Sunday, September 11, 2016

Melbourne Travelogue 07: Teddy's Lookout + Lorne Beach Pavilion

 
Recently, I became obsessed with cleaning #dontaskmewhy. I spent weekend after weekend cleaning around the house, decluttering, wiping the insides of the cupboards etc. I felt a sense of achievement after seeing a "brand new" deco around the house. After operation clean-up, I decided that I want to revamp the picture wall, lol! Well, before my props arrive, let me spend some time updating this space before I get down to work.
 
From Erskine Falls, we drove over to Teddy's Lookout. 
 
As I swiftly alighted from the car and walked towards the lookout, Leecher caught sight of the wild koala and was frantically waving to grab my attention. I thought he needed help with something and was feeling annoyed, lol! He pointed towards the tree and I saw it too - our first wild koala experience :)
Well-trodden path leading to Teddy's Lookout. 
The walkway took us to the viewing platform, where we can see the coastal views and the bends of the GO road, overlooking the St George Inlet. We lingered for a while, contemplating to stay for sunset when we decided that we should head for an early dinner while waiting for sunset.
 
I wanted to head back to The Bottle of Milk, but Leecher convinced me that we should try other places instead. So, that brought us to Lorne Beach Pavilion, a cafe/restaurant with sea view and good food.
The protcol is simple: grab a menu, sit anywhere you like and head to the counter to order. Of course, we chose to sit outside for the sea view.
Happy hour starts from 3PM to 6PM, daily. Leecher went for a pint of beer while I had my sparkling wine. Check out the bubbles, they always make me happy (^^)
 
What goes best with sparkling? Oysters! We ordered fresh oysters, smokey kilpatrick (smokey bacon with oysters) and braised lamb shank to share. Love the smokey kilpatrick, a twist to the classic oysters.
  
The perfect dining place - awesome view coupled with good food and drinks. Throw in a few surfers' dude and my day is completed, ha! 
We lingered for a while more, catching the sunset before I head over to The Bottle of Milk to pack a burger for supper. Leecher drove in the dark for almost 2h to our accommodation before we finally called it a night, with the burger in tummy, of course.
Lorne Beach Pavilion
81 Mountjoy Parade, Lorne VIC 3232, Australia

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Melbourne Travelogue 06: Fun at Beach + The Bottle of Milk + Erskine Falls

A recent craze took over Singapore by storm and I was also playing the game too. Yes, Pokemon Go - the latest craze that kept me/us rather busy catching the pokemons which lead to me neglecting the blog. While I don't go to various locations specifically to hunt for it, I do enjoy the satisfaction when catching a rare pokemon or one with high CP. Before I neglect this space further, let me reminisce the GO journey.
On the way to Lorne, we drove past a beach and we made an impromptu decision to park the car and head down for a walk. It was the beginning of spring, so I suppose it was still too cold to head out so the beach was relatively empty, apart from some people walking their dogs. 
 
Ha, Leecher caught my oh-my-god-it's-so-cold look. Even though I had walked barefooted in the water previously, but the coldness of the water still caught me by surprise.  
Wearing Leecher's slippers! Yeah, I got him to join me since he missed out on the joy.
Needless to say, I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Yeah!
With the best travel buddy, though he is quite annoying at times. We spent a quiet late morning at the beach before our tummies grumbled to remind us that it was time for lunch.
 
We headed to The Bottle of Milk for lunch. The place was crowded when we arrived, but we managed to get a table for 2. We would love to sit outdoors and enjoy the weather, which explained why outdoor tables were filled up at a faster rate than indoor tables.
 
Since we weren't that hungry (I blame the snacks in the car), we ordered a burger and smoothie to share.  
 
Leecher ordered the Fire Engine and the burger came with prime beef, tasty cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, house mayo and homemade chilli paste. This burger was da bomb! I loved it so much that I devoured almost 3/4 of it. The burgers are served in freshly baked organic, sourdough bun which makes it slightly different from the rest of the burgers we tasted thus far. 
The Bottle of Milk
52 Mount Joy Parade, Lorne
Tel: +61 3 5289 2005
Opening Hours: 8AM till 8PM daily
 
After filling our tummies, we decided to work off the calories. We drove over to Erskine Falls and hiked to the waterfall.
 
