Mesmerizing 12 Apostles

After a long 8 hour flight to Melbourne from KL, we landed around 10.30 PM Melbourne time (Infact we had spent nearly 25 hours since we had reached Chennai Airport). Our immigration and customs clearance was a breeze probably as it was christmas and everyone was in a pleasant mood to welcome us.

My brother Ganesh was there at the arrival area to welcome us. We were supposed to stay in a relative's place (Mr. Sathish B) at Werribee, melbourne during our visit to Melbourne. Werribee is a huge suburb of Melbourne around 20 Kms from Melbourne CBD. When we reached their home we were welcomed warmly and were immediately made to feel at home. Fantastic host to say the least. We hit the bed after dinner due to the travel fatigue. Officially we have set foot on Ozzie soil and our vacation dreamz start...

The next day morning we set out to rent a 12 seater Toyota Hi Ace Mini Van for our entire family commuting from AVIS. Wonderful vehicle which augmented our pleasurable Melbourne visit.

As a first step we wanted to cover the 12 Apostles on Day 1 of our Ozzie tour, the trip was around 200 Kms and took a little more than 21/2 hours to reach the 12 Apostles. The first sight was mesmerizing and in order to have a wholesome view we booked for a chopper ride which was exhilarating and will live in our memories forever. After the chopper ride for which a video was given, we proceeded to the viewing gallery, a short walk away and had the panaromic view of the

12 Apostles in all its glory. Due to summer the sun sets very late around 9 PM in that part of the world and hence we got additional hours of sight seeing to our convenience.

While returning we drove through the Great Ocean Road which is a world renowned drive. A little daunting due to its winding and spiralling path. We found great beaches all along the drive and breathtaking views. As we were taking in the views we were progressing at a slow pace and reached Lorne around 9 PM, a quaint scenic beachside town for dinner. A special mention of the

place we had dinner is a must as it was mouthwatering chinese spread we had from a eatery called Chopstix on the Lorne beach road. We reached back Sathish's home by around 12 PM thereby completely an exhausting but memorable first day at melbourne.