Australia Day 7

 Day 7 of #raustraliatravelog. I had no idea that we would visit this kind of place, which look grand from afar.

Well, we walked quite far in order to reach this spot, relying on google maps.

Fun fact: The Stone (last pic) is aligned with an aperture in the roof of the Sanctuary so that a ray of sunlight falls on the word LOVE on the Stone of Remembrance at exactly 11 a.m. on 11 November, marking the hour and day of the Armistice which ended World War I.

Inside the ziggurat roof of the shrine. It was built to honour the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I, but now functions as a memorial to all Australians who have served in any war.

Its design is based on the Tomb of Mausolus and Parthenon.

Walking down the stairs. In the basement, there was a well-maintained museum about involvement of Australia in wars across the eras, including the world wars and the most recent ones (eg as the part of pasukan perdamaian PBB, what do u call it?).

I dont know what it is.

Eternal Flame. *close your eyes, give me your hand.. #lahjadinyanyi.

The Eternal Flame is placed nearby, representing eternal life. The flame has burned continuously with few interruptions since it was first lit.

You can go to (near) the roof, and then take pics from there, seeing the surrounding.

The Royal Botanic Garden is apparently adjacent to the shrine, so it's no brainer that the next stop would be that garden.

Melbourne was just being Melbourne. Cloudy in the morning, transformed into nice weather at noon. So, let's start.

While enjoying lunchbox.

Apparently we were not allowed to feed the birds. Since it's unnecessary and potentially harmful for them (see last photo for full warning from them).

Well, the birds actually surrounded us when we ate our snack. I dont know whether they liked us, they wanted our food, or they had bigger conspiracies planned.

I think one of the most outstanding features of the Royal Botanic Garden is Guilfoyle's Volcano. Since, it's very unique that perhaps not every botanic garden has this kind of scene.

Guilfoyle’s Volcano was built in 1876 and was used to store water for Melbourne Gardens.

Well, the volcano shape actually is not that noticeable, since it's short and wide. But what makes me admire it is the well-thought design and purpose of this feature.

The water reservoir in the volcano is part of the Gardens’ integrated water management system. This system includes stormwater harvesting and state-of-the-art irrigation programming and is part of the larger ‘Working Wetlands System.’ The 'Working Wetlands System' collects water that is bio-filtered through wetlands in the lakes, then pumped up to Guilfoyle’s Volcano and used for irrigation.

I think this plant is oh-so-exotique. One of many creatures from The Creator.

Wild flowers, not. I don't know actually. But such view is uncommon in tropical countries, I guess.

It was unplanned and unexpected, but for me this place brought lotta fun! Perhaps because of its interactive nature. And most importantly, it's free! lol.

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), the second-highest attendance of any gallery or museum in Australia, and the most visited moving image museum in the world.

Having a stroll at the bank of Yarra River. It's a very pleasant walk, with lively atmosphere, decorated by some boat restos with live music. Good vibes all around.

Random pics around Melbourne. Third pic is Melbourne Arena from afar, actually quite curious of the Rod Laver Arena where the Aus Open is usually held.

Fourth pic: fancy horse carriage, that apparently the passengers were Indonesians.

Nope, didnt enter the amusement park, and TIL the name is Luna Park, where apparently originated in USA. The face seemed familiar, that's why I took this pic. Apparently, it is the best-preserved Luna Park in the world. The original Luna Park which opened in 1903 at Coney Island, New York, closed in 1946 and was replaced by a car park.

Well, we went to St Kilda beach to enjoy our very last sunset for our trip in Melbourne. To reach the destination, we took tram and the journey was quite a lengthy one.

We arrived right on the sunset time, where in a matter of minutes, the sky turned dark and the sun waved goodbye.

What I remembered: anginnya gede banget dan dingin gila!

Do you see the penguins??? Yes, our goal when visiting this beach was to meet the penguins. My first time seeing wild penguins not in zoo/safari.

It's said that the best viewing time is 30 mins after sunset. Actually I was kinda worried that I wouldn't be able to see them. Well, I thought it's like seeing turtles in Ujung Genteng where you could only see them if you're fortunate.

Not long after we arrived, the penguins started appearing!

We can see them standing on the rocks, playing with each other.

Well, it's pretty freezing with strong wind out there. and since it's located at the end of the pier, so basically there's no wind "breaker" to save us.

In the night, before going to our accommodation, we paid a visit to a nearby teahouse called Teamoo. Well, in order to serve the tea, they did a certain way of doing it. Like, how long the leaves should be heated, and so on.

The owner was very friendly, and then he gave some kind of little gift (well, it's tea leaf) that we brought home.

It's our last night in Aussie. Thanks to @bayuadipersada for arranging the itinerary!.

Finally, it's a wrap! This photo marks the end of #raustraliatravelog. Anyway, have you ever wondered, when flying on the plane and seeing thru the window, what kind of surface lying down below? Since some of the sceneries on this flight made me wonder.

Fourth pic: I think Melb airport is pretty cool! it's like they try to fully digitalize checkin and baggage drop with very minimal human touch. Some other airports do this halfheartedly.

Fifth pic: station nearby our accommodation.

See you on the next travelog!

Australia Day 6

Day 6. Today, we are going to do a road trip to the beach. Initially, we planned to rent a car, but it's expensive! Fortunately we found an alternative: cheap open trip. lol.

So the meeting point was on the Arts Centre. I always have this kind of anxiety everytime joining an open trip. Will they really show up at the meeting point? lol. Thankfully, they did.

