The flight from Perth to Melbourne was about 3-4 hours and pretty uneventful. I took a taxi to the hotel I was staying at which was (the taxi) a reasonable price. I was staying in the St Kilda area of Melbourne and as a future warning I shall note that "cosmopolitan" is AKA for seedy. The hotel itself (Best Western Easystay appartment on Carlisle street) was just about ok, although I did require the maintenance man to come in and fix a number of things that weren't working. Each on their own wasn't a big issue ( lightbulb gone, tv remote not working, TV chanel reception not too clear) but the sum of a dozen minor issues makes you think that the property isn't being looked after. All this coupled with a stroppy manager who needed some lessons in "customer relations" mean that this isn't a hotel I would use or recommend again. It was maybe this experience that left me feeling Melbourne was my least favourite town in Australia, but I think it was a number of other factors as well.
Good things about Melbourne: public transport was pretty good, the rugby stadium was excellent ( even had decent bars inside the stadium
) and there were a lot of reasonable restaurants. My favourite thing in and around Melbourne was a trip to Phillip Island ( http://www.phillipislandweb.com ) Where I went to see the Penguin Parade, where there is a great centre where you can watch the penguins come home each night to their rookeries. Very amusing to see them waiting at the waters edge until they get enough numbers to feel safe to sprint up the beach to reach their nests in the dunes. http://www.upfromaustralia.com/penguinparade.html . There are a number of great bird watching and nature areas if you want to wander round them (most are free) and while it is wonderful to see the birds and other wildlife ( I was lucky enough to come across a family of wild rock wallabys in a thicket munching grass) , some of the wildlife may be a little too wild. Walking back along a path I came across a pretty sizable snake slithering acrossssss the path, I decided to let it go without troubling it so I stayed about 15 feet away as it made it's way off into the grass ( I kept a pretty good eye on it) once it was a decent way away I decided to carry on when it's partner slithered out I would guess about 2-3 feet from my shoes ( the rest of me was in orbit once I saw it) I retired to a safe distance and let it pass. My heart rate was somewhere in the mid 200s I'd guess. I later indentified it as a common brown snake and it's rated as the second most poisonous snake in the world 
. Maybe nature walks on your own aren't such a good idea !!. Enjoyable game against Samoa and after an early wakeup call the team put up a good performance to win reasonably comfortably.
Bad things: It was pretty seedy ( particularly St Kilda) I was a little unnerved when going home one night to be propositioned by a "lady" who despite the cold weather seemed to be wearing very little clothing (there were quite a lot of similarly dressed young ladies standing on street corners in this part of Melbourne and it is well known for that "attraction"). This particular young "lady" was at least 6 feet tall, as I got closer I thought to myself " my what big hands you have, what big feet you have, I think you need a shave but watch out you don't nick your Adam's apple" I was brought out of my contemplation when (s)he said in a very rich baritone voice "hey darlin' want some business" . I declined the offer and scurried off to bed a little quicker than I normally walk. IMHO For St Kilda it is not advisable to take families.
