Melbourne - Wheels on the Go

November 16, 2025 – Australia – Melbourne – Victoria Market shopping, St. Kilda and Brighton Beach visits and Beach Houses!

November 16, 2025November 22, 2025Lmnei

It is Sunday! A great day for a drive! We are going to go to Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market and then to visit some beaches to see some VERY expensive property! Let’s go! First, navigating to the CBD of Melbourne with Andrew driving – quite a task! We made it to the CBD however soon we realized that we had to go right, and as I mentioned yesterday, we ran into a hook turn! I was SO GLAD I had learned about them! Here is how Google describes them –

“A hook turn in Melbourne is a right-hand turn made from the far-left lane at designated intersections, which are common in the city’s CBD where trams operate. This maneuver allows cars to turn right without blocking tram lanes by first moving into the intersection from the left, stopping in a designated area on the far side, and then completing the turn when the light for the road they are entering turns green.”

Do you want to see a video about it? Check this out: https://youtu.be/813AJZdX5HY

We were successful on our first try! Yahoo! Soon we arrived at the parking area for Queen Victoria Market where I saw some Accessible parking signs along with some metre spots. We saw an empty accessible spot and I checked Google (my friend) and sure enough, if you have your placard, you get to park for free for the time listed – in this case 2 hours! Bonus! Now, let us go shopping!

The SHED (that is an Aussie term for a tin roofed building) that the Queen Victoria Market is under is HUGE and is very well organized! As we walked in from the parking area, there were lots of Aisles with letters and each store was listed with a number on a chart – so they were pretty permanent stalls in the market. Starting with A and up to about G – those were all merchandise stalls. Then came the produce and those kinds of stalls in the aisles after that. Across the lane was a building, where we ended up for some food – which had a food fair, and it also shared space in that shed with the seafood and meat part of the market. The Market runs 5 days a week – not on Mondays or Wednesdays which I found interesting!

When walking the Aisles and trying NOT to buy anything, I ran into a Syrian store with a very nice gentleman from Aleppo, which is a city in Syria. I surprised him with the two Arabic words that I know – hello and thank-you and he was QUITE the sales man – basically sucking up to Andrew to get me to purchase things! He even offered Andrew a chair to sit in while I shopped! I did get a couple of items from his store – that was about all that I got at the Queen Victoria Markets. I was good!

We eventually went across the lane to the food fair and I was pretty excited to find some Singapore Noodles, which are made with rice noodles, curry, scrambled eggs, chicken and shrimp that could be made gluten free! Andrew and I shared the dish before going back to the car and driving out to the beaches we wanted to see!

Now, back in the car, we are driving to St. Kilda Beach – which is a pretty well known beach south of Melbourne. Along the way we saw some really nice wrought iron on buildings and some art deco buildings. Eventually we arrived at the St. Kilda Beach! We drove past the Marina, the pier and then past the salt water Bath House! Eventually we made it to a park where there was a beach we could get out and look around – it was beautiful – waves crashing in on such a pristine beach!

Then we continued driving to some of the most expensive real estate in the Melbourne area based on square footage – no, these are not houses on the street – these are the famous beach houses of Brighton Beach! Some of these beach houses which have no electricity or plumbing sell for upwards of a million dollars! Most are passed down in families for use during the summer beach days. Formally called “Bathing Boxes” most were built between 1907 and 1933 with a total of 93 bathing boxes on the beach today. As you can see they are painted very unique colours representing patriotism or family heritage. Right now, other than a place to change your clothes for the beach, they are primarily used to store beach equipment and for gatherings of family and friends. I must admit the beach in front of them was not that large – so it must be quite crowded during the full summer months!

However the beach for me was a trove of sea treasurers – shells! I have acquired an assortment of them that I hope will make their way home in one piece! First, here are the pictures of the Beach House and Lifeguard Station and the path down to the beach which we traveled. It was a nice walk however Andrew did mumble something about seeing an elevator – however I thought that was strange as they had a path so we proceeded down the path! Soon we found ourselves at the bottom in front of the Lifeguard station where they were hosing down their equipment (and the picture I took the guy is hosing down his legs) from the beach and putting it away for the night. It was only about 4 pm however I guess they close up shop early! We then proceeded onto the beach to view the bathing boxes!

