The weather was bad today. It was raining when I got back. I went to bed early. Tomorrow is another interesting day. When I checked out, the guy at the front desk said that the shuttle bus would pick up Yunluo and An Chuyu at 1:30. The time left for Yunluo and An Chuyu was really short. They could only go to the beach in front of the building to take some more photos. When I walked downstairs, I remembered that I didn’t play in my own swimming pool for a while.
So they spent the last bit of time at the swimming pool downstairs and went to the wildlife to buy a postcard. The super cute koala baby made their own swimming pool look pale in comparison, but as the saying goes, a son will never dislike his mother's ugliness and a dog will never dislike his family's poverty. Let's take a photo here. Yunluo and An Chuyu were ready to leave Hamilton, but a bolt from the blue came when they arrived at the airport.
The pretty blonde ground staff actually told Yunluo and An Chuyu that they didn't buy baggage tickets for the flight from Hamilton to Melbourne! To be honest, Yunluo did know that the three major low-cost airlines in Australia all had baggage ticket issues, but Yunluo and An Chuyu booked all their domestic flights in Australia through Orbitz, and because they booked late and based on the principle of saving money.
All four domestic flights in Australia were booked with Virgin Blue. Yunluo carefully checked her order and confirmation email, and also checked the official website's statement about luggage checks, but could not accurately determine whether the tickets Yunluo and An Chuyu had purchased included luggage checks, so she kept checking in with a fluke mentality, but, in Hamilton.
I was "robbed". An Chuyu and the Jinfa ground staff said that Yunluo and An Chuyu did not purchase additional baggage tickets for the flights from Cairns to Brisbane and Brisbane to Hamilton. The Jinfa ground staff said that each leg of the trip was separate and the previous two legs already included baggage tickets.
The flight from Hamilton to Melbourne was not included, so Yunluo and An Chuyu were "forced" to pay AUD to buy luggage tickets. Here, this is the evidence that Yunluo and An Chuyu purchased additional luggage tickets. Now, Yunluo thinks that the most important thing about traveling is to have fun. Traveling is inevitable to be inadequately prepared.
It is inevitable that various situations will occur. Spending money can avoid disasters. As long as the problem can be solved with money, it is not a problem as long as the words are clear. Now that the truth is understood, this AUD should not cause any unhappiness in your heart. It is still much cheaper than the previous guide that required adding AUD. Let me tell you an interesting thing. I almost made a joke. Let me tell you the premise first.
Australian flights are very punctual, even as long as everyone is there. All preparations are completed, and there are times when they take off in advance. Of course, they will arrive a little early. Yunluo and An Chuyu, who often take flights in China, are really a little unaccustomed to it. By the way, this is what the flight information for Yunluo and An Chuyu from Hamilton to Melbourne says.
HTI-MEL, of course the plane took off a little earlier, but it landed in: . It was minutes earlier? Are you kidding me? What kind of airport scheduling and flight speed are these? I suddenly felt that Australia was unreliable. I was thinking silently in my heart, what if there are passengers who have booked the hotel shuttle to pick them up, or if there are relatives or friends who come to pick them up at the airport.
Isn't this weird? Sitting in the airport for an hour? Yunluo didn't know what was going on, and realized that it was the jet lag. There is an hour time difference between Queensland, where Hamilton Island is located, and Victoria, where Melbourne is located. Now the time is: , haha, I'm really not used to the jet lag when flying within the same country.
Yunluo's life has lost another hour. [End of Hamilton Island] As a patriotic young man, where will Yunluo go after getting off the plane? Scenic spots or shopping? Nonono, of course, go to Chinatown. After coming out, I realized that as a Chinese, the most patriotic thing is the stomach. I go out more often, and every day I eat hamburgers, fish and chips, and pasta.
At this moment, Yunluo wanted to have a proper Chinese meal. The first stop was Melbourne Chinatown. I don’t know if it was because of preconceived notions, but Yunluo always felt that Melbourne Chinatown was more appealing to Yunluo than Sydney’s Chinatown. Maybe it was because the shops were more organized? In short, it was a place that Yunluo loved very much, right in the CBD.
