Today's the day. It's over after a long drive.
We left Ouyen to make the long drive back to Jindabyne. It's been raining all day and is actually pretty fitting and making the drive easier because it's not making us want to stay anywhere along the way. We did make a stop at another winery so that we could get some presents for people, but it didn't last long.
The drive was both boring and incredible. Once we got to the final stretch, I was breath-taken by the beauty of the mountains that I've spent the whole winter surrounded by. I had no idea that the backside of the mountain range was so beautiful. It was really foggy just above the valleys, so when we were going through the pass, it seemed we were on top of the world. The rain was falling and the eucalyptus trees were so green, it was like a magical rain forest. And the smell....the eucalyptus in the rain made the car smell like a massage room.
The drive seemed to take forever because we were so close to Jindy, but the switch-backs made it take 3 times as long. We finally made it back to Matt's house and now I am exhausted. It's good to stand up and move around in a house, but I am already missing the van....
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
November 18th….A random stop at the zoo….
Today we loved waking up in the hotel! My usual 3am intermission was spent watching TV instead of listening for mice and freaking out about every noise I hear. I took my time getting ready, as you do when you haven’t had many proper showers for over a month. We pre-made lunch and packed it away, with the intentions of not stopping until we couldn’t stand it anymore.
We got on the road and out of Adelaide via Hahndorf, a small German town with lots of shopping and chocolate. We didn’t spend much time there since we are out of money, but the drive this morning and last night have sure done a lot to renew our idea of what kind of city Adelaide is. I actually very much enjoy the place and think it’s a really cool city where I wish I could spend more time (as opposed to the boring city we discovered the first time around). I’m pretty glad we went out of our way to see it again.
Now we’re on a new track. Instead of going back to Jindabyne via Canberra and coming in from the north, we are following the Murray River and coming through the mountain pass and in from the south. It’ll actually be a more scenic drive and a route I’ve never been.
So, after Hahndorf we got on the Princess Highway and went through a town called Monarto and saw a sign for the Monarto zoo. This sparked my curiosity so we exited and went to check out the place. Good thing because today was amazing. The zoo is on 2500 acres of land and is an open-plains zoo with animals from all over the world roaming freely (basically). We went on a sort of safari through the African section and got to pet the rhinos and feed the giraffes. It was a good detour from what was supposed to be a very long and boring day, but it has set us back a day from our estimated arrival back to Jindy. No worries.
We have made plans this weekend to camp on the lake and have a massive lake weekend, bringing out all the toys. It should be so freaking fun. I can’t wait. You’d think we’d have enough of camping by now!
Animal death count….
Birds: 7+
Snakes: 2
Lizards: hard to tell
Kangaroos: 1
Mice: 2
Kilometers: 258,888 woah.
We got on the road and out of Adelaide via Hahndorf, a small German town with lots of shopping and chocolate. We didn’t spend much time there since we are out of money, but the drive this morning and last night have sure done a lot to renew our idea of what kind of city Adelaide is. I actually very much enjoy the place and think it’s a really cool city where I wish I could spend more time (as opposed to the boring city we discovered the first time around). I’m pretty glad we went out of our way to see it again.
Now we’re on a new track. Instead of going back to Jindabyne via Canberra and coming in from the north, we are following the Murray River and coming through the mountain pass and in from the south. It’ll actually be a more scenic drive and a route I’ve never been.
So, after Hahndorf we got on the Princess Highway and went through a town called Monarto and saw a sign for the Monarto zoo. This sparked my curiosity so we exited and went to check out the place. Good thing because today was amazing. The zoo is on 2500 acres of land and is an open-plains zoo with animals from all over the world roaming freely (basically). We went on a sort of safari through the African section and got to pet the rhinos and feed the giraffes. It was a good detour from what was supposed to be a very long and boring day, but it has set us back a day from our estimated arrival back to Jindy. No worries.
We have made plans this weekend to camp on the lake and have a massive lake weekend, bringing out all the toys. It should be so freaking fun. I can’t wait. You’d think we’d have enough of camping by now!
Animal death count….
Birds: 7+
Snakes: 2
Lizards: hard to tell
Kangaroos: 1
Mice: 2
Kilometers: 258,888 woah.
November 17th…..Driving. What’s new?