Brighton Beach House & Lifeguard Station

Here is a wonderful view of the bathing boxes along the beach with Andrew the subject of the picture! See what I mean about the beach not being very long in front of the boxes! I was able to walk along the part of the sand where the waves were coming in as it was fairly solid for a fair ways to view the boxes and also the shells at my feet!

We then drove back to the hotel, which was not that far away. St. Kilda and Brighton Beach are suburbs of Melbourne, just like Richmond, so it was actually a fairly short drive back to Richmond, where we were staying. Next to our hotel is the Yarra River, which runs through Melbourne, this is a picture of it and the park that surrounds it.

Now it is time to pack as tomorrow is a BIG day – we are flying back to Adelaide in order to join the Indian Pacific Train as it travels from Perth to Sydney. You can get on in Perth and travel all the way to Sydney, however due to the high cost of this train, I thought that the 2 night, 3 day experience from Adelaide would be awesome for Andrew’s introduction to Australian Luxury trains! Now, to pack…and ensure our luggage is under 23 kg! More tomorrow!

November 15, 2025 – Australia – Melbourne – CBD – Didi ride, Pub Crawl and phenomenal dinner experience!

November 15, 2025November 20, 2025Lmnei

After a bit of a late night last night from the Penguin Parade, we elected to sleep in and then get up and phone home to those who needed phone calls to ensure we are still alive and well underneath the world! I spent some time doing some research on things to do in Melbourne that did not involve driving and found a tour that was wheelchair accessible (I have experience with Melbourne NOT being accessible) and involved going to pubs for drinks! What a great thing to do! It was departing at 3:45 pm from the Queen Victoria Market in the CBD so we just had to figure out how to get there without driving and we were set!

While we were getting ready to depart, I got a phone call on WhatsUp – which is an app that is used to message and phone people around the world except in North America it seems, which uses WiFi instead of a phone plan, from a guy named Lenny who asked if I needed the tour to be wheelchair accessible. Hmm. This conversation could go two ways and I decided to take the higher road and say, yes, it is advertised that way and that is why we signed up. He then asked if I could go up 2 flights of stairs – not the response I was expecting – and I said no, not unless it was an emergency! He then explained that the 1st bar had an elevator however the 2nd bar was upstairs! He would look into taking the group to an alternate bar if I was okay going up about a 4 inch step (which I was). He did not call me back so I figured everything was great and we planned to get there!

Looking at the tram that was near the hotel it was going to take an hour to get downtown so instead Google Maps suggested using DiDi which is a ride share service we later found out, from Asia. Very similar to Uber, a nice gentleman met us named Andrew and drove us downtown in his gold coloured car! He also drives for Uber and in chatting with him it sounds like Melbourne and the state of Victoria had similar issues with ride share services that British Columbia did with the taxi drivers not wanting the “extra” competition. All is well now, which I think is the same in Vancouver based on what I see at YVR airport. Andrew, the driver, got Andrew and I nice and safely to the street right outside of the Queen Victoria Market.

We met Lenny, the tour guide from Drinking History Tours, for the “Creepy Tales, Bars & Laneways Of Melbourne Walking Tour” at the Queen Victoria Market. Lenny is a professor of computer programming at the Melbourne University which is located in the downtown of Melbourne and he does this “tour” job on the side so he can drink while being paid!

There were 12 people, including Andrew and I on the tour – 6 women who were on a “girls weekend” from north of Melbourne, a couple from Sydney and 2 friends from Melbourne and us. We were the “foreigners”. After a short walk, we arrived at the Work Shop bar which used to be a motorcycle bike repair shop – which was upstairs! A fairly hidden bar which you would miss if you were not paying attention when you walked by when heading towards the Queen Victoria Markets. If you were heading the other direction, you would miss it!