Next I flew to Sydney to pick up a car and drove off in the direction of Brisbane, but I had a couple of nights en route booked nears Coff's Harbour. I stayed at the Boambee Palms B+B and this was by far the nicest place I stayed. Marcus and Colleen (owners) were great hosts and it is a beautiful place to stay. It's about a 5 minute drive to the beach at Boambee and 10 minutes into Coff's Harbour itself. While it's unusual in not being right on the beach, the beautiful gardens and wildlife more than make up for that aspect. Breakfast on the varandah with lorikeets, birds of paradise, parrots and others visiting the garden was an absolute joy. http://www.boambeepalms.com.au/ . Coff's in general gets a high mark, some great beaches, nice restaurants and lots to do Boambee Palms gets top marks for accommodation. After a couple of relaxing days I made my way to Brisbane to watch South Africa vs Samoa then drove another 450 kms north to Bundaberg where I had booked a dive course for the week. I managed the 2 days pool and course work ok, although my knee ( opperation booked next month) let me know it was struggling under the extra pressure of all the gear. After the pool work we had 3 days aboard a boat on the Great Barrier reef to complete the open water part of the course. This was a fantastic trip and the islands that we visited were wonderful, stunning sunsets and loads of fish, turtles, dolphins and a few sharks (little reef ones). Unfortunately for me, I had a few problems with my gear on the first dive and smashed my knee up pretty badly getting back into the boat. A healthy knee would I'm sure have been OK, but as I'd been diagnosed with a torn cartledge just a week before I went away, it was all a bit too much for it. I decided that I really couldn't afford to wreck the knee as we were at 1/4 final stages in the rugby and I'd be REALLY miffed if I had to watch the final from a hospital bed. Anyway here's a link to Salty's dive school I thought they were very good and Dennis our dive instructor was excellent http://www.saltys.com.au
I got off the boat, still a little wobbly after 3 days afloat and drove down to Brisbane. I stayed at Dahrl court ( http://www.dahrlcourt.com.au/ ), which was just a short walk from Brisbane town centre and a quaint place to stay. I would be quite happy to stay there again. I liked Brisbane, some nice places to see and I didn't really have time to take it all in. I had a day out to Steve (crocodile hunter) Irwin's Zoo Australia and I thought it was a very well laid out and thought out park/zoo. Not too sure about his recent brainstorm, but the park is well worth a visit and I hope that it's a successful venture because it does seem to, IMHO, have the right ideas as far an the animal enclosures are concerned. Much of Brisbane was based around the rugby I went to watch Aussie Vs Scotland ( which was a pretty disapointing game) then England vs Wales ( which was a much more entertaining game) Wales played out of their skins to make it a great game to watch and England showed they had enough class and confidence to win, what was a tight game for much of it, by a reasonable margin. There was much ale consumed before , during and after the game and the stadium and infrastructure around it was very impressive. During my time in Brisbane I (literally) bumped into a friend from my home rugby club, four people from the dive course, my old boss from 19080 in Kuwait, two guys from the wine cruise in Perth, and two friends of my host in Sydney, obviously beers were had with all
. I thoroughly liked Brisbane and it's another definate return.
I broke the drive to Sydney with a stop again in Coff's but this time it was just an "over night stop" and back on the road. I gave a lift to a very nice English couple that I had met in Melbourne, swapped numbers with there, and met up a few times in Brisbane. They were back packing around Aussie and also following the rugby, they were going to take the bus, but as I had a car and was on my own I offered them a ride as 1,000 kms is a long drive on your own and they were a very nice couple.
Next stop, Sydney, semi vs France and THE FINAL!!
Good things about Melbourne: public transport was pretty good, the rugby stadium was excellent ( even had decent bars inside the stadium
) and there were a lot of reasonable restaurants. My favourite thing in and around Melbourne was a trip to Phillip Island ( http://www.phillipislandweb.com ) Where I went to see the Penguin Parade, where there is a great centre where you can watch the penguins come home each night to their rookeries. Very amusing to see them waiting at the waters edge until they get enough numbers to feel safe to sprint up the beach to reach their nests in the dunes. http://www.upfromaustralia.com/penguinparade.html . There are a number of great bird watching and nature areas if you want to wander round them (most are free) and while it is wonderful to see the birds and other wildlife ( I was lucky enough to come across a family of wild rock wallabys in a thicket munching grass) , some of the wildlife may be a little too wild. Walking back along a path I came across a pretty sizable snake slithering acrossssss the path, I decided to let it go without troubling it so I stayed about 15 feet away as it made it's way off into the grass ( I kept a pretty good eye on it) once it was a decent way away I decided to carry on when it's partner slithered out I would guess about 2-3 feet from my shoes ( the rest of me was in orbit once I saw it) I retired to a safe distance and let it pass. My heart rate was somewhere in the mid 200s I'd guess. I later indentified it as a common brown snake and it's rated as the second most poisonous snake in the world . Maybe nature walks on your own aren't such a good idea !!. Enjoyable game against Samoa and after an early wakeup call the team put up a good performance to win reasonably comfortably. Bad things: It was pretty seedy ( particularly St Kilda) I was a little unnerved when going home one night to be propositioned by a "lady" who despite the cold weather seemed to be wearing very little clothing (there were quite a lot of similarly dressed young ladies standing on street corners in this part of Melbourne and it is well known for that "attraction"). This particular young "lady" was at least 6 feet tall, as I got closer I thought to myself " my what big hands you have, what big feet you have, I think you need a shave but watch out you don't nick your Adam's apple" I was brought out of my contemplation when (s)he said in a very rich baritone voice "hey darlin' want some business" . I declined the offer and scurried off to bed a little quicker than I normally walk. IMHO For St Kilda it is not advisable to take families.