We drove from Steaky Bay to Adelaide. Not much to report on other than a lot of crossword puzzles, some pretty boring scenery and a night in a hotel! I had a bout of van-loathing and wanted to sleep on a mattress and take a good shower. I also needed a bit of world news in my system, so I bought us a CHEAP hotel room. We got what we paid for, but it was nice to stand up in the same space we laid our heads.
November 16th….Finished the Nullarbor for the 2nd time!!!!
Madura to Streaky Bay. Back to the same place we stayed before where we saw the rays and the tide was so low we could walk out to the middle. We were hoping for a nice day to get in some swimming after the LOOOONG drive across that stinking plain, but it was freezing. It was the next best thing though.
The second drive across the Nullarbor Plain wasn’t too hard either. It really gets incredibly repetitive and you start to lose your mind just a bit, but it’s not as burly as some may think. It probably helped a bit that we broke it up into 2 days, but there was a lot more traffic this time…and fewer animals! I also got to sleep a lot more than I did the first time, since Matt made me get up at 6am to start driving. So early….
As I was saying, Streaky Bay was really cold this time. It was a bit weird to spend the day sweating and then step out of the car and immediately put on a hoodie and pants. Not what I expected.
We went to the grocery store to finally restock our fruit and veggies. We went nuts and spent more money than we should have. Shortly after we left, we were looking at the map and realized there was another quarantine check point just inside New South Wales and we’ll probably end up having to eat more than we can handle or throw most of it away. Bummer. I guess if that’s my biggest concern right now, then I’m not doing too bad.
The second drive across the Nullarbor Plain wasn’t too hard either. It really gets incredibly repetitive and you start to lose your mind just a bit, but it’s not as burly as some may think. It probably helped a bit that we broke it up into 2 days, but there was a lot more traffic this time…and fewer animals! I also got to sleep a lot more than I did the first time, since Matt made me get up at 6am to start driving. So early….
As I was saying, Streaky Bay was really cold this time. It was a bit weird to spend the day sweating and then step out of the car and immediately put on a hoodie and pants. Not what I expected.
We went to the grocery store to finally restock our fruit and veggies. We went nuts and spent more money than we should have. Shortly after we left, we were looking at the map and realized there was another quarantine check point just inside New South Wales and we’ll probably end up having to eat more than we can handle or throw most of it away. Bummer. I guess if that’s my biggest concern right now, then I’m not doing too bad.
November 15th…..Rain, rain go away…..
No swimming at Lucky Bay today. It was raining and windy and cold. Back to the drive. We took the scenic route out of Esperance up to Norseman and had lunch at a park then it was back at the ever-dreadful Nullarbor. We wanted to try to do just the first hour or so tonight and finish tomorrow, but we have a tendency to just keep driving and driving. We ended up doing about twice as much as we thought and crashed out at a caravan park in a town called Madura, just one of the small towns on the Eyre Highway. Nothing too impressive, except I made Mexican food for dinner. Ha. Early to bed and hopefully early to rise!
November 14th…..From the Shire of York to the beautiful town of Esperance….
We left the lovely people of York and made our way to a town called Hyden.
In Hyden there is a really big rock wall and it looks like a wave. It’s called Wave Rock. Hmmm…. They wanted $10 to get in to see it, but you were meant to stop at the shop and pay it. So we didn’t stay long because we didn’t want to pay nor did we want to get caught. We only got out to take a couple pictures and then took off again.
We wanted to head back to Lucky Bay to do some swimming since it was too nasty last time we were there. Our drive to Esperance was pretty normal, but this time we were going through dense forest, which is a change of pace from the ocean scene we’ve been following across. Esperance was cold and expensive, so we took the scenic drive around the town and found ourselves in a whole new place, way different from last time we were here. The beaches were so beautiful and there were tons of islands just off the shore. We climbed this hill and sat up on the top to watch the crazy sunset over the rocky shores. It was picture-perfect and was another one of those moments in my life where I take a deep breath, ground myself and remember how lucky I am. I tried to spend some time talking to my grandpa, but the tears started flowing and I was brought back to earth.
We discussed getting a hotel room for a good night’s sleep, but didn’t want to spend the amount they were all asking, so we ended up at a caravan park several hours after it was closed. We parked the van in the parking lot and stayed there. Yay, free accommodation!!!