We arrived at Work Shop and the rest of the tour went upstairs while I waited while Lenny went and got the bar manager to send the lift down to get me. Funny enough, the lift was also their storage facility for beer kegs and other things so we had to squeeze into a narrow passageway between some shelving and up we went! Upstairs was lovely! We sat next to an outside roof top bar area and talked to one another and Andrew enjoyed a pint along with the others. All the others on the tour had bought the all inclusive drinking package for the tour – which they got to try some pretty interesting types of drinks – I opted for the non-inclusive package as I do not drink and that would be a waste of money! I also found out when looking at the prices on the different bar menus that the prices for drinks in Melbourne are quite expensive! While my Coke Zero is normally about 5 AUD, drinks range 15-20 AUD! We stayed and chatted and Lenny told us some history of the area and then we moved on and walked to the next bar, this time passing by a historical area of Melbourne where there is a swing set art piece to commemorate some Australian aboriginals who were hanged for something that they did not do. The display was actually quite profound – the swing set below is supposed to be holding up the two coffins and allowing them to “swing free” in the wind. However they are concrete so they do not do that. The empty news boxes behind the swing set display different articles about the two men who were hanged and the controversy around that event. Funny enough, this swing set is facing the old Melbourne Gaol – which is pictured in the next few photos. No longer a jail, it is now a museum and historical place. Onwards we then walked!

During the walk I talked to one of the 2 ladies who live in Melbourne but only takes transit and she was talking to Lenny about the “hook turn” and how strange and unique they were to Melbourne downtown. I thought I would ask what this was and I sure was glad I did! First you have to remember we are driving on the left side of the street. If you want to go right which is across traffic like a left hand turn in Canada, in some intersections in Melbourne, you actually go into the LEFT lane (not right which would be logical) and sit there in a box with a right turn sign painted on the ground until the lights change and THEN you make your right turn. So if you think of two lanes of traffic driving down the left lane going straight they get to flow unimpeded with no one stopping the traffic to make the right hand turn. Instead, the car that wants to make the right turn lines up on the left hand side of the 2 lanes of traffic and then turns across both lanes once the light has stopped, just in front of the traffic that was to head straight from the other direction. Confused? Stay tuned! We will do one of these hook turns SUCCESSFULLY tomorrow! I was SO GLAD I asked her the question today!

We then arrived at the bar called Arcane Fairies – which was the replacement bar (which the others in the group did not know) that had the 4 inch lip to get into it which was no an issue. Very interesting bar with flying angels in the ceiling! Yet another beer decision for Andrew and another Coke Zero for me! We stayed a little while and Lenny described the bar that they normally go to which is the 2nd and 3rd story above this bar called Storyville – it is basically an old library filled with books with a bar and tables. The only way you know that this bar exists is the painting on the wall and the door that you see below.

Display for 2 Aboriginal men who were hanged

We then left the Arcane Fairies bar and walked down the lane next to Storyville to see the entrance to that bar. We then wound for about 8 blocks through the business district where Lenny told us stories of various things that happened over the years in Melbourne – the ghosts and mysteries part of this tour was not as exciting as I thought it was going to be – not sure if the lack of my alcohol consumption had anything to do with that! We passed many beautiful Art Deco buildings on our walk – however the most important one that I saw was the “Ministry of Crab” one which had actual bronze crabs on the outside of the building! They are blurry due to the printing below. Not sure what the Ministry of Crab is all about however it sounded pretty mysterious to me!

Eventually Lenny walked us down a lane and we entered a door – no sign for what bar this was – the only hint that it might be a bar was that there were stanchions outside to manage a crowd. The entrance was nice and bright however once we got inside – WOW it was DARK! I know that I hit many people with my walker wheels and frame but I could not see where I was going or what was in my way at one point in time! They had reserved seating for us and we did get situated and then we all pulled out our cell phones and turned on our flashlights to read the various menus! At this point I was hungry and my low blood sugar alarm was going off so I had some brie and GF crackers as a snack. There was some confusion though as to what I ordered as when I originally asked the waitress what was gluten free she told me that they could substitute the bread for crisps. When I ordered I then said I wanted the brie cheese with the GF chips like she suggested (I substituted chips for crisps) and that was a mistake! I ended up with a cheese plate with GF crackers and a bowl of french fries that I could not eat! Oh well. Stupid terminology – I should know better not to use the word chips! The bar was lovely and crowded and after a while of being outside in the sunlight our eyes did adjust! Some of the ladies in the group had some very interesting sounding drinks – they had some really fancy names like Mint Julip! Andrew had a local Ale that Lenny suggested to him and I had a vintage Coke Zero – aged to perfection! After chatting for a while, that was the end of the tour, so we parted ways.