The entire Littlebourke Street is Chinatown, and various Asian dishes are scattered on the surrounding streets. This area should be renamed "Asia City". Yunluo, who was hungry, randomly found a hot pot restaurant that was open. Yunluo must highly recommend it to you. It is called "Ming Lu", a Hong Kong-style hot pot restaurant, and it is located in Chinatown.
You won't miss it. It's more appropriate to call it a buffet hotpot than a Hong Kong-style hotpot. It's an order-based buffet, AUD/person, with plenty of vegetables and meat, but each person can only order two servings of condiments. This rule is really fresh, haha. Just eat less condiments and eat the meat with all your heart. I have to say, Australian meat is delicious.
This kind of buffet hotpot is definitely not for the quality of the food, but the meat still melts in the mouth and does not get tough even after long cooking. The same meat dishes such as tripe, fish fillets and hotpot balls are of good quality too. The other vegetables are similar to those in China, and the Chinese spinach and cilantro are both tasty. I don’t know if it’s because they haven’t had Chinese food for several days, but this hotpot received unanimous high praise from Yunluo and An Chuyu!
Coming out of Chinatown, An Chuyu saw people wearing these colorful deer antlers everywhere on the street and insisted on buying some. Well, it was almost Christmas and today was the day to buy one. Not far away, she saw someone with a bunch of deer antlers tied around his body, some red and some green. She saw that they were donations from the Children's Cancer Foundation. An Chuyu donated a knife and Meimei picked a green deer antler.
This deer antler has been accompanying Yunluo and Anchu since Christmas. Today's weather is gloomy, and it rains occasionally. The rain in Australia comes and goes quickly, and the weather is gloomy and ugly. The picture above is Melbourne's iconic building, Flinders Station, the legendary Indian station. Hahaha, it's really interesting.
It just doesn't match the surrounding architectural style at all. Tomorrow is another highlight of the trip to Australia. I strolled around the city for a while and walked back at around 10 o'clock. I saw the colorful clouds in the western sky from afar, which were particularly beautiful. Good night.
An Chuyu asked Yunluo, "Do you think there will be a day when the tour guide Juge leads a car full of Chinese people?" I guess no one wants to see this scene, not even Jude, but adhering to the spirit of "everyone for Yunluo and Yunluo for everyone", Yunluo still shares the information of the tour here. As I said before, if you just like tours with many Chinese people.
Then this group can give you a link again: This is the approximate itinerary of this group. Below, Yunluo will write the itinerary of these two days in chronological order. It is still the old rule, while showing pictures, talking about Australia. Yunluo and An Chuyu think that there is a law that is particularly safe and humane, that is, drivers must stop and rest for minutes every hour of driving.
This regulation can reduce many car accidents caused by fatigue driving every year. On the way to the Great Ocean Road, there is a rest stop supervised by volunteers for drivers and passengers to rest. This rest stop also provides free milk coffee and various snacks, all donated by food companies, such as the Deyun brand milk in the picture above.
What's particularly interesting is that this milk is labeled "Exclusively for Santa Claus". The milk company is really interesting, and it's quite appropriate for Christmas. The first stop is a volcano called Towerhill. If you look carefully, you may find wild koalas, kangaroos and emus here. The two emus in the picture above are strolling on the grass.
Not afraid of Yunluo and An Chuyu who were very close, An Chuyu pulled Yunluo up the volcano while they were looking for wild animals. The crater was covered by grass and trees, but the scenery was good. If they climbed higher, they could see the sea in the distance. It was not a waste of Yunluo's effort. This attraction was Yunluo's.
It's called the Grotto. Why do I like this place? It's because Yunluo saw a picture in someone else's guide before. Tourists stood in the cave, which was a good place to take silhouette photos. But when Yunluo and An Chuyu went there, they found that it was not the case. Maybe it was the dry season when the picture was taken, but it was as shown in the picture.