In Hyden there is a really big rock wall and it looks like a wave. It’s called Wave Rock. Hmmm…. They wanted $10 to get in to see it, but you were meant to stop at the shop and pay it. So we didn’t stay long because we didn’t want to pay nor did we want to get caught. We only got out to take a couple pictures and then took off again.
We wanted to head back to Lucky Bay to do some swimming since it was too nasty last time we were there. Our drive to Esperance was pretty normal, but this time we were going through dense forest, which is a change of pace from the ocean scene we’ve been following across. Esperance was cold and expensive, so we took the scenic drive around the town and found ourselves in a whole new place, way different from last time we were here. The beaches were so beautiful and there were tons of islands just off the shore. We climbed this hill and sat up on the top to watch the crazy sunset over the rocky shores. It was picture-perfect and was another one of those moments in my life where I take a deep breath, ground myself and remember how lucky I am. I tried to spend some time talking to my grandpa, but the tears started flowing and I was brought back to earth.
We discussed getting a hotel room for a good night’s sleep, but didn’t want to spend the amount they were all asking, so we ended up at a caravan park several hours after it was closed. We parked the van in the parking lot and stayed there. Yay, free accommodation!!!
November 13th…..Rottnest Island. Quokka spot.....
We took a ferry out to a small island just off Perth, called Rottnest Island. The island is only 11 kilometers by 5 kilometers and is an easy day of bike exploring. We rented some bikes and snorkel gear and went for a ride to find a nice place to post ourselves for the day. We picked a cool name on the map and it could not have been any better! We had the entire beach to ourselves!!!! It was so serene and the water was see-through turquoise as far as the eye could see. For some reason all the other beaches were packed and there was no one on this one! It was a bit of a hike on sand dunes to get to, but so, so, so worth the extra effort. We spent the day snorkeling, swimming and lying in the sun. We saw a stingray and a bunch of fish. It was cool to see a completely different type of reef. The Great Barrier was all hard coral and was pretty much a big rock in the ocean, but here it was all soft coral and seaweed.
Once, while Matt was out swimming around the bend and I had the beach to myself, I burnt my cheeks and am now regretting it. It hurts to sit down. Ouch!
Rottnest is the home to a rare marsupial called the quokka. They are little animals that almost look like a cross between a rat and a kangaroo. They are everywhere on the island and some even climb on you…obviously the ones near the restaurants. They are cute until they get on you and then they are a bit creepy, but it was neat to see such a rare species of animal.
The bike ride took us around the island and around every corner was something new and spectacular. There were about 10 shipwrecks around the island and we took a glass bottom boat to see 2 of them. There were also a couple sticking out of the water that you could see from the shore. Unfortunately all the ones you were allowed to snorkel on were packed with people or on the east side of the island where the waves were too big to brave. I guess it’s OK since we had a beach to ourselves….
After Rottnest we drove to a town called York and stayed the night at a caravan park. The people who ran the caravan park were the nicest people we have come across so far and even said it was a pleasure having us stay there. Ha. Pretty funny since we came in two hours after they closed and took them away from whatever they were doing. We’re exhausted and should sleep well tonight.
Once, while Matt was out swimming around the bend and I had the beach to myself, I burnt my cheeks and am now regretting it. It hurts to sit down. Ouch!
Rottnest is the home to a rare marsupial called the quokka. They are little animals that almost look like a cross between a rat and a kangaroo. They are everywhere on the island and some even climb on you…obviously the ones near the restaurants. They are cute until they get on you and then they are a bit creepy, but it was neat to see such a rare species of animal.
The bike ride took us around the island and around every corner was something new and spectacular. There were about 10 shipwrecks around the island and we took a glass bottom boat to see 2 of them. There were also a couple sticking out of the water that you could see from the shore. Unfortunately all the ones you were allowed to snorkel on were packed with people or on the east side of the island where the waves were too big to brave. I guess it’s OK since we had a beach to ourselves….
After Rottnest we drove to a town called York and stayed the night at a caravan park. The people who ran the caravan park were the nicest people we have come across so far and even said it was a pleasure having us stay there. Ha. Pretty funny since we came in two hours after they closed and took them away from whatever they were doing. We’re exhausted and should sleep well tonight.
November 12th....Spent the day in prison....
We made a list on our travels of all the things that we wanted to make sure we did on the way back through. This list included things like taking pictures of various signs, giving Adelaide a second chance, seeing tourist attractions, watching a sunset from the west coast and visiting Fremantle Prison. Today we not only got to erase one of these, we destroyed it. We spent an entire day there!
