Victoria State - Mt. Dandenong & Melbourne

After a healthy breakfast, we visit the Skyhigh of Mt. Dandenong.



Melbourne from afar.




Oh in front of Mr. Possum place.



We then drive to Melbourne, check in at the Urban Central Melbourne Hostel and return the car before visiting the Queen Victoria Market.



Beautiful old building in Melbourne.


Tie at the Federal Square.








Yarra river view at night.

Victoria State - Mt. Dandedong

This morning we visit the dandedong ranges to take a ride on the Puffing Billy Steam Railway at Belgrave.

"Australia's oldest steam railway and one of the finest preserved steam railways in the world. The open-sided carriages are the best way to see the stunning views." More information in the Puffling Billy website.








We plan to have some dessert at Ms. Marple;s tea room. However the place is fully packed with a long waiting line. So we have the icecreame from the nearby shop and walk around town instead. Sassafras is quite a small town with many local galleries and craft shops.



We then stop by at the Cockcoo to find an accommodation for tonight. It turns out that the owner of the restaurant can recommend a cottage for us in a relatively good price.


We enjoy our buffet at the restaurant too.



Our lovely cottage for tonight. Josef, the owner is very accomodative. He allows our group to stay in the place and bring us some more mattress.






Melbourne by the night from Mr. Josef's balcony.

We are really enjoy for the night with the place, the superb view and the great music since Mr. Josef is the great pianist.

Victoria State - Sunny Ridge Farm and Phillip Island

Today we visit the Sunny Ridge Farm where we can pick our own strawberry from the farm. The Icecream here is very delicious.







After the strawberry lunch and strawberry icecreme, we then drive to Phillip Island to see the Penquin Parade. The camera is not allowed on site.

From Visitmelbourne.com
Approximately 26,000 little penguins live in the waters around Phillip Island, 4,500 of which have their burrows around Summerland Beach on the far south-western point of the Island. The little penguins are native to Australia and are the smallest of their species, standing at a mere 33 centimetres. They return to their burrows each evening to rest or, in the breeding season from August to March, to feed their young. They leave their burrows again about an hour before sunrise and spend the day in the sea swimming up to 100 kilometres to catch their daily ration of fish.




At the information center where we buy the tickets and the postcards.

Victoria State - Tower Hill & Great Ocean Road

Our plan for today is to visit the Tower Hill Reserve. A big tourist group is looking up at a Eucalyptus tree, so we join them and find two Koalas up there.



Red Parrots


Emu


Don't know the name of this tree.


We then drive back to the Great Ocean Road since there are many visiting stops. The first one is Bay of Islands.

From the Park Information :
"The soft limestone rock of this coast began forming about 10 to 20 million years ago, when this coastline is under the sea. Skeletal remains of marine animals, mostly shellfish and calcium rich algae gathers and were eventually compressed by their weight to form rock layers with differing hardness. As the sea retreated, the rock cracked in a chequerboard pattern, leaving deep vertical joints. At the end of the last Ice Age the sea advanced again, reaching its present level around 6,000 years ago."


Grotto


London Bridge

From the Park Information :
"On the evening of 15 January 1990, the main arch connecting London bridge to the mainland cracked and fell into the sea. Fortunately no one was injured. Two people marooned on the new island were rescued hours later by the helicopture."



Razorback

From the Park Information :
"Constant wave action, salt laden wind and changing temperature continue to carve this magnificent sculptured coast."



And again at the 12 Apostles site.




We then drive to the next town along the Great Ocean Road which is Apollo Bays.




We see the Koala sign along the road together with cars near by, so we join them and are glad that we can see the Koala quite close.




Tonight is another hunting time for the accommodation. Finally we get one at Werribee near Melbourne.

Victoria State - Great Ocean Road

Ten days ago Tong and Tor came to have lunch with me at a tent nearby my office. Both, Tor and I, were looking for a trip during Songkran holidays. Then a Melbourne came up since it was an acceptable 8-hr flying time (for a short vacation) and English as a local language would help us a lot since we didn’t have much time to gather information. We planed to rent a car. But that came with another problem for us - the higher cost of the trip. Tie became our target as soon as she called Tong. Oh was next. Finally Ball who by chance visited Tor after his interview with a company in Tor’s building. That comes up for the 5 member of this trip.

Finally two days before flying, we got the visa and started booking a car and accommodations. Since it is the Good Friday, we couldn’t find any available places on line.

Our plan for today is to drive to the Port Campbell National Park and see the sunset at 12 Apostles. Now only eight exist.

Then, an accommodation hunting for tonight begins, I never before in my travelling time spend this much time in finding a place. After seeing “No Vacancy” from many hostels/hotels/Inns, we finally got rooms in Warrnambool.

A Fine Day at Sanam Luang and Wat Pho

One fine day Khun Nat and I practices our D60 skills at Sanam Luang and Wat Pho.

Ruay KungPhao in Ayudhaya

Our gang about 16 persons get together to have lunch at Ruay Kung Phao in Ayudhaya. A small party to welcome Tong who takes a vacation from Australia and to farewell Nam Phung who will go to the States. After the full lunch we have some dessert at "A cup of tree".

Sorry, no others dishes were taken. I don't want to take a break of my enjoy eating.