Back out on the street now, it was about 7pm and still very light out. I had seen a Thai restaurant that we had walked past on the way to the bar so I thought we could go there for dinner. Basically as I was rolling by I saw a big menu and gluten free in close proximity to each other. We got back to that restaurant and the Thai restaurant was NEXT to a restaurant that was completely gluten free but only open for Breakfast and Lunch! Oh well! Lets check out my friend Google! On Google I saw a wheelchair accessible restaurant that served gluten free food with really good reviews about 1/2 a kilometre away – so we decided to walk there instead – it was on the same street so we could not get lost! Its name was Tazio and was a modern Italian restaurant and the risotto that someone had about 2 months ago was OUTSTANDING! Right up my line of thinking!

It was a nice walk, albeit a bit up hill to Tazio – it was interesting to pass by some of the lanes in Melbourne like the one below that have lots of tagging (spray paint artwork) and mystery doors! Now with our experience with the mystery bars I started to wonder what was behind some of those places! Eventually we ran into Tazio and at the front door, there was a sign blocking the entrance and then a bell, which is not accessible for someone to ring, to get access to the restaurant. Instead we followed the instructions and went around the corner and down the lane to the door where your are “supposed” to enter which of course has stairs! Andrew went up and asked about having dinner and that I could not get into the restaurant and could they open the front door please. He was told we needed a reservation! By this time I was waiting at the front door as I could see tables vacant in the restaurant and did not think they would not seat us. But no, you needed a reservation Andrew told me again. I quickly popped onto the internet and made a reservation for 20 minutes later at 8:30 pm! What to do in the meantime? Go shopping! I needed some more Coke Zero for tomorrow as the downside of Marriott Hotels is they serve Pepsi! Across the street was a convenience store so we patronized it and then hung out on the street corner for about 10 minutes until it was reservation time.

Back at Tazio, remember this place advertised that it was wheelchair accessible, Andrew rang the door bell. No one answered. We were both hungry. We rang it again and again no answer. Andrew went down the lane to the entrance to ask them to let me in. At the same time I phoned them and left a message about accessibility and how I had a reservation and mentioned that on the reservation it was noted that I needed an accessible table and why do they not answer the door or the phone? Then the Asian guests sitting inside the door saw my predicament and they started calling for the waitress and finally the door was opened and they sat Andrew and I in the window, just inside the door from the street. You might say I was a bit peeved at this point and Andrew was not a happy camper either. I think the waitress who brought us water noticed this and the manage then came by and listened to how hard it was to get into the restaurant despite being indicated as wheelchair accessible on Google and she offered to buy us a beverage! I thought that was very nice so I ordered a Coke Zero and she asked me if I wanted something alcoholic and I said that I did not drink but Andrew I am sure would like something! Andrew then ordered a glass of red wine and she brought the bottle!

The waitress then came back and I asked about gluten free options for a Celiac and she suggested some things however my mind was already set when I found that risotto was not on the menu – I was having the GF Prawn and Motza cheese pizza! The waitress recommended to Andrew that the lamb pasta is the specialty of the restaurant so he went ahead and ordered that. Oh my goodness – I have had GF pizza in Italy (home to pizza), Spain, New Zealand, other places of Australia and Canada and this was the BEST pizza crust I have ever eaten! It was so light and fluffy but thin at the same time – I ate the WHOLE 10 inch pizza as for once the dough was not that filling! Andrew totally enjoyed his lamb pasta too – the pasta noodles looked like narrow lasagna noodles with the undulations in them but in a string! Never seen that type before! As it was getting late, we then decided to get the bill and the manager came back to the table again and apologized again for the trouble we had this evening, had listened to my phone message and said that they were short staffed and that the manager (who was not on duty) had received the phone message and told her to provide dinner on the house! I was SHOCKED! We thanked her profusely! I am going to write a good review of the restaurant despite what happened from an accessibility standpoint.

