A couple of weeks ago, my family adventured on a trip from Adelaide to Melbourne by car. The trip would span for over 1600 Kilometers and would take 14 hours. Today, I am going into detail to tell you my thoughts about what I did on the long trip.
Because the trip was relatively long, we decided to rent a car. We originally thought that the car would be a Kia stonic, but it turned out to be a Toyota CH-R. The smell inside the car was amazing as it was manufactured earlier in 2023. We barely were able to fit our luggage in our boot, but thanks to my dad we eventually all squeezed it in. I brought two books with me to keep company. They were Spark, by M.G. Leonard and Skulduggery Plesant (Book 1) by Derek Landy. Funnily enough, I ended up not reading it on the way to Melbourne. We also brought a ton of food, but some of it got wasted because at the motel where we stopped my dad accidentally placed some of the food in the freezer.
Our journey started at 10:00 am, as we finally got in the car and said our final goodbyes, we made sure all the blinds were folded down, essential things were packed lights were switched off and doors were locked. This was pretty much my first road trip, so I was very excited. After some driving, we finally pulled onto the Southern Eastern Freeway, which was one of the highways that connected South Australia and Victoria At the beginning of the highway, many hills separated the two sides. As time passed, many trees outlined the area instead and towns turned to farms, lakes, and land. One funny part of the journey was when my mother struggled to turn the AC on! The journey started with my brother and I sitting in the back seat but it soon switched to my mother and I. We stopped at two places; Connplyn and Bordertown before stopping at Nhill for the night.
Finally, we arrived at our motel. I had high expectations for the motel, but the only things that I could see were 3 beds and a TV. In the end, we ate fish ‘n’ chips and watched a documentary about BOEING.
The next day, we woke up at 4:45 am and surprisingly, there was no light. I felt nervous driving in the dark as anything could ram into you. We even had a close call with a truck that nearly collided with us” The place we stopped at was a common place to see trucks rumbling on the road, but luckily nothing major happened.
We continued to drive for four hours, every hour passing through towns. For most of the ride, I either slept, looked at the unique scenery, or talked with my family. Finally, we were on the Freeway which ran through Melbourne. I felt excited visiting a place that I hadn’t seen in a couple of years, but also exhausted due to the car ride. I also felt like it was 1 p.m., three hours ahead of the original time because I had woken up so early. We first visited the Southern Cross station, which is an astronomically big station with many parts. It is used for arrivals and departures via train, bus, and for rides to Melbourne Airport.
After that quick stop to the bathrooms, we headed to a place called NGV. NGV stands for National Gallery of Victoria. It is made up of many pieces of art. On the outside there were fountains and up ahead was the entrance. On a glass wall, in the building was a liquid flowing down from the building. I thought it was bubbles but it was water! The feeling of putting your hand on a glass wall with cool water flowing down is mesmerizing and I would certainly recommend you to try it. The first exhibition was about Asian art. We saw different types of things that Asian people use in their daily lives. One of the things included was a motorbike that the milk delivery many used to deliver milk. My mum was ecstatic after she saw it as it gave her fond memories. Another thing displayed was a Japanese kimono. In another exhibition, famous pieces of abstract art including Picasso were displayed. I guessed that a picture was Picasso and got it correct!
We also went to lunch with a relative of my mother. We went to a place called Docklands which is a coastal area with lots of ferries. We ate at a Mediterranean restaurant, and the food was scrumptious!
Then we visited the State Library of Victoria. It is Australia’s oldest public library and the world’s fourth most visited library. For a reason. There are six levels to the library. Yes, six. We saw the big dome at the top, which was an amazing sight.
The next day was our final day, so we wanted to see as much as we could. We started with Federation Square. Federation Square is a venue for arts, culture, and public events. But we only stayed there for a short time as we headed off to Yarra River. Yarra River is a famous River running for over 242 kilometers! We walked on the outskirts of the river, and I felt joyful as the breeze rushed passed me. We also saw the ICONIC Rod Laver Area, on the outside.
Next, we went to eat doughnuts. We first wanted to go to Lune, the cafe that produced the best croissants in Melbourne, but the line was too long so we went to a doughnut chain, Krispy Kreme.
Then, we went to the Metro Tunnel exhibition. The metro tunnel exhibition is all about the new project, which is about building a metro tunnel in Melbourne. Many things were found when digging in the ground and they called up artists to re-create different things they found in the form of cardboard models, paintings, and many other things.
Lastly, we visited the Melbourne Museum. At Melbourne Museum, there was an exhibition on cars, which had a goal to have zero crash deaths by 2050. We saw how cars revolutionized, how to build a strong quality car, and more. I quite enjoyed learning about this.
That was finally the end of my trip to Melbourne. The car ride home was uneventful. I quite enjoyed Melbourne and hope to visit it again.