Road trip from Queensland to Victoria - Part 1

Assalamualaikum and G'Day!

Alhamdulillah all praise to Allah, my family and I were given a chance to explore famous attractions all across four states (QLD, ACT, NSW and VIC) for 10 days in Australia. This marked as the longest road trip so far for us. Back in Malaysia, the longest road trip for me were from Kajang to Perlis or Kajang to Kota Bharu which not even reach a thousand kilometer of driving. Hahahaha.. But, last week we had such a tiring journey which took about more than 4000 Kilometers. Yes, you read it right!! But hold on, this tiring journey was an absolute AMAZING journey overall! Yeah, to do this road trip is ain't easy plus you have this little fella, not only 1 but 4 of them that you need to entertain along the journey as well. Despite their crankiness and a sudden rise in their body temperature, others were fine (ye ke??).  Huhu..

Ok, I think I have to separate this trip to few parts. Hadoiii.. tak biasa oi nak karang berpart2! Lets start with day 1. We started our journey at 10.30 am in the morning after we took our van from Europcar. Yup, we rent a van/mini bus with 12 seats (Toyota Commuter) for this trip. This Toyota Commuter cost us Aud1200 from 3rd Aug 2014 until 12 Aug 2014. Per day free mileage given was 200 km. Extra mileage were charged $0.27/km. Everything ready, load all the luggage and off we go!

 Nah... Siap dengan big esky lagi. Penuh satu van dengan luggage, makanan dan kanak-kanak. haha

We drove from Toowoomba and stop by at Tenterfield Rotary Park for lunch and solat. Then, we continued our journey and reached Canberra at around 3 pm, if I am not mistaken. First stop in Canberra was at Weereewa Lookout Point where we can see all the wind turbines (looking like windmill from far) and snap few pics here. As usual! hahaha.. Next, we went to the Australian Capital Territory, Parliament House. Canberra ni sebijik macam Putrajaya. Not really happening like in cities such as Melbourne/Sydney. Siap makcik yang jaga information center tu bagitau, nothing interesting here! It was just a corporate looking town that filled with senators, politician etc. hahaha.. Nothing much to do in Canberra, so we head to Sydney straight the same day! Total km until Sydney was approximately 1000 km.

It was so difficult to capture clear picture of the turbines because it was far away from lookout. But, we can see it clearly with our own eyes there. Right pic- us in front of the Parliament House in Canberra.

At last, we reached Sydney (Famous Bondi Beach to be exact) at 2 a.m on 4th Aug 2014.

Lamrock lodge, Bondi - Aud83/night

In this journey, we stayed in all budget accommodations as we're always on the go to visit from one place to another. So, no point for us to stay in a luxury hotel as we just have less than 8 hours staying in the lodge/motel (purpose untuk baring je). Tapi kalau duit berkepuk apa salahnya kan? =). So, after almost 14 hours driving we had our not so goodnight sleep at Lamrock Lodge. Masa booked this lodge, we forgot to see whether they have available parking and individual toilet!!! So, it is not really recommended to stay here as it was a shared toilet lodge (kind of like hostel/backpackers). Tapi boleh la. Dalam bilik ada sink and tv. Lepas tu boleh jalan kaki je pergi pantai! 

Dalam pukul 9 am dari Bondi beach, kami teruskan perjalanan. This time it was about 880km from Bondi to St Kilda, Melbourne. Travelling with kids, a drive which usually takes 9-10 hours drive will take longer than that. So, we reached Melbourne almost at wee hours (2.30 am). This time we stayed at a better place as we planned to stay in Melbourne for 3 days. 

We stayed at Redan Apartment nearby St Kilda beach - $324 for 3 nights. This apartment (1 queen and a single bed) was like studio apartment that equipped with kitchen and there was parking for our BIG van! 

In Melbourne, as we are not really familiar with driving route plus the tram system is using the same lane as driving lane, we decided to just take trains/trams to go around the city. Seriously, we thought it was easy. But, turned out it was not!!! As we're carrying baby and toddlers with prams (not recommended) as these trams and trains are not babies and pram friendly! To use baby carrier is a good option, but unfortunately Aisy ni nak naik stroller pun bertarung. Tak larat mak nak dukung seharian nak oiii!!