After that lovely dinner and surprise, we then used Didi to get back to the hotel in Richmond, outside of Melbourne. It only took us about 12 minutes to get back as we used the tollways this time instead of surface streets. I did not know that this is an option in Didi but it was nice despite the $7 AUD add on for the tolls!

At this point, as we had such a fun afternoon and evening, we decided we were not going to get up early the next morning to visit the 12 Apostles which is the other thing that I wanted to do when visiting Melbourne. It is a drive of about 400 km round trip without any extra stops on the Ocean Road which runs along the south side of the state of Victoria back towards Adelaide and about 2 hours along, there are now about 7 “stacks” of limestone off the shore which are quite remarkable to see. They have been caused due to the erosion of the shore. There actually are not 12 of them – as I mentioned there are about 7 right now however as they fall down the number decreases and as more are eroded from the cliffs, more might occur. Here are some pictures of them! The drive that I wanted to take and had planned out looks like it will take us about 7 hours minimum!

Due to how I am feeling we decided instead to just go downtown tomorrow, as it is a Sunday and check out the Queen Victoria Market and then take a drive to St. Kilda and Brighton Beaches instead! Join us tomorrow as we explore some sandy venues!

November 14, 2025 – Australia – Melbourne – Phillip Island – Koala Conservation Reserve and a little Penguin Parade!

November 14, 2025November 20, 2025Lmnei

Today we had a relaxed morning and this afternoon we are going to drive to Phillip Island, which is south of Melbourne. I first went to Phillip Island on a bus tour with my friend Karen 27 years ago when we wanted to see the Penguin Parade. Karen LOVED penguins and we thought it would be a fun thing to do! It was very physically demanding on me as we had to get on and off a highway bus however we had a great time! I have always remembered how cute the penguins were walking in from the surf and if I was to return to Melbourne, I wanted to return! That is what we are going to do today, however we are going to drive ourselves, and visit a Koala Conservation Reserve on the way! Now that our lunch is packed – thanks to Andrew – we are on our way! The drive is about 90 minutes to Phillip Island.

Once on Phillip Island, we first stopped at the Koala Conservation Reserve, as the Penguin Parade is a sunset event when the birds come in to nest for the evening. We arrived at the Koala Conservation Centre and it was a very nice building with a display about Koala’s, which some of the information we had learned from the walk on Kangaroo Island was confirmed, and then there was some more information that was more applicable to the Melbourne area.

As the koala was actually eating at the time I took short video! Here it is!

Now, after a quick visit to the loo, we were off to the Penguin Parade! I knew we were running early, however last time I was there we were on a bus and I wanted to ensure that I had plenty of time to explore the area and the displays. The drive was fairly short however nice along the fairly flat Phillip Island. The only interesting thing we passed was a Go-Kart racetrack that looks to be quite popular! While no one was racing they had HUGE grass parking lots to support the grandstands. Just before the Penguin Parade we saw a sign for Flynn’s Beach which we decided to investigate! It seemed to be a surfers beach based on the parking lot and the number of surfers that were either getting into or out of wet suites for surfing! We walked along the path (more like trudged along once it turned into sand with my walker) to the lookout point and watched the surfers in the water. The waves were not that high in my impression however there were about 20 of them out there waiting for a “wave”.

Next, the piece de resistance! The Penguin Walk! We arrived at about 5:30 pm and they were just getting set up for the evening. While the centre opens at noon each day, the doors down to the penguin viewing areas are not open until just before the viewing times to lessen the impact on the penguins. So someone did a bit of shopping and then we had an AWESOME meal at the cafe for dinner! I am still amazed how good the gluten free offerings are in Australia – I had a vegetarian burger with a gluten free bun that I could have mistaken for a gluten bun it was that good! Downright amazing! Then we proceeded to walk down to the Penguin Viewing area. I had bought Penguin Plus tickets – I had previously sat in the General viewing area with Karen however the accessible seating was not that good, so decided to pay a bit more for a smaller viewing area. That was a good decision! We got up close and personal with the little penguins as they floated in from the sea, had what my dad and Neil Dirom would call a Management Meeting and then decided to proceed up the beach to their burrows. Here are my pictures!

