forest & there was no one to take care of him. She was feeding him with milk in a feeding bottle. She let us carry him after his feed. Do you know that koalas will cling on to you even tighter with their claws if you show sign of fear? And that can become very uncomfortable, especially for the children who become panic when the koala first hug them. They will think that we may drop them accidentally. We were told that they need plenty of affection and security.

On another day, we visited the vineyard. We saw many huge wooden barrels stacked in rows and the wine making machines. The grapes were still tiny so we were only able to see rows and rows of green shrubs. They were also selling bottled wines and people were busy tasting different types of wine. On our drive back to the resort, we dropped by at an orange orchard. There were lots of ripen oranges hanging on the trees. Really a lovely sight. We bought a whole big packet of them for just A$1.50 & squeezed plenty of juice for ourselves.

On days when we did not feel like going anywhere, we just lazed around at our resort. We could easily buy our stuff at a nearby grocery store & cook simple meals for ourselves. There were indoor and outdoor swimming pools. We tried both. They have a lake just behind the place we stay. There were barberque pits nearby but we did not make use of it. An elderly couple who stayed next door had their barberque dinner there. So romantic!

A young couple who was having their honeymoon there made friends with us. They asked if we would like to join them driving together to the Great Ocean Road and Philip Island. Why not, that was a good opportunity we thought. Co-incidentally, the young couple was also from Singapore. Actually, we asked for their address and contact. We thought we could send them a copy of the video tape when we get back to Singapore.
We only realized we have misplaced their contact details when we were back home.

During our journey, we had to drive into the city of Melbourne. There were many parks everywhere in the city. People would simply pick up their sandwiches and go to the parks to relax on the ground and eat their lunches. Some would relax on the grass and read their books. Really envy them. I wish to see the pace of life in Singapore will one day be like theirs too. We stopped by at a Hongkong restaurant to have our wanton noodles for lunch. It was surprisingly good. The texture of the noodles were spongy and wantons were tasty, just like those we had in Hongkong.

We made many stopovers along the Great Ocean Road. Our first stop was at Apollo Bay. Standing on the higher ground overlooking at surfers from afar on the beach surfing on the huge waves. The wind was very very strong. So strong that the seagulls flying above us could hardly move to their desired direction although we could see them flapping their wings very hard. We had a good laugh watching them staying put at the same position for a long time even though we knew they were trying to move forward, which was against the wind direction.

We were experiencing longer days than night. The sky was still bright even though it was already 8pm. We were fortunate to be able to stay out later before looking for a motel to stay for a night. The next morning we had our breakfast served in our room. It was stylishly delivered to us through a window with a lid that can be opened or locked from both sides.

We started early cruising along the Great Ocean Road looking for the Twelve Apostles and the Elephant Rock. The road on the cliff throughout was a windy one. We spent a lot of time enjoying the splendid sceneries. Marveled at the Twelve Apostles, towering rock sculptures that rised suddenly and spectacularly from the sea.

From there we proceeded to Philip Island. We were happy to have the young couple friends with us. We could look out for each other's car along the way & were thus more confident finding our destinations. Very quickly and smoothly we reached Philip Island just before sunset. And that was actually the perfect timing to watch the penguins coming back from the sea at Penguin Parade. The fairy penguins were only about 15cm tall. They swam back to shore after their days' work at sea. We waited patiently on the spectators stand watching them come back in batches of 30 or so with the help of the strong push of the waves. Then one by one, we could trail them by walking on the spectators path built for visitors, watching them from a distance so as not to disturb them waddling back to their nests on higher & inner dry land away from the shore. They were very adorable.

When the show ended, again we went to look for our lodging for the night. It was not difficult. There were many motels available. Before going back to the motel, we stopped by at the Nobbies, a rocky corner of Philip Island which was said to be cold enough for seal to rest there. Sadly, we did not get to see any seal there.

The next day after brunch, we drove out of Philip Island and bid farewell to our friends because they had to proceed to their next destination which was not in the same direction as ours. We drove the same way where we came from by the Great Ocean Road but they took a new route to get to their new destination.

We returned the rented Facon at the airport in Melbourne and flew to Brisbane.

There were different couches going to various hotels and resorts. We paid A$15 per person for the one-way trip to our resort - Mariner Shore Resort. We did not know that it was quite a distance from Surfers Paradise. Nevertheless, the resort turned out to be a good one. We were satisfied. Public transports were convenient according to the resort staff. So we decided not to rent a car and instead tried out their public transport.

The first day at Gold Coast, we took a bus to Movieworld and Seaworld. Actually, it never cross our minds that traveling in a big place like Australia was not like traveling in Singapore - the bus journey turned out to be rather long. We had to bridge three buses in order to reach our destinations. Interestingly, we need not pay at each bridging point, they were all included in one original fee and that's the reason why we did not realize that the bus trip was to be broken into three parts. In fact, that was a good eye-opener for us. The buses passed by many beautiful residential estates which we definitely would not have taken the trouble to visit if we were in cars. Those were huge landed properties with pretty landscaped gardens. Each one was different in design and size. Fortunately, we started off early and managed to reach Movieworld at about 11am, just before lunch time. The rides, the shows and performances were superb. My boy who was only about four years of age then, can now still remember all the things he saw and done there.

We bought a strawberry pie and celebrated my daughter's eighth birthday at the resort.

The following day, we hopped into a bus again and went to Harbour Town Shopping Centre and Pacific Fair Shopping Centre. I was not so much a shopping person, so was merely to sightsee. We enjoyed more looking out for good food.

On the third day, we had the resort staff recommend us places of interest. Aussie Downunder Outback was something she told us we must go. Indeed, a very interesting place for people like us. Especially our children, who have all along been living in a concrete forest. The children were so amused when they sat in a horse-pulled cart, fed the calves, goats and horses, watched wool shearing done at the farm, drank tea served in tin cups which cowboys would use in movies. The tea was made over an open fireplace. They also got to milk the cows. It is truly an experience they will never forget. We were taught how to throw our boomberangs & use the whips like as if we were cowboys. Not forgetting, we have had a sumptuous barberque lunch before all those activities.

Oh yes, carrots! We bought many small fresh carrots at a supermarket nearby and munched them raw while watching our TV programmes or relaxing on the couches in the balcony overlooking the resort swimming pool.

On the last few days of our stay, we visited Surfers Paradise and shopped at the precint. Besides swimming in the resort pools, The children also got to go down to the beach behind our resort. They built sand castles and freely ran on the stretch of beautiful beach. As for us adults, we just spread our beach towels and lie there watching the huge roaring waves thundered in front of us.