Next I flew to Sydney to pick up a car and drove off in the direction of Brisbane, but I had a couple of nights en route booked nears Coff's Harbour. I stayed at the Boambee Palms B+B and this was by far the nicest place I stayed. Marcus and Colleen (owners) were great hosts and it is a beautiful place to stay. It's about a 5 minute drive to the beach at Boambee and 10 minutes into Coff's Harbour itself. While it's unusual in not being right on the beach, the beautiful gardens and wildlife more than make up for that aspect. Breakfast on the varandah with lorikeets, birds of paradise, parrots and others visiting the garden was an absolute joy. http://www.boambeepalms.com.au/ . Coff's in general gets a high mark, some great beaches, nice restaurants and lots to do Boambee Palms gets top marks for accommodation. After a couple of relaxing days I made my way to Brisbane to watch South Africa vs Samoa then drove another 450 kms north to Bundaberg where I had booked a dive course for the week. I managed the 2 days pool and course work ok, although my knee ( opperation booked next month) let me know it was struggling under the extra pressure of all the gear. After the pool work we had 3 days aboard a boat on the Great Barrier reef to complete the open water part of the course. This was a fantastic trip and the islands that we visited were wonderful, stunning sunsets and loads of fish, turtles, dolphins and a few sharks
(little reef ones). Unfortunately for me, I had a few problems with my gear on the first dive and smashed my knee up pretty badly getting back into the boat. A healthy knee would I'm sure have been OK, but as I'd been diagnosed with a torn cartledge just a week before I went away, it was all a bit too much for it. I decided that I really couldn't afford to wreck the knee as we were at 1/4 final stages in the rugby and I'd be REALLY miffed if I had to watch the final from a hospital bed. Anyway here's a link to Salty's dive school I thought they were very good and Dennis our dive instructor was excellent http://www.saltys.com.auI got off the boat, still a little wobbly after 3 days afloat and drove down to Brisbane. I stayed at Dahrl court ( http://www.dahrlcourt.com.au/ ), which was just a short walk from Brisbane town centre and a quaint place to stay. I would be quite happy to stay there again. I liked Brisbane, some nice places to see and I didn't really have time to take it all in. I had a day out to Steve (crocodile hunter) Irwin's Zoo Australia and I thought it was a very well laid out and thought out park/zoo. Not too sure about his recent brainstorm, but the park is well worth a visit and I hope that it's a successful venture because it does seem to, IMHO, have the right ideas as far an the animal enclosures are concerned. Much of Brisbane was based around the rugby I went to watch Aussie Vs Scotland ( which was a pretty disapointing game) then England vs Wales ( which was a much more entertaining game) Wales played out of their skins to make it a great game to watch and England showed they had enough class and confidence to win, what was a tight game for much of it, by a reasonable margin. There was much ale consumed before , during and after the game and the stadium and infrastructure around it was very impressive. During my time in Brisbane I (literally) bumped into a friend from my home rugby club, four people from the dive course, my old boss from 19080 in Kuwait, two guys from the wine cruise in Perth, and two friends of my host in Sydney, obviously beers were had with all
. I thoroughly liked Brisbane and it's another definate return. I broke the drive to Sydney with a stop again in Coff's but this time it was just an "over night stop" and back on the road. I gave a lift to a very nice English couple that I had met in Melbourne, swapped numbers with there, and met up a few times in Brisbane. They were back packing around Aussie and also following the rugby, they were going to take the bus, but as I had a car and was on my own I offered them a ride as 1,000 kms is a long drive on your own
and they were a very nice couple. Next stop, Sydney, semi vs France and THE FINAL!!
