I fell in love with the Hyundai Getz we used to get to Apollo Bay. Rented from Budget Rent-A-Car in Geelong, the total cost for 4 days (more like 5, actually!) hire was $290. Organising the rental was no problem, the people were courteous and the car was in good shape. The only surprise occurred when I arrived at the pick-up point and found out the car was an automatic. As a lifelong manual driver, I found this unsettling. But, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise - it was easier to drive and considering the number of corners I had to navigate, actually made the drive more enjoyable. By the end of driving from Geelong to Apollo Bay through Winchelsea and Skenes Creek way, I felt exhilarated and now I want to drive more. We came back from Apollo Bay through Marengo, Gellibrand and Colac. Now dubbed "The Third Way", it is, in my opinion, the quickest, easiest and most pleasant drive from Apollo Bay to Geelong.

If you are ever in the area, make sure you stop off at the Winchelsea Roadhouse. The people are very friendly and they sell these great 7-packs of vitamins (Nature's Way Energy Multi) that kept us going throughout the journey and the rest of the holiday.

Here is the Winchelsea Roadhouse in all its glory:

If you ever go there, say hi to the very funny lady who works there. She is quite a character!

Technorati Tags: Car Rental Budget Rent A Holidays, Apollo Bay Gellibrand Holiday, Geelong, Winchelsea Roadhouse

I have to add this to my previous V/Line post - the fares are VERY reasonable. It cost me $6.10 to travel from Melbourne to Geelong. When I think about it, that's actually cheaper than an all day Zone 1&2 metropolitan ticket. The fare I managed to buy was for off-peak travel. The journey started on Thursday 22 March at 2pm. If you happen to get a peak ticket, it will still only cost you $8.60, which won't break the bank.

Technorati Tags: V/Line VLine Spencer St Southern Cross Australia,

I would like to say I enjoyed the trip from Melbourne to Geelong travelling with V/Line. But...(and there was always going to be a "but") the trains don't seem as quaint and old-worldly as they used to. I'll start with Spencer Street Station, where the Journey began. Actually, it's called "Southern Cross" Station now which I think is bollocks. What the hell does that mean, for a start? Southern Cross? The station is located at Spencer Street. Spencer Street made sense. Now a whole bunch of tourists from overseas are lost in space trying to work out where Southern Cross station is supposed to be.

Here is a picture of the "new and improved" Southern Cross station:













I call it "The Birdcage". And I think that's being nice to it. It looks like a great big dirty chicken coop. I don't know whose bright idea it was to change the station into a large barn but I liked it better before.

The glossy photos of Southern Cross don't actually show the crapness of the design. I suppose it's trying to be "modern". You know what? It's a nightmare. You can't find anything. The staff are unfriendly. The V/Line ticket counter is hidden underneath a secret passageway that requires a map and lots of legwork to find. I can't stand it.

The old Spencer Street station was cute. And daggy. That's what's wrong with Australia. It's daggy but it doesn't want to admit it. So it tries to be modern and cutting edge and ends up looking even more dorky. Come on Australia, embrace your inner dag. It's okay.

Here it is (*sigh*) The old Spencer Street. Complete with kiosks and seating areas for people to congregate and greet or farewell loved ones.













But now, to the actual journey itself. My partner and I were crammed into this tiny carriage (only a 3 carriage train!) with a whole bunch of other travellers. Why there were so many, I will never know. The Swimming perhaps? The Airshow? Don't know. All I know is I don't want to go through that again. We were seated next to an obnoxious lady who actually picked a fight with us because we had a lot of luggage. Then she put her feet on our bags, then insulted us. We were flabbergasted. And we had to ignore the scheming harpy for 1 whole hour. That is not easy when someone is goading you and making nasty comments every 10 minutes. What a cow. Actually scratch that. I like cows. What a horrible banshee of a woman. I think she came from South Geelong and I hope to never run into her again.

So apart from the nasty woman and the crowded carriages and another weird lady eating a sandwich very loudly in front of us, the trip was forgettable.

I remember a time about 18 months ago where we got a V/Line train from Geelong to Melbourne. We found a quaint carriage with a hallway and sliding doors to these little booths, like in those old movies. It looked a little like this one:














The window had little curtains and the snack car was still active. I miss the snack car ladies and the conductors with the whistle. Perhaps those days are over. Are we moving forward? No. We're regressing and devolving (is that a word?). V/Line used to be charming. I hope one day they will be again.

Technorati Tags: V/Line VLine Spencer St Southern Cross Australia,

I am currently waiting for my photos to be developed at Rabbit Photo. I am pretty impressed with their service - they are prompt and have a special "gold card" for frequent er... developers. I actually can't wait for the photos to come out so I can start raving and reviewing the holiday. I must say I really enjoy developing photos. I guess that's one of the sad things about digital cameras. I mean, they are instant, just like my old Polaroid that I have sitting in my cupboard. But the Polaroid gives you a photo - it slides right out of the camera like magic. And then there's the waiting for the picture to appear. I love that part. You don't know if it's going to be a good one or a bad one, that's the fun of it.

I guess what I miss when I'm using digital cameras is the "photo" part. The actual, holding it in your hand photo result. If you don't have a hard copy, it kind of creates a "virtual" photo, which isn't as fun. Yes, you can go to a photo processing shop and process your photos from a digital camera, but few people do. And you have to process hundreds at a time which makes it less viable.

I have taken to buying those disposable cameras for now. Yes, I realise they are hideously bad for the environment and I won't do it again, I promise. I am actually going to get myself a camera one of these days, be it film or digital. These disposable film cameras are great when you are on holiday - you can buy them after you arrive at your destination and take 24 photos, which can be all you need for a short holiday.

Again, I can't wait to get these photos developed. But I just had a flash (pardon the pun!) of people nowadays being grandparents and trying to show the grandkids some family photos.

Grandma: "I have some photos here of when you were just 1 month old, visiting the farm with Mum and Dad...Oh! Drat! I'm sorry dear, the 1GB memory sticks just don't work in your computer. It says unable to read disk"

Granddaughter: "Of course not Grandma, you can only use the 1000GB cards now!"

Grandma: "*Sigh* This new technology, I don't know."

And there it is. So much for showing the family album. "Unable to read disk." Worth thinking about.

Technorati Tags: camera processing film digital polaroid

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