Again it was an amazing experience to witness. How these little penguins can go into the water and find food during the day and then come back to their nests at night to feed their family and get to the right beach is remarkable! Seeing them appear at sunset surfing in on the waves was really fun too!

Here is another video of yet another Management Meeting under the walkway as we walked back up to the Penguin Walk centre to exit for the night –

Now back at the Conservation Centre, we quickly got back into the car and turned on the HEAT to warm up after that experience! I do remember getting cold when at the Penguin Parade with Karen, more importantly I remember Karen getting very cold, however the wind was up tonight and it was a bit chilly! Of course Andrew had forgotten his ball cap so that hairless noggin was uncovered after the sun set and it got a bit chilly out there! For the first time in Australia, I had to switch from the Air Con to heat which was a bit of a strange experience! We then drove without issues back to Melbourne for the evening – Andrew doing a really great job of concentrating on the “other” side of the road and driving in the dark! I was keeping watch too just to ensure we stayed in the correct lanes…

Our plan tomorrow is to go visit Downtown or the CBD (Central Business District) of Melbourne! Lets see what we can get up to doing that – the Melbourne CBD is a fascinating area – it has all these lane ways with stores and various vendors in them – should be interesting to see what we find!

November 13, 2025 – Australia – Melbourne – Timeout! Relax, Richmond Medical Clinic and Coles Shopping Trip

November 13, 2025November 18, 2025Lmnei

Today we slept in. Well, someone slept in and someone went downstairs for breakfast and got a gluten free cheese sandwich and tea! I will let you figure out which one did what! I let the person who had just driven over 800 km from Adelaide round trip get some rest however I was hungry – lets blame it on the cruise ship! My body wanted food! I went downstairs at about 9:45 am and they were just finishing up the breakfast buffet in the hotel we are staying at – Element by Marriott. This is a pretty modern hotel and lets say the restaurant is not what a regular hotel restaurant normally serves for breakfast – they kind of leaned towards Asian fusion type food. The buffet was not appropriate for me and they were just starting to take it down so they asked me what I would like and I said what do you have that is suitable for someone with Celiac Disease? They said how about a grilled cheese sandwich? I said you bet! I then helped myself to a cup of tea and sat at one of the breakfast tables and waited for my grilled cheese sandwich which showed up fairly fast! I was quite impressed! The restaurant, named Mint Lane, seems to be used by a lot of people who work in the business complex where the hotel is located.

Once Andrew woke up, as I noticed on the lunch menu they had gluten free calamari, I suggested we go down there for a simple lunch if he was hungry! So we did! WOW – now I have eating calamari around the world however these must have been the biggest calamari rings I have ever seen! However they were also VERY delicious and well seasoned/cooked!

Back in our hotel room, the view out the window was quite interesting with the blinds now open! We had these really tall – like 6 feet tall plant blossoms sticking up and pretty birds landing on them! Interesting to watch! Andrew figured out that the plant and the blossom stalk is called a Doryanthes Excelsa or Gymea Lily.

Next on the list of things to do was to deal with my ongoing pain – so I looked up a local doctors clinic in Richmond, the suburb of Melbourne where we were staying and picked a doctor from their website which to make and appointment with. His name was Dr Tuan Nguyen and while Australian, he also had a specialty in Pharmacology, which like my pain specialist, I thought would be an advantage. I made an appointment to see him to get the medication that Dr. Ong, my pain doctor had recommended that I get when we were in Maui, which I was not able to get and the ship did not have on board with them. The office was not very far away and it was a pretty seamless experience! Cost me $108 AUD which is not bad either! I received my prescription of Baclofen, which is used for people with spinal cord injuries and muscle spasms like I have and he had no issues prescribing it to me which was good! Then it was off to Coles, which is a grocery store and to a pharmacy to get my prescription filled!