There is no place to go down in the cave now, and the rocks are covered with moss. Safety first, safety first. The picture above is the famous London Bridge, of course it is half collapsed. There is also a sad story here. A couple of adulterers were playing on the bridge, and the bridge collapsed. They were trapped on the other half of the bridge.
The extramarital affair was also exposed. Just tell me, how pitiful, singing on the train, holding hands on the bridge, who did they offend? Alas, the sun was about to set, Yunluo and An Chuyu hurried to the Apostle Rock. An Chuyu didn't even bother to put on his down jacket, and ran down, finally lucky enough to see the last ray of sunset shining on the rock wall.
The golden Apostle Rocks are so magnificent. Although they are called Apostle Rocks, there are only a few left. Many of them have collapsed due to the constant erosion of the sea water. These are the two on the left. Yunluo always wonders that if Yunluo and An Chuyu have the chance to reach here in their lifetime, there will be even fewer surviving Apostle Rocks. Will it be millions of years later?
A new group of apostles will appear. To join such a foreign group, you will inevitably have to work, but it is completely voluntary. No one will assign you a job. Yunluo will not do it with a few Chinese people, so Yunluo took the initiative to pull An Chuyu down to help. Humph, everything went as Yunluo thought. The pot of vegetables in Yunluo's hand was cut by Yunluo and An Chuyu.
Of course, the American girl behind also helped a little. The three dishes in front were all leafy salads, and all the meat was prepared by the tour guide Jude alone. Dear friends, if you want to sign up for this foreign tour, please be sure to get your hands dirty and do whatever you can to help. Don't just bring honor to the Chinese people, but don't let people look down on you either.
Hahaha, let's end the first day's itinerary with a photo of An Chuyu lying on Yunluo's bed. This tour group is AUD/person, which includes accommodation in mixed bunk beds. If you need a single room, you can ask Jude earlier. Yunluo and An Chuyu thought about it and decided to forget it because the single room also has a shared toilet.
The upper and lower bunks are also good. It happens that all the girls in Yunluo and An Chuyu's room sleep on the upper bunks. Good night Great Ocean Road. The next morning, after eating the breakfast prepared by Jude for Yunluo and An Chuyu, they went out again. This morning's activity is to get close to the Apostle Rocks. You can go down to the vicinity of the Apostles along the Gibsonsteps.
Hence this somewhat silly posed photo. Actually, you can also choose to take a helicopter to overlook the Apostle Rocks, but since Yunluo and An Chuyu had already taken a helicopter on Hamilton Island, they decided not to choose that. It wasn't expensive though, it seemed to be AUD/person, minute, Yunluo also thought it was quite worthwhile, this is one of An Chuyu's favorite attractions on the Great Ocean Road.
Lochardgroge is the shipwreck shore, and you can go down to the beach. The little black man in the picture above is the back of another American girl in Yunluo and An Chuyu's group. The itinerary arranged by Ridetour is so good. No matter how beautiful these big rocks are, there will always be a day when people get aesthetically tired of them. This brought Yunluo and An Chuyu to the Maitsrest rainforest.
Look at this magical tree hole. It is said that there is the second tallest tree in the world. Is the tallest tree in California? Maybe. Yunluo and Anchuyu, who were starving, finally stopped their sightseeing and had lunch at Apollo Bay. This town is Yunluo and Anchuyu's favorite. In fact, it feels very similar to Kenting Street.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
There are also various small shops lined up. After a delicious lunch, you must stop here to have an ice cream, because this is the most awarded ice cream shop in Australia. On both sides of the wall are various awards won by this shop. Look at the ice cream in the freezer. The small gold and silver circles under the flavor label are the medals that this flavor has won.
But I don't know if Yunluo is not used to it, most of the award-winning drinks here are cinnamon and licorice flavors. Yunluo decided to have a cappuccino and a mango. Is there anything more comfortable than eating ice cream? Now, let me tell you something interesting about this store. Yunluo and An Chuyu didn't intend to take pictures of the Santa Claus car.
