[Melbourne 2022] The Great Ocean Road - A Journey from Portsea to Queenscliff via Ferry, Scenic Route Drive, Jostled with School Kids at Chocolaterie, Lunch at Lorne and Getting Wet at Twelve Apostles

We left our AirBnB accommodation early that morning. Thankfully, weather was good and we were on our way to catch the 9am ferry. It was kinda cool to drive the vehicle onto the ferry with everyone so parked so close to each other.

Portsea 7.47 am, waiting for ferry to arrive

all onboard

departing Portsea

on deck

seagulls

Be careful out there especially with the seagulls hovering over our heads. One nearly shitted on me. Actually, it did but luckily the droppings missed me by an inch, perhaps. Hahaaa.

There's a cafe on the ferry, so we went to grab our morning coffee while enjoying the ride.

what do we have here

pie of some sorts

flat white

chicken pie

sausage roll

pretty tasty

After our breakfast, we went to the upper deck of the ferry to catch the beautiful morning sun.

travelling buddies that made the trip possible

reaching Queenscliff soon

We disembarked from the ferry and drove some more for a few hours.

passing by

nice building

passing by a bridge

passed by a flock of birds

canola/rapeseed field

Most of the nice view were on Ivan's side, so there's only a few photos from my end. We made a pit stop at The Great Ocean Chocolateria and Ice Creamery, to stretch our legs. 

The Great Ocean Chocolateria and Ice Creamery

eclair of some sort served with fresh cream and a shot of hot chocolate

Raspberry Ice Cream

The greatest discovery was the hot chocolate sauce will harden once it meets a colder surface. So we dipped the ice-cream into the chocolate sauce and voila, a hard chocolate shell would form outside of the cold treat. Yums!

We quickly made our exit after the morning ice-cream as there were bus loads of school kids coming into the shop.

Let's enjoy the view along the scenic drive!

We made it to Lorne at about 1pm for a quick lunch. Well, it was supposed to be quick but we got distracted. Read more about it here.

After lunch, we drove some more in order to get to the Twelve Apostles.

lots of cows

eyes on the road

wow, windmill

these are huge

more sheeps

must be nearing Twelve Apostles

there it is!

The Twelve Apostles limestone formation

documenting formations that eroded as well

Thanks to Tracy's persistence and insistence, we got to view The Twelve Apostles before more of it gets eroded.

walking to the other side to take photo

the photo before we got drenched by the rain

The drive to The Twelve Apostles took hours, and the time taken to snap the photos of the attraction was only a few minutes. Ivan wanted to walk to the other photo taking site 10 minutes away from the first scenic point, so we went but halfway through it started to drizzle. Ivan insisted that we press on and that the rain wouldn't get any heavier, and so we continued. Alas, the rain continued to get heavier and by the time we got back to the car, our jackets were dripping water.

Thankful for this group of buddies who braved through rain and sun, and arduous long drive, just to make sure we got the best experience in this trip.

Jersey cows

rainbow after the rain

Thank you Hence, Tracy and Ivan for a memorable trip!

[Melbourne 2022] Red Hill Estate @ Mornington Peninsula

One of our to-do in Australia, and with Australia being a wine producing country, is to visit a vineyard and sample some wines. We had the opportunity to do so in Mornington. On our way to our AirBnb, we passed by a few vineyards. 

After doing some searches on Google, we decided to visit Red Hill Estate first. We reached there after lunch time and hence, we were like the last customers for the wine sampling. Another small group had just finished their session when we arrived.

Red Hill Estate vineyard

view from the carpark

at Red Hill Estate

vineyard

The estate is beautiful. We spent some minutes in the freezing wind to take some photos.

can see the sea from here

let's go sample some wine

Cellar Door

We were in a group of 4, and all are recommended to have the same wine for the tasting. Took the AUD10 per pax package where one gets to sample 6 different glasses of wine.

let's begin

We started with 2017 Blanc de Blancs. Lovely pale straw in colour, refreshing and crisp tasting. Mildly fruity with hints of lemon and apples. 

2017 Blanc de Blancs

Next, was the 2019 Cellar Door Release Chardonnay. A fuller/rounder taste when compared to the Blanc de Blancs. Nice.

 2019 Cellar Door Release Chardonnay

2020 Merricks Grove Pinot Noir

The 2020 Merricks Grove Pinot Noir was interesting...Its profile had described it as "sweet pungent Christmas spices of nutmeg, clove and cinnamon on the nose" and indeed, I was overwhelmed by clove. Pretty strong, I must say. This was the only one that I didn't finish.

Let's try something familiar, so we went for the 2020 Cellar Door Release Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon. Balanced with juicy plum notes.

2020 Cellar Door Release Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon

Then, we ended with the 2018 Late Harvest Pinot Gris as it is the sweetest of the lot.

2018 Late Harvest Pinot Gris

Sweet and jammy, with floral honey hints. Good as dessert wine.

The staff who attended to us was friendly and cheerful. She was delightful and the ambiance was really casual. Although we were the last in the shop, she didn't rush us through and allowed us to pace ourselves. But of course, we drank pretty quickly too. Started at about 230pm and were done by 3pm. Hahaa!

Guess which wine we bought home...hahaa, did you guess it correctly?

2021 Cellar Door Release Rose @AUD34 per bottle

Thank you Ivan, Tracy and Hence for the experience!

Red Hill Estate 

Address:  53 Shoreham Rd, Red Hill South VIC 3937, Australia

Website: https://www.redhillestate.com.au/

Contact: +61 3 5989 2838

Business Hours:

Daily: 11AM–5PM