Got the prescription filled – a whopping $17 AUD for the medication! I think I pay more in Canada for 100 tablets! Pretty good! Now off across the shopping mall to Coles to get some sustenance for our day trips for the next couple of days! I was particularly looking at their gluten free sections of course and found what I was looking for – Gluten Free Weetabix! It is made from Sorghum and is an excellent start to the day! Especially for those with diabetes as it does not raise your blood sugar due to the protein content in the sorghum. After getting a selection of buns, meat, cheese, chips, drinks, cookies and breakfast items we were on our way back to the hotel to relax for the rest of the evening. On our way back to the hotel, we passed by a beautiful old church that perhaps Andrew’s mother had seen when she lived in Melbourne, so we took a picture of it!

Tomorrow, we are going to drive to Phillip Island, which is south of Melbourne and visit some little penguins! I have been here before with Karen and looking forward to going back as they were just SO CUTE waddling up onto the beach after a day out at sea! Looking forward to also taking my new medication and getting my body back into better form too! See you tomorrow!

November 12, 2025 – Australia – Lighthouse, ferry, drive back to Adelaide and Flight to Melbourne!

November 12, 2025November 18, 2025Lmnei

Today, as I mentioned last night, we are going to take a short jaunt to the Cape Willoughby Lighthouse which is on the small easternmost point of Kangaroo Island and then back to Pennshaw to catch the 1:30 pm ferry back to Adelaide. The Cape Willoughby Lighthouse was the first lighthouse to be built in South Australia in 1852 and it is still operational today. It stands 27 metres high with 102 steps to the lookout tower, and offers stunning panoramic view across Backstairs Passage and the Kangaroo Island coastline. You can actually stay at a cottage at the lighthouse, however they were already booked by the time I was booking our vacation 9 months out!

View on drive to Cape Willoughby Lighthouse

Now, back to Pennshaw, which really is a small town centered around the ferry terminal, we arrived right when the earlier ferry was departing so we were first in line for the ferry we had reservations on! That allowed us to go check in and spend some quality time in the terminal relaxing and having a bit of lunch (and the one gluten free item in the display case) before boarding the ferry, which again, Andrew and I will do separately. The water was an AMAZING colour at the ferry terminal! When we saw the ferry arriving, we finally saw how the ferry operates (the ferry was already at the dock when we arrived on Monday morning) which is that it drives only in one direction and loads from the stern! So each time it comes into dock, it arrives and then pivots around to back in and let down the ramp at the stern!

Now we are off the ferry, we are taking a different route back into Adelaide than when we drove to Victor Harbour. This road will take us mainly along the water and beaches until we hit the M2 and then into Adelaide and to the airport. One thing that I did not realize is that the Adelaide Airport is actually south of the city – it is between the city and the beach! So that was an interesting discovery we made as we drove the surface streets to get gas, return the car and then the shuttle to the airport.

This is our first time flying Virgin Australia – we flew Qantas from Sydney to Adelaide and the rest of our tickets are on Virgin Australia whom Air Canada partners with. Similar to Qantas, they board the first 15 rows by the Jetway and then the last 15-ish rows through the stairs up to the back of the plane. The plane sure gets boarded fast! They were spot on getting me onto the plane in advance so they could take my walker and put into the hold of the plane – it was funny we followed a man, who Andrew called a Sumo wrestler due to his size, along with his sister and brother onto the plane. Of all the seats on the plane, this man was sitting behind me! Lets just say he did not fit into his seat at all. His sister and him took up the 3 seats on that side of the plane. I believe their brother was sitting behind his brother. Anyways, every time the Sumo Wrestler type brother laughed, Andrew and my seats shook! This was our 2nd experience on a flight with passengers behind us that caused issues with our seats – no wonder I prefer business class! However the guy was really good about it – other than he could not stop laughing and even suggested I put my seat back! I declined and said I was fine sitting up for the 50 minute flight…

We arrived in Melbourne after dark and were one of two couples who were the last to show up at the car rental agency before it shut down for the night – they were waiting for us! So we got into our car pretty fast with some personal service and we off to drive to our hotel in Richmond, which is a suburb of Melbourne – sort of like Burnaby is for Vancouver. I had selected this hotel for 3 reasons – 1. It had on site laundry where we could do our own laundry 2. The points price was within reason for a stay and 3. There was rapid transit across the street to downtown Melbourne!

Long travel day! Nice bed again – time for some sleep! Lets see what we get up to tomorrow!