The wooden archway behind the car reads GREATOCEANROAD, which is the starting point of the Great Ocean Road. Jude put Yunluo and An Chuyu down and gave them time to take a photo with this place. It can be regarded as a photo of their visit. Coincidentally, a Santa Claus car drove by and threw a lot of candies from the car, which can be regarded as celebrating the coming of Christmas Eve together.
Actually, this is not a Santa Claus car, but a fire truck, borrowed by some young people for fun. The tour of the Great Ocean Road is coming to an end. The last attraction is the Little Red Riding Hood Lighthouse. As a pseudo-lighthouse fan, Yunluo has no fanaticism for lighthouses. It is better to just look up from a distance. End the Great Ocean Road trip with a "group photo". Let's make a brief summary of the two-day tour of the Great Ocean Road.
In fact, the reason why Yunluo was dissatisfied with the many Chinese in the group was not mainly because of the good or bad performance of the group members. Yunluo himself was a little loser who had not been abroad many times, and many of his habits were the same as everyone else. So the primary reason for the disappointment might be that Yunluo and An Chuyu imagined this foreign group to be too "foreign".
Now thinking about the travel notes I've seen before, there will be a Chinese in this group, but Yunluo just happened to catch a day with a lot of Chinese people. Let's talk about this group itself. The tour guide Jude is a very serious and responsible person. She did everything herself. She led the whole two-day trip alone.
He serves as driver, tour guide, team leader, chef and logistical support staff at the same time. Not only Yunluo but other group members also gave full marks to Jude's performance. He is such an enthusiastic and dedicated tour guide. As I said before, if you like Chinese people and are willing to do some appropriate work, you can choose this group. If you yearn for a purely foreign group.
This tour may not be suitable for you. In fact, Yunluo and Anchu met many purely foreign tours along the way, but Yunluo herself has never participated in it and cannot give you accurate suggestions. You can look for it. [End of Great Ocean Road] It was already evening when we returned to Melbourne. It is really a magical place. It was still daylight at night, and today is Christmas Eve.
Decided to go for a walk on the street with An Chuyu, looking at the pictures and talking, Oakson William Apartments. It was a little after 3 pm, Yunluo and An Chuyu took the photo on the second floor of Oakson William Hotel. The hotel faces west, so you can see the sunset in the west and the night view of the whole west Melbourne. In fact, Yunluo has not investigated the Christmas celebrations in Melbourne.
They could only walk towards the city center. By sheer luck, they caught the light show in front of the City Hall. The City Hall displayed all kinds of wonderful changes under the changes of lights and music. Yunluo's angle was also pretty good, and he got a few good photos. Wow, it was a different feeling of the City Hall again. After the light show, Yunluo and An Chuyu walked towards St. Paul's Cathedral.
I thought there must be activities in the cathedral on Christmas Eve, and sure enough, Yunluo and An Chuyu arrived too late, so they could only watch through the glass at the door. I comforted myself that as non-believers, it was good for Yunluo and An Chuyu to feel the atmosphere through the glass. Just when I was feeling regretful, my luck was so good that there was a sign at the door of the church.
It says about the activities of the church in the next two days. Yunluo and An Chuyu take a look and find out that there will be a Mandarin Eucharist worship specifically for Chinese people tomorrow (month and day). This is simply great. Yunluo and An Chuyu want to participate in this kind of event and feel the Christmas atmosphere but are afraid of the embarrassment caused by language barriers. This solves all of Yunluo and An Chuyu's worries at once.
No doors were open, so Yunluo and An Chuyu could only wander around the city. Even the free bus (CITYcircle Road) stopped running. Melbourne is not big, and the places to visit are relatively concentrated, so Yunluo and An Chuyu did not buy transportation tickets and could only rely on their legs to walk. Yunluo's Jawbone bracelet shows. (~^~)