Bath and Stonehenge, UK

My most recent trip was to Stonehenge and Bath on the 1st October 2017, a day before I officially start classes for my postgraduate. This was one of the most visited places when you come to the UK for holiday. I joined this tour alone because I was pretty much new to the UK and didn't have many friends yet and school have not really started. Also, most of friends who lived in UK for a few years has already visited this place. 

I received this offer on my student email and it was organised by a student organisation who does weekend trips around UK. Sign up for it for about 42 pound which include ticket into Stonehenge. I asked around and it's pretty reasonable. Meeting point was at Euston, right in front of Ibis Hotel. We departed at about 9.30am and made our way to Stonehenge which took us about 2 hours. We arrived at 11.30pm and we were given an audio phone (not sure what is it called) to gives us information about the place. I guess its so technology oriented that you do not get a tour guide but just a recorder of all-you-need-to-know about the place. Not really sure how to feel about this. 

Anyway, I decided to join this other two girls who was also travelling on their own. When I first walked up to the bus, I noticed everyone came with a friend. I was glad there were others who travel alone as well because we ended up grouping up and travel around together. Well, I guess when you go trips like this, you'll end up making friends. 

Stonehenge

Back to Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument / landmark in Wiltshire, England. Stonehenge is an ancient temple aligned on the movement of the sun. The stones were raised 4500 year ago by sophisticated prehistoric people. There were still a lot about the stones that the researcher have not gotten information about. It's a ring of standing stones where there is a ditch (sort of) 100 m away from the stones and as the ground were really soft, tourist would only get to visit from afar. Apparently, it is said that if too many people standing on the ground there, it may destroy the area (according to the audio guide). There were the healing stones and sacrifice stones in that ring which were used by the prehistoric people back in the old old days. 

This gigantic looking stone here tied to the wood below was how the people in the old days transfer stones. Information on board state that it would take at least 100 people to move this road. Hmmm..

Sneak peak of the residential area of prehistoric people.. their little cute huts.. I was amazed by the place to see that it was so simple and they didn't need much for space unlike the houses we have now. My only question was : Would the fire be enough to keep them warm in this hut? 

So, me and two other girl decided to walk to the Stonehenge area from the tour office which took us about 20 minutes. It was indeed a long walk and a cold one too. Half way, it started drizzling and I was praying hard for it not to be heavy! An alternative was a shuttle bus which I decided not to take. I thought walking there, enjoying the scenery (gloomy day AGAIN) but it wasn't worth the cold and view. 

Basically this was my view from the start till the end when I finally reached the stonehenge area. It was also an uphill battle for me, and I finally reached, so relieved. Finally able to start my audio guide and walk around the stone henge. Not going to talk much about the history of the area. 

Wind was so strong that this was pretty much the most decent photo I have without my hair covering my place and flying around like a mad woman. But here's more photo of the different angle of the stonehenge.....

And yeap, thats Stonehenge. It may look pretty boring but if you hear the audio guide on what each stones were used for, its actually quite interesting. 

Took the shuttle bus back this time and then headed of to City of Bath. 

Bath

So, I was told by my best friend that you must visit the Roman Bath for sure. Its an interesting place to visit and I would recommend to visit in the evening when they switch on the lights. It look much prettier. I totally love the city itself, the design were really classic and consistent. It wasn't messy and it reminded me a lot of Luxembourg. The city itself were like a shopping area. The Roman Bath is within the city and it was walkable everywhere. 

I love building of this kind and you can even more beautiful structure building like this in Prague. Prague is my current favourite city as it gives you a classic feel. Being in the city doesn't make you feel like you are in the 20th century. I like how they kept these building and did not refurbish to modern looking building. I guess this shows how each city is special. That's how I see it. 

The Roman Bath

So, after strolling around the city, I decided to head to The Roman Bath and damn, the line was really long. I think this is what you get when you go there during the weekend. We waited about 40 minutes before we finally got our ticket and straight visiting the place. You'll start from the top first floor and then to the ground floor. They had arrows to direct you around the place so you would not get lost and its pretty systematic. 

They provided me with an audio guide here to guide me around the Bath. The ticket cost about 14.75 pounds for student. This was the exterior of the Roman Bath and the second floor. Pretty much just this that I saw when I there. Moving on the ground floor....

Apart from just the Bath, there is museum inside which gives you more information about the bath, where the water come from, the ditch and also informations about historic people. 

