from KL to Melbourne Day 1

22 September 2013.


It was an exciting moment where I and my hubby were on our way to our honeymoon. We were so excited that we hardly slept well last night, although we were pretty tired of the whole wedding ceremony. Sum up, NOT SLEEPING WELL =  HAPPY+EXCITED

At 0700, we drove from Kuantan to Kuala Lumpur. YAHOO! I didn’t fall asleep in the car. We kept chatting about our wedding ceremonies.  Time flies~

We reached Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS) at 1100++. We parked our car in there which only cost RM 3 per day. Reasonable, right?

From there we took the KLIA Transit train. This train connects the shuttle bus at Salak Tinggi Station which leads us to the LCCT. Ticket fare cost RM 10.80.

For more info, visit: http://www.kliaekspres.com/travel-with-us/klia-transit-to-lcct/\

Excited and nervous, our flight ticket is at 1340. At 1130, we were still at TBS, waiting for the arrival of the KLIA Transit train. Soon, the train arrived and we reached Salak Tinggi Station at 1145.

Then, we rushed to catch the shuttle bus to LCCT. It took about 45 minutes ++ including waiting time for all the passengers to take their seats plus putting their luggage bags.

PS: it was full with passengers. TIPS:  grab a seat as fast as possible or else, you will need to wait for the next bus..

We reached LCCT at 1230 and YES, we still have some time to have our lunch after check in luggage etc.

Since we both did not have enough sleep last night, the nine hours flight gave us plenty of time to take a good rest.

There is one thing to comment about the Air Asia plane seats. Never choose seat number 14A (quite zone) if you love to have a side seat with window. We thought that all the side seat will have a small window.… but not the 14A... Anyway, the good point about this seat is, it is near to the toilet and exit door.

AT LAST! we reached Melbourne at 2330, with the temperature of 11 degree Celsius! WOW! So cool! Especially when the wind blows so hard~~~

At the custom check point, the officer in charge asked us “where will you both staying tonight?” Luckily, we have a friend in Melbourne and have planned to stay overnight. We showed the officer in charge his contact no. However, he was not convinced with our answer.  Ting! I remembered!  I did keep my friend’s house address.  After searching my friend’s email in my inbox, I showed the address to the officer.

Officer: How do you get to know him? How long have you known him? Is he a Malaysian? He works in Melbourne?  

Wahlau… asked so many questions…   *-*'''

TIPS: Please have the person’s house address that you will be staying that night/ whole trip. The officers are pretty strict! And I do not think that they allowed people to stay overnight in the airport or do they?

We stayed overnight at my friend’s house and get our rental car the next morning.

Goodnight~~

23 September 2013.

We have booked a car through online from http://www.economycarrentals.com/go/car-rental/australia/melbourne/

Economy Car Rentals is not a car rental company. It is a website which cooperates with other car rental brands. We found out that, the price of renting a car was reasonable. However, this car rental company did not own a car rental booth in the airport. That means, pick up and drop off car will not be in the airport.

PS: it is not written in their fine print that pick up and drop off car must be at the car rental centre, although we did stated that pick up and drop off is in Tullamarine, Airport.

Don’t you think is a bit scary, to allow a stranger to drive you to somewhere (which you have no idea where is it)?  We felt a bit inconvenient especially for tourist like us (the first timer in Melbourne).  Nevertheless, we phoned them and they came to pick us to their car rental centre, which was not far from the airport.

A woman in her mid 30s picked us up and brought us to her centre, Altas Car and Truck Rental. It was located at the 29 Catalina Drive, Tullamarine, Victoria.

We were so excited to see our “baby”. Oh yeah, we booked Micra, Nissan. The Cute Little Baby!

Just nice for two persons. Not too big or too small.

Next, our serious mission begun with:

1^st, we have our breakfast at McDonald, near the Tullamarine airport and the Holiday Villa.

PS: no wifi.

2^nd, we applied for Melbourne Pass at https://www.citylink.com.au/1090.asp in CityLink website.

We have to take the trouble to go online and register ourselves. This is one of the points which explained why the car rental is a lot cheaper than the other car rental websites.  Moreover, we were not sure which product to apply. Yea, no one to help us out. We tried to get it done in the Atlas centre. But the woman replied, they do not have wifi. What a surprise! So, we kind of waste a lot of time read, and read and read to make sure that we applied the right one.

In this form, they required a Australia mobile number 04-XXXXXXXX. We just key in our car rental company phone number. What to do? We need to get moving ASAP. We were in vacation! And we have limited time in Melbourne! My itinerary was affected!!!

FYI, this Melbourne Pass is used to travel on Melbourne's toll roads for a period of less than 30 days.  

Registration fee AUD 5.50.

PS: we were in the Tullamarine Airport using its free wifi.

3^rd, bought a plug adapter.  AUD 3.95.

PS: people, please get it before even reach Australia. My bad, didn’t do my research with details.. wasted few more minutes in this searching..  

And YEAH! We were ready to start our Melbourne journey!

We used Navigator app as our GPS. Is an offline GPS. Trust me, it works pretty well! Thank you Navigator! Here we go! The journey to the GREAT OCEAN ROAD!

From Tullamarine, it is approximately three hours to reach our hotel in Lorne.

We used Princess Freeway Highway and passed some of the famous beaches for surfers in Melbourne.  

Haha, he's so cute :P. 

At the Campbells Cove Beach Huts – Werribee South, Victoria.

Colourful Beach Huts ^^

With our Cute Little Baby, Micra, Nissan.

VERY HUNGRY! We have lunch at Red Rooster, a fast food chain in Geelong.

Classic Roast.

Powerful Pack!

Red Rooster at 2-4 Fyans Street, Geelong 3220.

NEXT stop, Point Impossible Beach.

Panoramic view.

Path to the Point Impossible Beach. 

I know what you are thinking...  Both of the beaches are known as the Nude Beaches in Australia. Sorry, the temperature was damn too cool. So, no nude people ya.  

As you all could see from our photos, the sky was getting dark. We quickly drove our way to our hotel in Lorne.

However, we can't resist but to stop by at Hut Gally to enjoy the beautiful beach.

Peaceful sunset.

We passed the Split Point lighthouse and took a photo of it.

The Split Point lighthouse.

And finally we reached the GREAT OCEAN ROAD!

Great Ocean Road Memorial Gate.

One more hour of driving to the Grand Pacific Hotel & Apartments in Mount Joy Parade, 3232 Lorne.

We booked a Pacific Double Room, AUD 90 at Booking.com.    

At the main entrance of the Grand Pacific Hotel & Apartments.

For dinner, we have pizza at PizzaPizza. TRUST ME. It was super duper delicious! A MUST eat food in LORNE! Check out their menu at 

http://www.pizzapizzalorne.com/menu.html.

PS: Credit to Urbanspoon reviews.

 Meet the chef!

Meatlovers Pizza

Time to rest well. Goodnight!

Last picture taken on 23 September 2013.