We recently returned from Tauck’s Grand Australia and New Zealand tour.  In my first post, I would like to share the independent trips we booked during our free time.  We arrived in Melbourne two days before our tour was scheduled to begin.  Before leaving home, I had booked the Great Ocean Road Tour through Go West Tours.  It was a long day, but well worth the time spent.  The Great Ocean Road Tour took us along the southeastern and southern border of Australia. We stopped near Lorne where the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch stands.  The Great Ocean Road was build to honor Australians who had served in World War I.  There is also a map at the memorial site which depicts the Great Ocean Road route.  A picture of this map is included here. Our day trip took us as far as the Twelve Apostles.  There are two beaches pictured below.  The first is Bells Beach which is near Torquay (this was a stop before the Memorial Arch).  Many surfers enjoy the beach and there is actually a competition held here annually.  The second beach was simply at a roadside stop.  We enjoyed lunch near Apollo Bay and then walked the grounds where we saw koalas, parrots, cockatoos and rosellas (the red bird pictured).

After lunch, we took a walk in Mait’s Rainforest which is in Otway’s National Park.  We then drove a little farther where we saw one of the highlights of the day, the Twelve Apostles.  They are sea stacks resulting from wind and water erosion.  We saw them from above, and also walked down steps carved into a hill/mountain called Gibson’s Steps to see two of them from the shore.   We were the oldest on the tour by at least 20 years – and received a round of applause when we made it back up the steps!

One of our last stops was Loch Ard Gorge located within Port Campbell National Park.  The sun shone beautifully on the stacks making the view awesome.  We didn’t get back to our hotel until around 8:30 or 9:00 that night.  It was a long day but a beautiful day trip.  We also talked with guests who had booked the Philip Island Tour with the penguin parade while in Melbourne.  We heard very positive things about this tour as well.

While in Melbourne, there was a day on our tour that dinner was not included so we booked our dinner on the Colonial Tramcar.  We booked directly with them through their website and booked over six weeks in advance.   The tramcars date back to the 1920’s and have been refurbished.  We had the “early dinner” as we rode through Melbourne (about 1 1/2 hours).  The menu is limited, but the dinner was very good.  The tramcar will not take you past major tourist attractions, but does go through many Melbourne neighborhoods.  The service was excellent and we definitely enjoyed the dinner.

We also had a free day in Sydney.  We booked a tour through Viator called the Chef-Led Hunter Valley Gourmet Food and Wine Day Trip.  Our tour director had worked as a professional chef for 20 years and now combines these skills with those of a tour director.  We rode in a small bus which was equipped with a mini kitchen in the back.  We began by going to the Sydney Fish Market where Chef Jimmy purchased fish he would cook later in the day.   We then drove to a park where he prepared breakfast for us.  He also taught us how to roll sushi which would be part of our lunch.

After breakfast, we drove to Hunter Valley where we visited three wineries.  We learned about the wine while Chef Jimmy prepared food paired to the different wines we tried.  There was a variety of food including cheeses, asparagus, mushrooms, kangaroo sliders (very good!) and creme brulee.  We also ate the sushi we had rolled earlier in the day.  The wine and food were great.  I have a food allergy which the chef did a great job of working around.  We had the opportunity to purchase wine we liked.  If you are booked on Tauck’s Grand Australia and New Zealand Tour, you will see that there is a foodie tour included with Tauck.  The only overlap between this tour and the foodie tour was the stop at the Sydney Fish Market.  Otherwise, this was a very different experience and one we enjoyed.