2nd Oz Vacation

It has taken me a while to write down my holidays and since joining IBM, I realized that I didn't have that much time for myself and my writing. In my previous company when I started blogging, I had TONS of time. Where has it all gone?? Story of my life anyway.

Last December, our family together with my cousin KLY's family were at it again. We went on a holiday to Melbourne! That's right! That's 2 Aussie trips in 2 years. Looks like we can get enough of the sheep, billy tea and their G'day! This trip was for 11 days and we spent most of it on the road, traveling around the state and making a big round trip back to Melbourne.

We took the Great Ocean Road which was a coastal road with fantastic view and scenery of the ocean. A lot of people don't realize that the southern part of Australia opens up to the Antartic Sea, which means when it wants to, it can get FREAKING cold! We drove down Geelong and entered the Road and traveled along Apollo's Bay, Lorne and some other small coastal towns.

We ended up in Warnambool, spent a nite and then drove up to the Grampiens National Park. We stayed in the quaint tourist village of Halls Gap where wild kangaroos graze in front of your chalet at night and the night sky is littered with stars. The rock and mountain formations are in perfect harmony with the forest and rivers.

Halls Gap and Grampiens was a very good outdoor experience. We got nature, wild animals, good food, forest, brooks and most importantly, running water, TV, air conditioning and a proper bed. There is only so much wiping my ass with leaves or taking a dump by the river, that I wanna do in my lifetime.

After that we drove back to Melbourne via Ballarat. Other areas we came across was the "Puffing Billy" which is the only steam train in Australia and Philips Island where we watch the tiny penguins going to their burrows from the sea.

It was a good trip with a lot more variety and not just theme parks and zoos like the last trip. However, there was more traveling and transfer of hotels and that was a bit tiring. The currency exchange didn't help either so there was minimal shopping. Thank goodness we found some REALLY good Malaysian restaurants coz Aussie food really sucks. Only Aussie food I enjoyed was their "The Lot" burger which had everything but there is only so much burger you can take! I will be sharing our daily trip and some photos in the next few postings, so stay tuned!!