We found out that there were 4 different types of tours and each cost $25-50 a piece. We really wanted to do them all, so we called them up and asked if there was a special price for all four. Lucky for us, it was only $100 to do them all. They laughed at us for asking if we could do them all in one day, but we insisted and they scheduled us in for an entire day of tours.
The first tour was the history tour. Here we learned that Fremantle prison was a convict prison from the early 1800s and became a maximum-security prison until 1991 when they had to shut down for sanitary reasons. I feel like I could go on all day about the history of this place, but I won’t bore you too much. I will tell you, though, that in Australia convicts are the first settlers…the ones who were sent over from England to Australia for committing various crimes…usually stealing things like bread and butter from their neighbors, etc. And the sanitary reasons are because there was never any running water or plumbing in the building. Until 1991!!!!! They were using the bathroom in a bucket that they shared with their cellmate!!!! Gross!?!?!?! So we learned about the place, from top to bottom and left to right. We heard all the stories and the typical prison scenarios. (Another Internet research if you’re that interested.)
The second tour was called Great Escapes and we learned about all the successful and unsuccessful attempts to escape. There was a guy who took off all of his clothes and tied them around the barbed wire fence to protect his body from cuts, but he was busted and his clothes are still there from 60 years ago. There was another guy who got over the walls and into his escape car. When he got to his friend’s house, he decided that he wanted to go to the pub since it had been four years since he’d had a drink. As you can imagine, he got wasted and ended up getting pulled over for public intoxication. The town police fingerprinted him since he had no ID and his address was Fremantle Prison. They called up the prison who searched and found what looked like a body in his bed (actually his clothes and shoes under the blankets) and said that it wasn’t him. The city police decided to keep him overnight since he was so drunk and would let him go in the morning. However, the next morning the prison realized that the guy hadn’t shown up for his duties and called them back. He was nearly free!
This tour also told us about the Catalpa, a ship that brought some Fenians to freedom in America. The successful escapee who rescued them was named O’Reilly. I really did hear the story, but will butcher any facts, so look it up if you want. Basically O’Reilly escaped from Fremantle and started a life in Boston. A few years later he came up with a big plan to rescue some of his friends. It’s pretty interesting stuff if you have a minute.
The third tour was of an underground tunnel system that was built by the prisoners when Fremantle was first inhabited. After about three years the people of Fremantle had wiped themselves out of fresh water. They found a table of rainwater just under the prison, so they forced the prisoners to dig 75-feet below ground and build a tunnel system to provide water for the entire town. The tunnels still exist today. We climbed a well 75 feet into the ground and, armed with headlamps and hard hats, made our way through the 1 kilometer tunnel grid all but crawling on all fours. A lot of the tunnel is still waist-deep water, so we got into 2-man boats and paddled our way through the rest of the place. It was so cool to think that we were that far underground in boats! It was pitch-black, too. At one point we were told to turn off our headlamps and enjoy the complete darkness. You couldn’t even see your hand directly in front of your face and for the most part, this is how the tunnels were built. It was such a cool thing to do and something you’d never think to do at all.
The fourth tour was at night and was the ghost tour. Apparently the prison is the third most haunted building in Australia. There are a million ghost stories coming out of the place and they have a whole tour geared towards it. Unfortunately we didn’t encounter any ghosts, but they do a good job of scaring you anyway. They even took us to the gallows where over 100 people were hanged. It was such a dingy smell and they guy said it was the smell of death. Creepy, huh? He had 100 other stories along the way, too. And I promise you there are orbs in our pictures. Not sure what to think about that….
In between the tours we had lunch and dinner and did some shopping for a few things we needed. We didn’t really spend 24 hours there, but close.
We rode our bikes back to the caravan park and are ready to crash out. Tomorrow is an early morning to Rottnest Island!
We found out that there were 4 different types of tours and each cost $25-50 a piece. We really wanted to do them all, so we called them up and asked if there was a special price for all four. Lucky for us, it was only $100 to do them all. They laughed at us for asking if we could do them all in one day, but we insisted and they scheduled us in for an entire day of tours.