Another thing that made me worry: weather. It won't be fun if it's cloudy, like when we visited the Bondi Beach. and that morning, we couldnt even see the sight of the sun.

No matter which country you visit, if you go with a tour, you will be brought to at least one partnering store.

In this case, we visited a chocolaterie, that actually quite interesting, since it offered various types of chocolate, such as choco lip balm, 1 metres long chocolate, and so on.

I also remember that in this place, when I wanted to pay and gave my credit card to the cashier, the cashier tapped it onto the machine and nothing worked. Well, sorry ma'am, most of Indo cards hadn't, and haven't been embedded with contactless technology.

My heart was happy seeing the sky turned blue, kinda. lol. Since the cloud was going disarray. But you could't be so sure, right?

The photo was taken from inside of a moving bus

Memorial Arch, the gateway to the Great Ocean Road. The arch was built in honour of the 3,000 returned soldiers who worked on the road and its creation during World War I. .
The sculpture is of two returned soldiers working on the Great Ocean Road. During the construction of the road, some soldiers lost their lives due to the gruelling task of building a road by hand.

We had our lunch at the fish n chips joint on Apollo Bay Seafront. It's basically a rest area like where we could find few restos, souvenir markets, and so on. And no, it's no included in the tour package so we had to buy it ourselves.

I was always ecstatic when seeing the flock of sheeps through the window. hmm I dont think 'flock' is the right term for sheep. Anyway.

Well, the bright sky unfortunately turned cloudy.

Going to The Twelve Apostles.

Finally, we arrived at the famous tourism object. We could see a bit of blue part in the sky, which is good.

Well, the good thing was we didnt have to go thru a challenging pathway to enjoy the view.

Although the name of this object is twelve apostles but actually it was only consisting of 8 limestone stacks (now - by the time I post this, is 7. Read below).

The Twelve Apostles were formed by erosion. The harsh and extreme weather conditions from the Southern Ocean gradually erode the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then become arches that eventually collapse, leaving rock stacks up to 50 m high. The stacks are susceptible to further erosion from waves. In July 2005, a 50-metre-tall stack collapsed, leaving seven standing at the Twelve Apostles viewpoint.

See what's missing on the board I posted on the n-th slide.

The Twelve Apostles is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of Port Campbell National Park.

It's kinda interesting to see that the board is written with a poetry, altho I cant really comprehend its meaning.

Were you halted marching south,
or anchored climbing to the beach?
Did you yearn for freedom through the endless years?

Is the mystic Southern Ocean,
yours to rule or empire lost?
The mists around you rain or wasted tears?

Are you prisoners or guardians,
at the clash of rock and wave?
Do you feel us gaze in wonder at your might?

You have seen the stars before us,
and beyond us you will stand.
Forever at the edge, through day and night

Take a moment to stop. Listen and reflect upon how you feel being here today. (well, they're not my words. It's actually written on a board there).

Healthy parks improve your physical, mental, and spiritual health and wellbeing and generate jobs, contributing to productive communities - as shown by you being here now.

At the end of Geology Walk is Razorback. It exemplifies coastal evolution. This massive limestone islet was carved away from the cliff by pounding surf. The point is cracking in two places, preparing to collapse and potentially form sea stacks. In the middle is an indentation. It may take hundreds of years, but eventually this will form a cave followed by an arch. Once that crumbles, huge rock columns will be created. This cycle has been repeated for 15 to 20 million years.

I love the beautiful scenery. But human always wants more. The cloudy sky left me not that fully satisfied. lol. Hey, but at least at the previous spot, the weather was not that bad.

Oh well, Melbourne has a pretty interesting weather I should say. It changes, fast!

Frankly speaking, I want to finish the Great Ocean Road theme soonest, along with the #raustraliatravelog, so I can move to the next one. Bare with me guys...

Ohya, to get to the beach, we had to walk down the stairs. No worries, it's a well paved one.

How I miss sitting on a beach, feeling the sands between my toes, listening to the sound of the sea touching the shore, the breeze, the smell of the ocean. Everything!

Strawberries, purchased at the market on the day before. Actually I was having difficulty to finish them off. lol .
The gorge is named after the clipper ship Loch Ard, which ran aground on nearby Muttonbird Island on 1 June 1878 approaching the end of a three-month journey from England to Melbourne. Of the fifty-four passengers and crew, only two survived: Tom and Eva. .

The feature now appears as two unconnected rock pillars. They have since been officially named Tom and Eva after the two teenage survivors of the Loch Ard shipwreck.

My friend once said that in Melbourne, you could experience 4 seasons in a day. Oh boy, he was no kidding. 
Well, it's actuaĺly not in Melbourne city, but what we encoutered was similar. A second it could be extreme cloudy, and then around 10-15 mins later, the sky turned clear and blue.

Like these photos were taken only 15 mins apart. Guess what, 15 mins later, the sky turned grey again😅

I tried to google on the reasons, it seemed more on the geographical reasons that I'm not eager to fully comprehend. One of them is Melbourne is located among cool temperature south sea and hot desert on its north.

This beach and its cliff somehow reminds me to a beach in West Sumba.

On the way back to Melbourne, and a big city kid like me was, and is always in awe of seeing scenery like this 🤣

I think in some countries, there's this peculiar habit of throwing coins into fountain. Well, correct me if I'm wrong. But we saw many coins were scattered around on the fountain floor, that a homeless person was collecting the coins at night.

Night view