They definitely did renovate the inside and made it more accessible and friendly for tourist and they kept the water system to the Bath the way it is. Some part of the interior look pretty modern and technology savvy. They explained really detail how the water system worked and some area are quite smelly. They even allow you to test the spa water. I tried it, it was super salty. I think we weren't suppose to drink it but I wasn't sure where they gave us a cup filled with the water. 

The whole tour took me about an hour and I still had 1.5 hours left before we had to regroup. So I decided to visit the Bath Royal Crescent. 

Royal Crescent

It took me about 15 minutes to walk there. It was basically buildings build in a form of a crescent shape. There was a park right opposite the building for you to just chill and picnic there. This was the city most iconic architecture. I couldn't get the whole crescent shape photo, camera not enough pro. HAHA! 

The greens tho....got a soft spot for this. I didn't think it was worth visiting because it was pretty much normal. However, I think if i had more time, I would definitely go up a hill where you can get a whole view of Bath city. That would definitely be an amazing view. You'll get to see all the buildings and also the royal crescent shape building of course. If only, the sky wasn't this gloomy.

I was warned that it can get really gloomy in the UK. It was sunny the entire week and then the day where I was going around to travel and it goes all gloomy on meee.... whyyy... whyy...

If you are super big fan of UNESCO buildings or even love visiting historic places like this, you can find more of these amazing experiences by heading onto Tracy Travels in Time  to read more about it. :) Its so interesting how these buildings has so much history on how they came about and I do always aim to visit them if I am in a city which has them. 

Anyway, this sum of my day trip here and I thought it was pretty good. I didn't get to see a nice scenery but I definitely learn a lot of water system and historical stuff. 

"History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul"

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Yarra Valley

I always had a thing for scenery and the green green grass. It gives you the feeling of peacefulness and help take away all your trouble for that moment. And in Melbourne, if there is one place you want green green grass, that place would be Yarra Valley. My final year in Melbourne (which was last year), me and my friends decided to go on a road trip there. I actually went there twice because I was there again in December with my family.

Yarra Valley is a famous destination for road trips whether it is with family or friends. Also, if you ever go there, make sure the weather is good. Otherwise, all you will see would be the gloomy and dark skies. And yes, it based on true experience because the first time I was there, it was raining! Anyway, I would be putting photos from both my visit there. 

The first time we went there was on the 7th of April 2014. It was my dear friend, Chee Ping 21st birthday! So, we all decided to bring him to see the world, outside the city and Clayton.  Also, it was kinda a blessing in disguise because the price on the website was not inclusive of the insurance, taxes and a lot of duo duo ye cost (hidden cost). Even this car cost us a bump already.

Our Companion for the Day

 Our Gloomy Sky

 On the Gloomy Road

Before beginning on the spots I visited, there is always two options when you go on a trip or a short vacation. You can either :-

PLAN IT YOURSELF 
Well, this method is if you are used to travelling places and know the place well at the back of your head. And you are up for an adventure that you might potentially get lost and stumble upon some beautiful place with your friends. This often work out for smaller group but bigger groups travelling together might get a bit messy.

SIGN UP ON A GUIDED TOUR
Well, this way you don't have to spend time planning and all you need to do is just make a call or sign up on tours online to Yarra Valley. This is perfect especially when you are planning to go in big groups.

If you are looking to have a guided tour around Yarra Valley and tailored to your needs, head on to Wine Compass to have an exclusive experience of the best wineries and Yarra Valley experience. For you wine lovers out there, you will be able to get more in depth information, meet top winemakers and premium wine testing. For those who are planning a weekend vacation but do not want hassle with the planning and transportation, they are here to help you with that. They provide different kind of tours which include private & social tours, foodie and wine, corporate tours, and Christmas parties. You can check out their webpage at this link.

Either ways, I had to plan the trip myself and made it there with my friends and family. I still had a great time although we did get lost a couple on time. But here are the top few spots that I visited there.

Yering Station

First stop was at Yering Station, Victoria first vineyard in 1838, also the oldest vineyard there. To know the history of this place, just head on to their webpage Yering Station ! As you can see, I had a gloomy sky as my background and a wet floor. I was so dissapointed with the weather that but that didn't stop me from exploring. We still had our umbrella so we took a walk around that area. 

They had a beautiful garden, with lots of pretty flowers and also a historical and modern building right beside the vine cellar. 

