By now almost major attractions of the CBD were covered and I was pretty satisfied with the way things have coincided with my planned itinerary. As per my plan today was meant for the 'Great Ocean Road' trip which is one of major attraction for visitors to Melbourne. The GoD drive is a scenic drive along the antarctic ocean with many breath-taking spots, coves & beaches and limestones structures. This road also leads you to the '12 Apostles' which is fastly eroding into the ocean and I wanted to see this tourist attraction long before it is gone. Frankly rather than the tourist hotspots on the route, I had intentions of self driving on the great ocean road and had got myself an international license as well for this precise reason. But when we visited the visitor centre we were warned that a single day trip wasnt the most advisable thing to do as one would hardly get the time to soak in the beauty, besides it could be pretty taxing upon the passangers especially kids, and needless to say on the driver. All this advice along with the almost intimidating driving rules (remember I come back from Goa) and a slightly prohibitive cost of self driving a soft top coupe weighed the odds against me taking the drive. I still had the option of taking the bus ride but I felt that would mean crushing my dream which I shall surely live some day. So that plan not materializing I had to make up for it with some alternative for we didnt want to waste a beautiful day within the confines of our room. So off we left...
We hadnt had a very fulfilling breakfast all these days, for the rush we always were in to explore new place. But today having been there seen that, we though of setting our priorities straight and spend some time in satiating our taste buds. So we went to QVM where I had spotted a line of food stalls in the alley adjoining the market. After a couple stroll up and down the alley and carefully going through the menu displpayed, Anjali decided to settle on a Turkish food stall. We ordered a turkish dish (was it a falafel or a pesto? I forgot) and rested our backsides into the chairs. When the food came we relished it to the last bit and then topped it with some turksih tea, coffee.
From there we went to the docklands to view the marina from up close. We had passed by it the last time we visited the Melbourne Star and since the shuttle didnt halt here we just observed in from the comforts of the bus. But today we had the luxury to visit and see a few art installations and patches of beautifully manicured flower beds we line alone the shore while the sparkling white yatchs dazzled in the bright sun in the background. Walked over the wharf, passed across the Etihad stadium and hitched a bus ride to the Royal Botanical Gardens which we could not explore due to the rains on the previous day. Today was different as in it was pretty hot and not the best day to roam around large stretches of absolutely very well maintained plants of different species and colours. Nevertheless we explored the various sections of the park, the map we picked at the entrance lobby coming very handy. Totally exhausted having unknowingly clocked a few miles, we finally decided to rest for a while. So we located a bench on a lawn and cooled our heels. By now Anannya too had dozed off and it only meant we had some quite time for just two of us.
We hadnt had a very fulfilling breakfast all these days, for the rush we always were in to explore new place. But today having been there seen that, we though of setting our priorities straight and spend some time in satiating our taste buds. So we went to QVM where I had spotted a line of food stalls in the alley adjoining the market. After a couple stroll up and down the alley and carefully going through the menu displpayed, Anjali decided to settle on a Turkish food stall. We ordered a turkish dish (was it a falafel or a pesto? I forgot) and rested our backsides into the chairs. When the food came we relished it to the last bit and then topped it with some turksih tea, coffee.
From there we went to the docklands to view the marina from up close. We had passed by it the last time we visited the Melbourne Star and since the shuttle didnt halt here we just observed in from the comforts of the bus. But today we had the luxury to visit and see a few art installations and patches of beautifully manicured flower beds we line alone the shore while the sparkling white yatchs dazzled in the bright sun in the background. Walked over the wharf, passed across the Etihad stadium and hitched a bus ride to the Royal Botanical Gardens which we could not explore due to the rains on the previous day. Today was different as in it was pretty hot and not the best day to roam around large stretches of absolutely very well maintained plants of different species and colours. Nevertheless we explored the various sections of the park, the map we picked at the entrance lobby coming very handy. Totally exhausted having unknowingly clocked a few miles, we finally decided to rest for a while. So we located a bench on a lawn and cooled our heels. By now Anannya too had dozed off and it only meant we had some quite time for just two of us.
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