The upper lookout is an easy 5-min walk from the car park. The lower lookout was a pretty easy hike initially, given that we just followed the steps down to the lookout. The real "adventure" came at the bottom of the waterfall, as you inched to get closer. We had to cross through a small river by stepping on rocks. The water was relatively shallow, but the rocks were slippery. I almost lost my balance when I stepped on a loose rock. Thankfully, I reacted in time but my shoes were wet :( 
  
One of the most popular waterfalls in the Otways, the Erskine Falls plunges 30m into the lush tree-fern gully of the Erskine River. As we ventured through, we tried our best to stay on the walking path instead of stepping on the ferns. This is one of the ways that we can help to preserve nature.
 
Our view after a mini hike - totally worth it to feel the cool mist on our faces with a grand view of the waterfall.
Erskine Falls
Erskine Falls Access Road, Lorne 
VIC 3232, Australia

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Melbourne Travelogue 05: Split Point Light House (Aireys Inlet) + Devil's Elbow

 
I spent the week in London for the Sales Conference, which probably explains my absence in this space. Now that I'm home, it's now back to the daily grind of work and I just had to sneak some time to update the blog to keep the momentum going. While editing pictures for this blog, I got bored and spent sometime updating my drama list on 2015 instead, ha! I also put together a list for 2016 since I have finished a couple of dramas this year. Now, let us continue on Day 2 of our GO drive
 
Since we were on a self-drive trip, I decided to try out AirBnB for the first time. We booked the private room, so we get to stay with the hosts. I will read up on the reviews and scanned through the pictures of the accommodation before confirming the booking. For those who are new to AirBnB, sign up using my link (www.airbnb.com.sg/c/caihongl) to get some travel credits! This will help to offset part of your booking, so why not?  
We checked into our first accommodation at Lorne and had a good night rest. The next morning, our host left out some breakfast for us before she left for work. We ate our breakfast, packed our bags and continued our journey. 
  
We had to make a detour to visit the places which we skipped yesterday. So, we drove past memorial archway again and head towards Aireys Inlet.
Parking is basically free here, but be careful of where you parked. We followed the cars till the end of the line and parked the car. Leecher even had problem parking the car as we were sandwiched between 2 cars. Imagine our surprise when we saw a parking coupon stuck to the wind shield for parking at an unauthorised area. Hefty fine which burnt a hole in our pocket, but haiz ...
 
Anyway, we continued the journey and walked over to Split Point Lighthouse.
For those who are not rushing for time, do drop by Willow Tea House (next to the lighthouse) for their famous scones. If the weather is good, head outdoors to enjoy a bit of sunshine!
Willow Tea House
7 Federal Street, Aireys Inlet, Victoria 3231
Ta-dah! Can you feel our excitement, ha! The lighthouse make a really good backdrop, with the ivory white tower and red roof. It certainly stood out against the blue sky.
We were greeted by a display of vintage cars just as we stepped foot into the compound. These vintage cars were absolutely gorgeous! It felt like an entourage of vintage cars on parade, but it was really just one big extended family dropping by the lighthouse for a visit. Definitely an eye-turner on the road.  
 
The lighthouse is opened daily from 11AM till 2PM, each tour is around 45 min. We explored the surrounding areas first ... just because this scene captured my heart.
 
From this look out, you can see both eagle and table rocks although eagle rock is slightly out of sight while table rock (shown in picture) is more prominent for picture taking. 
View from another lookout point. There is no bad angle for photography in Melbourne. Everywhere just looks so picturesque, the perfect backdrop. 
 
We walked around the area and decided to forgo the lighthouse tour - since we'll be visiting another lighthouse in the area - and headed off towards our next destination. 
I love SUV after this trip! I get to sit at the spacious boot while changing out from my shoes. Nonetheless, car is expensive in Singapore so we can only drive this while on holiday :) 
Split Point Lighthouse
Federal Street, Aireys Inlet, Victoria 3231
Tel: 1800 174 045  
Opening Hours: 11AM till 2PM (daily) 
We continued to Devil's Elbow on the GO drive, which brings us to this view even though Devil's Elbow is known as the tightest turn on the GO road. Leecher learning about the history on-site by reading the commemorative plaque. There are 13 such plaques along the stretch of GO road.
 The large stopping area for cars to turn in
Selfie, lol!
We took a couple of pictures before we decided that we should head down to the beach. Stay tuned for the next post!
Devil's Elbow
Great Ocean Road, Eastern View, Victoria 3231
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