 Us trying to take a photo but the umbrellas are making it hard for us. The guy in the photo was the birthday boy. Even the gloomy weather can't stop him from smiling. He is one of the most cheerful and amazing friend you can have! With him around, there is so much more laughter because of the things he say!

The pathway to Eleonores Restaurant and Sweetwater Cafe which is the photo below. We thought of grabbing lunch here but the cafe was close on that day. However, it would be a shame to not get a photo of this pretty building. It look kind of run down especially the roof but the interior was really a classic interior design. Manage to peep through the window. hehehehehe. 

After exploring the place, we decided to head back to the cellar to do some wine tasting. 

 Wine Cellar 

 Snack, Jam, Sweets are all sold here as well. 

 Wine Tasting Area

Definitely did not left empty handed, got myself a bottle of wine. 

The five of us actually decided to be thick skinned people. Our initial plan was to taste as many wine as possible and not buy any. Trust me, it went the opposite way. We not only did not taste all of the wine but all of us bought one bottle there. We were really hungry as well but we couldnt find any dining place. The only one they had was like a fine dining restaurant which was super pricy. We then decided to head to the nearest town, which is Yarra Glen and ended up eating fried rice. Lesson learnt on a road trip : Bring along snacks and also at least pack sandwiches in case we can't find a place to eat.

Address :
38 Melba Hwy, Yarra Glen VIC 3775, Australia

Domaine Chandon

Domaine Chandon is one of the most popular spot for wine tasting and apparently, their wine are pretty good. I brought my family to visit and my dad to do some wine tasting. Here in Chandon, you need to pay for the wine testing but at a pretty decent price. I can't remember how much it was but I think it was 15AUD for 6 different type of wine.  This time round it was a sunny day and the view was amazing. You really get the blue sky and green grass, gives you the New Zealand feel. 

One of the thing that differentiate Chandon from the other wineries is the FREE tour to their winery factory where they will explain how wine are made and the equipments used in the process. I was kind of busy touring around so I did not really took many photos but here goes... the few that I've got

Definitely one of my favourite place in Yarra Valley for the view and also be able to learn more about making wine. 

Address : 

727 Maroondah Hwy, Coldstream VIC 3770, Australia

Yarra Valley Dairy

Apart for the wine, there are places that do not involve alcohol. One of these places is the Yarra Valley Dairy, a handmade farmhouse cheese of all sorts. The cheese shop is located right beside the cheese factory, ya know these cheese are freshly made for sure. The famous thing to order is the cheese platter with four different cheese and strawberry jam. They would also provide you different kind of bread for you to eat it with the cheese. 

You'll find this cow greeting you the moment you walked into the cheese shop...

The whole cheese platter would be able to feed at least four people costing you 32AUD. For cheese lover out there, its definitely a place to visit when you are there. I wasn't really a cheese person but I did enjoy it except for the blue cheese, was never my favourite. 

Address : 

70-80 Mcmeikans Rd, Yering VIC 3770, Australia

Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery

Chocolate lovers, this is totally your go-to place to get the most out of it here. This is by far the most popular place to visit for families as you can bring your kids along but be prepared for the damage that it will do to your wallet. They have a little cafe there where you can get all the cakes and desserts at the same time, if you want lunch, this will do too. One thing about Yarra Valley is that it's really to get nice proper meals and this place is where people would go for lunch. 

And yes, the cafe is really expensive. There's actually a chocolate shop inside where I totally forgot to take photo off and its really pretty. Thats like the best part of the entire place but I wasn't sure where I have no photos of it. Probably because I always head directly for the dessert in the cafe. The ice cream there is pretty good tho. 

By now, if you notice the places look pretty much the place. Everywhere its just really grass but this is really my favourite part of Yarra Valley. The blue blue sky and greens are so soothing to my eyes. Do check the weather before going out for a road trip. Otherwise, you pretty much end up with the first few gloomy photos when I was there during Autumn. 

My safest bet is to go during Spring and Summer when there is a lot of sun. Best time would be Spring as it would not be too hot as well. Overall, Yarra Valley is a road trip destination for nice suburb scenery and winery in Victoria. These are the top four places I would say to go if you are going for a one day trip and I think it pretty much cover a lot of the place. People usually only go there till evening and will make it back to the city for dinner as it gets really hard to drive on the road without any light. 

I visited here in 2015 but never really got to note it down until now. I am a lazy bump but I DID IT! I think the best place to keep my travel experience is here although I am not much of a writer. Really hate writing but I don't want to forget the place I've been too. 

"Enjoy life's beautiful scenery"

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