Days 15 to 19: Arrival in Melbourne and the Grampians

​Thursday 20th April marked our first Big Adventure day outside NZ. Melbourne our first international stop – home to the MCG, Federation Square, trams, galleries, quirky shops and restaurants. Almost 5 million people live here including most notably the festival loving, vegan eating Danielle Martina Norris.

​We stayed the first couple of nights in North Fitzroy, a trendy suburb about 4 km north of the CBD and round the corner from Danielle. She flats with three others in a good sized house – well definitely bigger than the one bedroom inner-city apartment she shared with Ming and Hazel last year.

​Fitzroy was apparently Melbourne’s first suburb and reminded me initially of Islington in London – long a working class area but now gentrified and full of younger professionals. If you want to live here be prepared to pay some of the highest rents in Melbourne. Our host Airbnb family were definitely original though – one of the many Italian families in Melbourne. Their TV was massive and had a footy game on when we arrived – now that is real Aussie . . . We stayed in their granny flat out the back.

One of my first impressions of Melbourne was the amount of niche shops and restaurants. If you are a vegan you are simply spoilt for choice. I reflected on Wellington which has almost no specialist vegetarian, organic or vegan eating places. Now don’t get me wrong – Wellington has some of the best value/quality cafes and restaurants you will find anywhere in the world. And Wellington coffee drinkers are in seventh heaven. But I feel there is one massive gap in the Wellington market – hmmmmmm . . .

Went to one of the Melbourne comedy festival productions in St Kilda on our second night. All about “table 17” at a wedding – the one where all the misfits and unpopular relatives are assigned. Just laugh out loud funny.

On Saturday we headed off to the Grampians national park. 3.5 hours drive from Melbourne, which for Aussies is close as . . . To be honest, the majority of the trip scenery was fairly so so. The Australian roading system is really good with a two lane highway just about the whole way, but it does go through some pretty uninteresting countryside. But that all changes big time when you get into the vicinity of Halls Gap.

Halls Gap is a very cute town set amidst towering rocky hills. All the houses are set into the bush – our place looking out to gum trees and the mountain backdrop. It reminded me of Sydney’s Blue Mountains. The air is clear and wildlife abounds. Couldn’t believe it when a couple of emus sauntered through the garden like they owned the place. Cockatoos perched on the veranda and admired our morning yoga – not sure what they thought of our downward dogs . . . On my run I passed two sets of kangaroos grazing on the side of the road. Its like one big free-range zoo.

Went on two shorter tramps. Despite looking out for snakes – didn’t see any.

One really interesting piece of engineering – Parks Victoria offer a specialised all terrain wheelchair which allows severely disabled people to experience the tracks. It looks like a dune buggy with a long grill out the front. Two operators are required – one at the front and one at the back – plus there is an electric motor to navigate steeper and trickier parts of the track. There is a volunteer system for people to act as operators. Very cool.

Danielle loved it here. She got talked into morning yoga but drew the line at meditation.