Don & Kully's World Cruise on Viking Neptune

This is our first of two days in Melbourne and our first of fourteen days in Australia. We are now 17 hours ahead of central time in the USA, so today is Super Bowl Sunday back home. The game started at 10:30 AM Australian time and was shown on the ship and they also showed a replay at 8:30 PM. Fortunately, made it back from our tour in time to watch the replay, what a game. Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs!

Melbourne was the first capital city of Australia, and it has been called the world’s most livable city. Melbourne enjoys a scenic setting on the large bay of Phillip. It is a 30km (18 mile) transit from the mouth of the harbor to the city. We actually entered the harbor last evening shortly before sunset.

Soon after Queen Victoria declared it a city of the Crown in 1847, the rush to find gold in its rivers made it one of the world’s largest and wealthiest cities. Today, it is celebrated as the county’s cultural capital of the arts and exudes a rich and lively British flair, from its narrow shopping lanes to the fanciful Victorian buildings along Collins Street.

Today we took an independent tour with four other couples called “The Great Ocean Road Private one day tour.” This tour was booked through Viator but is also available through Trip Advisor. The Victoria’s heritage-listed Great Ocean Road is one of the most scenic drives in the world. It is a 244-kilometer (152 Miles) road running along the Tasman Sea on the southwest side of Australia. The scenic highway meanders through secret bays filled with rock pools imposing sandstone cliffs, lush rain forests, deserted beaches, and quint seaside towns. Our driver, Dominique, picked us up at 8:30 and we headed out of Melbourne over the massive harbor bridge to the Princes Freeway. It took a little over an hour to get to the Great Ocean Road which begins near the town of Torquay. The Great River Road was inspired by an Australian engineer who had visited the USA and traveled along the Pacific Highway in California. Funds were raised by preselling land along the route and returning WW I veterans provided the labor to build the scenic roadway. 

We made several stops along the way for pictures and for refreshments before getting to Apollo Bay where we stopped for lunch and a little souvenir shopping. 

After Apollo Bay the road leaves the coastline for a several miles and goes through the Great Otway National Park a densely forested and hilly area. It was on this stretch of the highway that we spotted Koala Bears in the trees and were able to stop for pictures. 

There were also many birds along the way.

…. and some silly signs.

Near Lavers Hill we made a stop at a small private game sanctuary for injured and rescued animals that can’t be returned to the wild called Fauna Australia. Specific species included Koala Bears, Emus, Kangaroos, Wombats and a variety of birds. Tour groups normally don’t go there, but the Lady that runs the sanctuary is a personal friend of Dominque, so she lets him bring his small groups to visit. 

After our visit to Fauna Australia, we continued our journey along the Great Ocean Road to one of the most famous views along Australia’s south coast, the Twelve Apostles. The Twelve Apostles were originally a series of twelve magnificent limestone and sandstone sea stacks rising from the Ocean. Currently, due to the constant erosion of the limestone formations there are only eight Apostles left.

From here we headed north toward Colac and the A1 Freeway on our three-hour drive back to Melbourne and the Viking Neptune. This was an incredible tour that we highly recommend. We were able to see a variety of eco systems ranging from rugged seacoast and beautiful beaches to open prairies and farmland to heavily forested areas. We covered a lot of miles, but we made plenty of stops to take in the scenery and the Mercedes Minibus was very comfortable to travel in.

Tomorrow we will once again be in Melbourne where we plan to explore the sights of the city.