This morning, we checked out early and headed for the airport for our flight to Melbourne. We returned our car near the International Airport and took a shuttle bus to the Domestic terminal. There, hubby and I had a fright of our trip.
This is what happened…
We bought my parents’ tickets through SIA which included the domestic transfer to Melbourne while hubby and my tickets to Sydney were redeemed through miles. Hence, we had to buy our domestic transfer tickets to Melbourne separately. The night before, we were informed that our flight timing to Melbourne was changed. However, that notification was only for my parents’ tickets, not ours. We felt something was amiss since we were supposed to be on the same flight! It was during check in at the airport that we realised the airline had somehow ‘left out’ hubby’s and my tickets! We ran to the airline counter, trying to figure out what happened. There was no way I could let my parents take a separate flight from us given that this is their first time in Australia! Fortunately, after a huge scare and running to and fro the different counters, they managed to ‘squeeze out’ 2 premium seats for hubby and I. We took it although our seats were quite far apart. At least, we are all on the same flight!
After about 1.5hrs, we landed at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport. We picked up our 2nd car for the remaining of our journey in Melbourne.
It was Autumn going Winter, only strawberries and apples were available for picking. We decided to go ahead with it nonetheless. Along the Bacchus Marsh Road, there were several fruit orchards. We randomly entered one and turned out shortly after we realised we had to pay for entrance fee even without picking any fruits. Eventually, we ended up at Naturipe Fruits which appeared rather crowded. Entrance was free and all we had to pay was for the fruits we picked. We had picked strawberries before. But it was our 1st time picking apples from the trees directly! It was so fun! And we had fruits for the rest of our self-drive!
From the farm, we headed to our 1st destination along the Great Ocean Road: Torquay. We were greeted by many surfers along the beach and in the sea. Not too far from the sea, there was a Surf City with museums and surf shops selling beach apparels and surf boards. We went to take a look since self-drive was own-time-own-target!
We continued on to Angelsea beach. The drive was awesomely beautiful. Hubby took the drive while I enjoyed the view of the sea and the blue sky.
There were many view points along the road. One of the places worthy of a visit was the Aireys Inlet Lighthouse. There was a carpark nearby and many visitors can be seen walking towards the lighthouse. Interestingly, it was also here where were realised we all needed a visit to the toilet! Although there was a toilet sign near the lighthouse, we walked round and round and couldn’t find it! Unfortunately, the only cafe nearby was also closed for the day. We had to turn to a restaurant nearby to use the toilet.
Searching for toilets. We found none! 
Path leading down to a view point 
Ta-da!
As we drove on, the sun was beginning to set. We finally reached Apollo Bay when sky turned dark. Our accommodation for the night was a Airbnb cottage which was not along the main road. Despite trying hard to follow the directions from the owner and trying to look out for landmarks, we missed it in the dark and followed our GPS to the wrong place. After a few missed turns, we finally found the dirt path which the owner described and reached the cottage which looked eerily deserted. The place was pitch dark. Now that it was not my first time to Australia, I knew such darkness was the norm. But I’m pretty sure my mom was not too comfortable with it. That’s why, we shone our headlights (our only source of light!) directly into the cottage, until we found the keys and turned on all the lights in the house.
Tip: Never go to a new accommodation when the sky has turned dark! Places always looks scarier in the dark! Time for a good rest before we cover the remainder of the Great Ocean Road tomorrow!
Perrine Travels 