Road Tripping Australia - Part 3, Melbourne to Sydney

De Melbourne a Sydney

Album photos 

Part 3 of our journey took us to Melbourne. We spent only the weekend there, definitely not enough to take in everything that Melbourne has to offer. We did, however, get to experience the traffic maze (/nonsense), enjoy the vibrant and cool lifestyle of its inhabitants, and weave around the bohemian markets along the glittering river. Par usual, we based ourselves in the Caravan Park on the outskirts of the city so we could park our car and venture the CBD (Central Business District) without the meter. We should also mention that we had parted ways with George the German at this point, and were back on the road as the intrepid duo. 

The most impressionable thing about Melbourne was how full of life it was. There was an event, a festival, a performance happening at every corner. A 10 minute walk down the street ended up as 20 minutes, as we had to stop and nose around through the crowds of other spectators. The city had such a healthy vibe, and the weather certainly helped boost this image with its blue skies and warm weather. 

 We also visited the Sunday Arts Market, which featured hand-made goods and small scale manufacturing businesses. There were some absolutely gorgeous stuff that I would've loved to take home with me... But I held onto my will-power and determination to finish this trip with some form of money to start life again, and we walked away with only some home-made ice cream. 

 As I had mentioned in the first paragraph, we experienced the nightmare of driving through Melbourne. We had already been warned about the complicated and somewhat confusing system of traffic control and road signs, but we had no idea that that would take us driving in circles... We had been driving for many many miles already, so Antoine and I were quite confident that with a road map in hand, we would find little trouble navigating. But it appeared that every time we wanted to turn right, it would forbid us, and every time we thought the little green arrow was for us, it wasn't. 

Monday morning we sped out of Melbourne, avoiding the city centre, heading out towards Sydney! Now, as much as I would have liked to make a direct trip to Sydney, we decided to control our excitement and do something wholesome in the countryside. Our first stop was the most popular National Park in Victoria. The Wilson Promontory National Park was a huge vicinity of beaches, bushtrails, lookouts and camping sites. We stayed there one night and made a hike up Mount Oberon. When we reached the top, the wind was so strong and the view was so incredible that I was gasping for breath! The wind didn't stop when we returned to the camping site. We set up the tent in a small corner under some low trees and had to hide in there whilst it turned a bit chaotic outside! 

A very romantic, misty morning at Kangaroo Valley
Notre camping au leve du soleil.

The next stop was Lakes Entrance. There we made a stop at the Visitor Centre to finalise our route to get into Sydney. We had originally wanted to drive inland via the Alpine Road, but after weighing our options with the coastal attractions, we decided to stick to the sea and also save some time by avoiding the long windy mountain roads. There wasn't that much to do at Lakes Entrance, but we did do a spot of shopping and bought ourselves "Bash" - a soft racket game to kill time whilst at camp sites and beaches. 

The final overnight stop before Sydney was Kangaroo Valley. It is a little gem of a town (if you can even call it that). It really only comprises of one road of shops with a "old, old" bridge (maybe 100 years old..?) at the end. That aside, it was still pretty busy. The camping site was a very popular spot for families and other tourists to set up their base and then swim or canoe in the river. Antoine and I chose to join in the fun and with our tiny, primitive tent, we were swamped by the other people's sophisticated and oversized gear. First of all, everyone arrived in 4WD, and along with their 3 bedroom tents, they built gazebos and laid out their BBQs, beach chairs, personal canoes and generators around themselves. As if they had never left home! 

In the evening time, when the sun set, wombats would come out to join us under the stars. They were so much bigger than I imagined them to be. And so unafraid of us! To be fair, I think it was because they were confident we could not see them in the dark, so we got up close and personal to take some good profile shots of them! 

On the final leg to Sydney, we made a couple of 'Lookout' spots. There, we met a whole family of kangaroos jumping around. They were very curious of us, so we drove very slowly past them, not only to take photos of them, but also to avoid startling them and making them thrust themselves in front of us. It was a very civilised meeting indeed. 

So that finally got us to Sydney! We're here right now, staying with the lovely and gorgeous Annie and her family. They have been so great to us, we might just stay forever!!!!

x

 
 

---

Debarrasses de George, nous avons entrepris de visiter Melbourne en 3 jours. Deux journees a se promener dans les rues du CBD (Central Business District) nous ont donne une bonne idee de l ambiance festive de la ville, et du “passe historique” du centre-ville. Jen et son obsession pour les marches du dimanche nous ont fait faire le tour de quelques etales, puis nous sommes alles au musee, avons participe a un concert pour sauver le monde, avons pique-nique sur la promenade et avons regarde quelques spectacles de rue avec des contortionistes, des chiens clowns, des magiciens, etc...

Quitter Melbourne fut une reelle aventure. Les panneaux d indication sont mal positionnes, les sens interdits ruinaient nos plans, les files qui sans vous prevenir vous force a tourner a droite ou a gauche, le traffic d un lundi matin, tout etait reuni pour compliquer notre depart de la ville, et il nous a fallu plusieurs demi-tours pour enfin trouver la sortie. Epuisant !

Nous voila donc sur la route pour rejoindre Sydney, et nous avons une semaine pour visiter la region. Premiere etape, le parc national Wilsons Promontory. Le parc est une enorme reserve naturelle pour la faune et la flore, ou il est possible de marcher dans une foret tropicale et de voir des emus, des kangaroos et tout un tas d animaux locaux. Au final, nous n aurons qu un kangaroo, de loin... Cependant le parc vaut le detour, ne serait-ce que pour ses points de vue  sur la cote et ses plages a surfeurs. Une petite rando facile permet d acceder au sommet du Mont Oleron, d ou la vue sur le parc national est imprenable.

Us spotting the Kangaroos spotting us 
Enfins ! Nos premiers kangaroos !

Apres 2 jours sur place, nous avons continue notre route vers le nord, en longeant la 90 mile beach (plage de 150 km de long), en nous arretant de temps en temps dans des ports de peche pour voir des pelicans et des marinas bien entretenues, et en admirant toujours et encore les points de vue sur la cote, les plage et les rochers... Afin de changer notre quotidien, nous avons vire vers l interieur des terres pour rejoindre la Kangaroo Valley.

Reputee pour sa verdure, ses rivieres et ses cascades, nous n avons pas ete decus de notre sejour dans la vallee. Nous avons plante la tente dans le paradis du campeur du dimanche, ou des centaines d australiens fuient les torpeurs de Sydney pour passer le week-end au vert. Resultat, au milieu de toute cette foule, nous avions la plus petite tente, la plus petite voiture et la plus petite source de lumiere la nuit... Mais ce n est pas la taille qui compte certains diront... Le temps d une soiree, nos nombreux voisins ont construit une vraie ville, a base de camping car, de tentes 20 personnes, de baches, de generateurs, de barbeques et de douches de voyage. Assis sur nos chaises pliables, Jen et moi avons suivi ce spectacle d un oeil effare. Du coup, toute cette animation donnait de la vie au camping, et nous avons pu jouer aux raquettes avec nos voisines de 4 et 6 ans.

En journee, nous avons fait du canoe, un peu de shopping, et nous sommes alles faire un tour vers les chutews d eau Fitzroy. Les trois jours sont passes vite, la region est magnifique, mais nous etions attendus a Sydney par Annie et sa famille, donc nous avons du plier baggages, rejoindre la cote, et prendre la direction de la ville olympique.