Point Nepean, Victoria, Australia 2009 – Part II

[Continuation from Point Nepean, Victoria, Australia 2009 – Part I]

At the tip of Point Nepean, there are a few military ruins to see. One of them is the old tunnels. It has been around for ages and you even see scribbles by visitor from the past.


1963 – earliest scribble I could find.


The best looking scribble I saw

The path to the Engine House ruins is also worth taking as it has a great scenery. The beach was empty and the water was crystal clear. Access to the beach is prohibited but no one stops you from doing so. 😀

After hanging out at the place for an hour, we decided to head back. However, as the sun was scorching hot and there were many flies, we decided to hitch the shutter truck back. Further, while on our way to the tip, we saw one red faced guai lou walking towards the starting point. He was all burned up!

Our ticket only entitle us to a ride to the tip and not the ride back. There was no ticket counter to purchase a return ticket at the tip. If we were to walk back, we would probably end up like the red faced guai lou and attacked by flies throughout the walk. To overcome the problem, we did the Malaysian way, sit on the shutter truck and keep quiet.


Kid sitting in front of us. Poor kid had to endure the flies.

No one checked our tickets on the way back. It brought us back to our car without paying additional fee! Yay! Malaysia Boleh!!!

Point Nepean, Victoria, Australia 2009 – Part I

Gavin had a day off hence he decided to be nice for a day and drove me to check out Point Nepean National Park, which is about an hour and a half from the city of Melbourne.

Point Nepean marks the southern point of The Rip (the entrance to Port Phillip) and the most westerly point of the Mornington Peninsula, in Victoria, Australia. Closed to the public for over 100 years, Point Nepean National Park is now a popular tourist destination. Besides spectacular ocean scenery, the park is home to Fort Nepean, established in 1882, and the historic Quarantine Station first established in 1852. This place also marks the place where Australia lost its 17th Prime Minister, Harold Holt, who disappeared on 17 December 1967, presumed drowned.

To get to the end of the point, one can either take a 7KM walk (back and forth) or take a shutter truck. For the fee of $16.80, the shutter truck will bring you to the tip and bring you back to the starting point. Alternatively, pay the fee of $13.50, the shutter truck will only bring you to the tip and thereafter walk back to the starting point. We opted for the $13.50 fee as we thought it would be nice to have a stroll back since it is only 3.5KM back.

Since we are only taking a one way trip, we had to drive up to Gunners Cottage to park our car there. Thereafter, we would have to walk to the 1st stop nearby to catch the shutter truck.


Walkway to the 1st stop

There is an old cemetery nearby Gunners Cottage. It was established in 1854 replacing an earlier quarantine station burial ground which became unsuitable when beach erosion unearthed the burials of 1852.

As we reached the place early, we had to wait for the shutter truck to arrive at the 1st stop. At that time, we were attacked by flies here and there. The bloody flies in Australia stick to people like we were pieces of shit!!


Shutter Truck

When the shutter truck came, we were still attacked by the flies. Nevertheless, the view was magnificent!

However, when we arrived at the tip, the flies became a little bit more aggressive. -_-


First there were 2.


Then there were 4.


And then there were too many. It was as if the flies were trying to set up a village on Gavin’s back!

A nice lady gave us some branches to swat the flies away. According to her, the act of swatting the flies is called the ‘Aussie Wave’.

[To be continued..]

Melbourne & Adelaide, 2009 – Overview

Happy New Year peeps! To begin my first 2010 entry, I shall post about my Australia trip 😀

My 2 weeks trip to Australia was very enjoyable. The purpose of the trip was to attend Jo and Viv’s wedding in Adelaide. Since I got many friends in Melbourne, I decided to drop by Melbourne. The last time I was there was in 2002. The place changed a lot.


Flinders Street Station didn’t change one bit except for the foyer.

I stayed with weichen in Melbourne and at Viv’s place in Adelaide. Many thanks to them for their kindness especially weichen who picked me and sent me to the airport numerous times.

Many of my Malaysian friends migrated to Melbourne. Those who I hung out with in Melbourne were either my old clubbing kakis or climbing kakis.


The gang

A came a day later than me and she only spent 2 days in Melbourne. I brought her around to shop before we flew off to Adelaide for Jo & Viv’s wedding.

Adelaide, to me, is a quiet and tranquil place. The city is small compared to Melbourne and there is nothing much to see there. However, our trip to Barossa Valley was quite enjoyable. We managed to visit Jacob’s Creek and the Whispering Wall.


Jacob’s Creek

The wedding started off with a traditional ‘chip san leong’ ceremony with a little bit of Vietnamese twist (Viv is Vietnamese). Thereafter, there was a church ceremony.


Got Siew Chu!

The wedding dinner was held in a small ballroom. A and I were MCs for the night. This time round, I didn’t scream yamseng too loud until the whole floor went quiet.

A went back to KL after our Adelaide trip. I stayed back in Melbourne for another week. I managed to climb twice at Lactic Factory and also made a trip down to Fort Nepean with Gavin.


Fort Nepean!

I also managed to try out a few good restaurants and went to some places that I didn’t visit when I was in Melbourne in 2002.


Yummy!


Inside the State Library


Didn’t try GayLord though

Stay tuned for details!