Surf Camp Photos

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick post of my surf camp pictures from a couple weeks ago! Here they are:

Melbourne/Great Ocean Road Tour

I would have to say that this weekend was the coolest so far.  We headed to the Gold Coast Airport Thursday after my class.  The bus ride took around an hour and it was nice because we were able to check in for our flight days before so all we had to do was arrive 20 minutes before boarding.  The flight to Melbourne took about 2 hours.  Melbourne is south of Gold Coast so it was about 20 degrees (F) colder.  The highs were in the 60’s so it was still nice. 

Melbourne is Australia’s second largest city.  It is the capital city of Victoria.  Melbourne is also the #2 most liveable cities in the world, which after being there I can definitely see why with its amazing architecture, restaurants and cafes, efficient public transportation, and its location along the Yarra River.

Small cafes were everywhere

Streets of Melbourne

After the flight we got on a skybus which took us right down the street from our hostel.  The name of the hostel was Nomads All Nation and was located convientantly in the center of the city. There were eight of us that went so we were supposed to be split up into two rooms but we all ended up sleeping in the same one.  The rooms were 2 sets of bunk beds with community bathrooms and showers on each floor.  It was not as bad as I thought and it was surprising pretty clean. 

After getting settled in, we made our way around town searching for some place to eat.  After wandering for over an hour we decided the next place we saw we were eating at.  It turned out to be an Italian restaurant named Tono.  I ordered the lasagna which was really good!

After dinner we found this awesome bar called Cookie.  They had heaps of beer on tap including one of my favourites, Chimay! I’ve never seen it on tap before so I had to have one despite its $12 price tag!  We ended up stopping at a couple other places before making our way back to the hostel.

Friday, we got up early and headed out to breakfast at The Pancake Palace.  After that we made our way over the the St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral which was very distinguishable from its style of architecture.  We spent awhile looking around inside and then made our way over to Federation Square.

Brekkie at the Pancake Palace

St. Paul's Cathedral

Inside view

Federation square is home to many of the “historic” buildings in Melbourne.  It is situated right alongside the Yarra River with great views of the city.  We spent some time there and walked down by the river and a park while enjoying the cool Melbourne air.

The Rialto and Winfield Buildings

Captain Matthew Flinders

Flinders Street Station Clocktower

Flinders Street Station is one of the most recognizable buildings in all of Melbourne

Royal Arcade- Melbourne's oldest arcade 

  Tall building on the left is the Eureka building which when built 2006 was the tallest residential building in the southern hemisphere. It is now the fourth.

Tall pointed structure on the far left is the Victorian Arts Centre

Yarra River

From there, we hopped on a free tourist bus which ran every half an hour and dropped off at all the main points around the city.  We passed by the Royal Exhibition Building on our way to the Queen Victoria Market.  The market was huge and consisted of all types of fruit, vegetables, and then there were aisles and aisles of souvenir type stuff.

The Royal Exhibition Building

For lunch, my friend Jackie and I decided it was time for my first meat pie. Meat pies are very popular in Australia.  They have pie shops all over the place.  We went to a place called Pie Face which was a small walk up place located not far from our hostel.  I got a chicken and mushroom one and it was amazing!

After that, we headed back to the hostel to change for dinner.  We took a tram to St. Kilda which is a part of told we were told had a bunch of restaurants and bars.  We ended up eating at another Italian place.  I ordered rigatoni and vegetables and it was good.  Our service on the other hand was not so good.  Half of us got our food twenty minutes before everyone else.  And Jackie got her food after most of us were finished eating.

Group picture at dinner Friday Night

One main difference I’ve noticed in the restaurant industry, is that in Australia servers aren’t as motivated to give excellent service since it is not customary to tip here.  They are paid a decent wage whether or not they exceed your expectations.

On our way back we decided to stop and have some dessert.  The streets of St. Kilda we filled with  bakeries with display windows filled with cakes, pies, and pastries.  We ended up stopping at a gelato place.  I got white chocolate and chocolate hazelnut gelato which was delicious! We decided to head back early to our hostel, since we had to be up at 630 am the next day for our Great Ocean Road Tour.