Next, tour around Melbourne begins! Disebabkan penat drive sampai lewat pagi, kami bertolak dari apartment untuk berjalan-jalan dah nak tengah hari. So, kami jalan-jalan untuk familiarkan diri dengan town. We bought our Myki card ($13.50) at Chapel Hotel near Windsor train station (Sandringham line). This myki kad kalo naik tram dia takkan charge lebih dari $7. So boleh naik je ke mana2 sebab dia charge daily. So, kami naik train terus ke Flinders Street Station and Melbourne Visitor Center. Both are famous attractions for tourist kalau sampai ke town Melbourne. For tourist who wanted to go for tour to Great Ocean Road, Philip Island etc they have lots of packages available. You just need to compare the prices from different companies. Dekat sini, dorg ada bagi buku2 free dalam tu ada voucher utk Puffing Billy etc. So boleh la jimat! Disebabkan dah penat travel jauh gila dari Toowoomba, we opted not to go for more kilometers (approx 600 km go and back from Great Ocean Road to St. Kilda). Walaupun dalam hati meronta-ronta nak pergi tapi apa kan daya. Ramai yang cakap, what a trip to Meboune if you're not visiting GOR. Kira macam tak complete gitu. Tapi takpelah, this will always be our excuse to go to Melbourne again! hahaha..

Melbourne visitor center and Flinders street station

Keluar dari Melbourne visitor center kami keluar cari makan tengahari. Konon nak try naik City Circle tram. WTFish betul! Tram tu slowwww la plak. Dgn sume tgh menahan lapar. hoho.. So, pengajaran untuk diri hana, kalo nak rushing ke sana-sini tak payah naik City Circle tram ni. Tram ni bagus untuk orang santai-santai round satu city yang ambil masa berapa jam tak tahu. hahaha..

To take this tram you just need to wait beside Flinders street station. This City Circle Tram is FOC. Bayangkan mcm mana kami angkut stroller naik benda ni dengan umat yang penuh dalam tu! hoho.. Taubat!

We were actually lost and confused on how to go to Queen Victoria Market or Melbourne Uni using tram. Penat berjalan, kami terjumpa one train station (lupa dah kat mana) yang pergi ke Swanston St. So, we hopped on to the train and went to Swanston St and stopped in front of Melbourne Uni. Akhirnya dapat pun beli makanan, padahal jam nak pukul 4pm dah! Grrrrrrr... As you know, Australia operating hours for almost all malls/gardens/supermarkets will close at 5.00 pm. So, we head back to Melbourne Central and take out train back to Windsor Station. Melbourne Central ni bawah dia train system, atas dia ada glass cone yg sangat menarik! Byk gila shop lot, ada semua brand. Mak je yang tak dapat nak shopping sebab dah petang. Sighhhh.. ape je yang sempat pun tak tahu. huhu..

 Massive glass cone!

The Marionette Fob Watch.

These two pictures were taken at Melbourne Central.

Untuk mengubat hati yang lara, kami balik makan dan solat dekat apartment. Usai solat, semua siap2. One of the attractions near St. Kilda is their Penguin lookout point near the pier! Hah.. untuk tidak melepaskan peluang, mestilah nak tengok penguin live kan? The best time to watch this penguin is during the sunset (maghrib). Kami sampai situ nak pukul 9 pm. Hoho.. Nasib jumpa penguin! Adalah 5-6 ekor yang nampak dengan mata kasar I. hahaha.. Sebenarnya beratus-ratus dalam batu. Tapi dah malam diorg ni tak keluar dah, kecuali yang mencapub je! hahahaha..

St Kilda Pier, Penguin lookout Point. (No entrance fees)

Dah malam, so this was the best shot of lil pingu! Lagipun, nak ambil pic penguin ni dilarang guna flash!

Romantica de amore sangat berlatar belakangkan bot2 mewah dan bandar metropolitan, Melbourne.

So, that is it our first day tour around Melbourne! Panjang dah ni, so to be continue je lah ek? hahaha..