On Saturday morning, we got picked up just down the street from our hostel.  We had a big van what held 20 people in it.  The Great Ocean Road stretches for about 270 kilometers. 

  We stayed there for about 45 minutes and then were on our way to our next stop. 

Bells Beach

Another stop was in Lorne where we had morning tea, coffee, and biscuits.  The town was right on the ocean and had great views from where we were sitting. 

Morning coffee

For lunch, we ate at a fish and chips place which was really good. I asked one of the workers what something “Australian” would be to order in addition and was told to try a Chikko roll.  It looked like a giant egg roll and was filled with chicken and some other stuff which I wasn’t really sure what it was.  It was actually really good.  After walking by a gelato shop we decided we must stop.  I tried Tiramisu gelato which was definitely one of the best flavours I have ever tried!

Chikko Roll

Ocean views driving

We continued on and then stopped off at Otway National Park where we walked through the rainforest and saw some awesome trees and plants but unfortunately no animals.  We didn’t stay too long and then we back on the road  and off to my favourite part of the whole trip: the 12 Apostles.

My roommate Elin and me

Jackie and I

Next on the agenda was a stop to see koalas in the wild and feed some cool looking birds.  Most of the Koalas were sleeping as they are known to sleep for almost an entire day.  Finally we saw one that was awake and slowly moving which was pretty rare.  There were heaps of green and red birds flying around and our tour guide gave us some bird feed to attract the birds.  It was hilarious because the birds started landing on random people’s heads, including my own.  We hung out there for awhile and then were on our way to our next stop. 

Koala looking down at me

The Twelve Apostles are large rock stacks that were formed from erosion of the limestone cliffs.  Over time, the erosion led to caves which then led to arches which collapsed leaving a single stack of rock in the ocean.  I think there are only eight Apostles remaining, as they have collapsed over time due to the strong waves in this area.  The views were unlike anything I have ever seen before.  It was definitely lived up to its reputation of being one of the coolest sights in Australia.  To add to the excitement, my friend Miikka and I decided to take a helicopter ride to get an even better view of the Twelve Apostles that can’t be seen from land! I am so happy I decided to do it.

Thirty minutes from the Twelve Apostles were a bunch of cliffs and other rock formations.  We walked along the paths and then decided to take the stairs down to the beach.  My friend Jackie and I decided it would be cool to go explore the cave in the distance.  We had to climb on and over a bunch of rocks in the ocean to get to the cave.  It was awesome there were bats flying around and we saw a crab crawling around. 

View from the top

Down at the beach with the cave in the distance

Jackie and me in the cave

Our last stop was to see the London Arch.  It was originally called the London Bridge because of its resemblance to it, but part of the bridge collapsed in 1990 taking on its new name of the London Arch.  

London Arch (You can see to the left where the part was before it collapsed 

When we got back to our hostel, we changed and hit the streets for our last night out.  We took the tram to the Crown Casino, which is the largest casino in the southern hemisphere.  I didn't have much money to gamble away, so I stuck to the slots and after losing $5 in 5 minutes decided I should stop before I lost any more! We then headed to a bar that had live music which was really cool.  We spent the rest of the night there and had a lot of fun.  

Sunday morning, we headed off to Chinatown which I was told was a "must see" in Melbourne.  It was really cool despite a lot of places being closed since it was 9am on a Sunday.  We stopped in a restaurant and had Dim Sum which is a Chinese dish that involves small portions of food usually in baskets that we all shared.  They were all really good!

We left for the airport around 11:30am to catch our 1:05 flight back to the Gold Coast.  We all had an amazing time but were all exhausted from our action packed weekend.  

I will be spending the next two weeks studying and working on papers. I have 3 mid-semester exams next week so I will be laying low for the most part.  I am still waiting for my surf pictures to come but will put them up as soon as I get them.  I am working on planning my next big trip for my mid-semester break at the end of April.

Hope you all are doing well and have a great rest of the week!

Bryan