The first tour was the history tour. Here we learned that Fremantle prison was a convict prison from the early 1800s and became a maximum-security prison until 1991 when they had to shut down for sanitary reasons. I feel like I could go on all day about the history of this place, but I won’t bore you too much. I will tell you, though, that in Australia convicts are the first settlers…the ones who were sent over from England to Australia for committing various crimes…usually stealing things like bread and butter from their neighbors, etc. And the sanitary reasons are because there was never any running water or plumbing in the building. Until 1991!!!!! They were using the bathroom in a bucket that they shared with their cellmate!!!! Gross!?!?!?! So we learned about the place, from top to bottom and left to right. We heard all the stories and the typical prison scenarios. (Another Internet research if you’re that interested.)
The second tour was called Great Escapes and we learned about all the successful and unsuccessful attempts to escape. There was a guy who took off all of his clothes and tied them around the barbed wire fence to protect his body from cuts, but he was busted and his clothes are still there from 60 years ago. There was another guy who got over the walls and into his escape car. When he got to his friend’s house, he decided that he wanted to go to the pub since it had been four years since he’d had a drink. As you can imagine, he got wasted and ended up getting pulled over for public intoxication. The town police fingerprinted him since he had no ID and his address was Fremantle Prison. They called up the prison who searched and found what looked like a body in his bed (actually his clothes and shoes under the blankets) and said that it wasn’t him. The city police decided to keep him overnight since he was so drunk and would let him go in the morning. However, the next morning the prison realized that the guy hadn’t shown up for his duties and called them back. He was nearly free!
This tour also told us about the Catalpa, a ship that brought some Fenians to freedom in America. The successful escapee who rescued them was named O’Reilly. I really did hear the story, but will butcher any facts, so look it up if you want. Basically O’Reilly escaped from Fremantle and started a life in Boston. A few years later he came up with a big plan to rescue some of his friends. It’s pretty interesting stuff if you have a minute.
The third tour was of an underground tunnel system that was built by the prisoners when Fremantle was first inhabited. After about three years the people of Fremantle had wiped themselves out of fresh water. They found a table of rainwater just under the prison, so they forced the prisoners to dig 75-feet below ground and build a tunnel system to provide water for the entire town. The tunnels still exist today. We climbed a well 75 feet into the ground and, armed with headlamps and hard hats, made our way through the 1 kilometer tunnel grid all but crawling on all fours. A lot of the tunnel is still waist-deep water, so we got into 2-man boats and paddled our way through the rest of the place. It was so cool to think that we were that far underground in boats! It was pitch-black, too. At one point we were told to turn off our headlamps and enjoy the complete darkness. You couldn’t even see your hand directly in front of your face and for the most part, this is how the tunnels were built. It was such a cool thing to do and something you’d never think to do at all.
The fourth tour was at night and was the ghost tour. Apparently the prison is the third most haunted building in Australia. There are a million ghost stories coming out of the place and they have a whole tour geared towards it. Unfortunately we didn’t encounter any ghosts, but they do a good job of scaring you anyway. They even took us to the gallows where over 100 people were hanged. It was such a dingy smell and they guy said it was the smell of death. Creepy, huh? He had 100 other stories along the way, too. And I promise you there are orbs in our pictures. Not sure what to think about that….
In between the tours we had lunch and dinner and did some shopping for a few things we needed. We didn’t really spend 24 hours there, but close.
We rode our bikes back to the caravan park and are ready to crash out. Tomorrow is an early morning to Rottnest Island!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Here are the links to my photo albums. I will keep putting them up. You might have to copy and paste.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2237398&l=b48e8&id=20709191
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2231780&l=4d436&id=20709191
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2231780&l=4d436&id=20709191
November 11th….Remembrance Day and the Pinnacles….
Today we kept driving. Surprise! We wanted to make it to Perth/Fremantle by tonight, with a short stop at the Pinnacles. And that’s what we did.
The Pinnacles are these weird rock pillars, a desert full of them, that were formed by limestone deposits in the sand. When the sand eroded or blew away, there were these eerie-looking formations left behind. I can’t explain them any further than that, but you can see pictures. It was a bit creepy, but really cool to see.
Not much more exciting than that today. We bought crosswords to do in the car and have become addicted. I’m surprised I even took the time to write this today!
Oh, and it’s Remembrance Day in Australia. And it’s Veteran’s Day in America. Happy Veteran’s Day America! And I know a few people with birthdays today. Happy Birthday!
Kilometer count: 255,487
The Pinnacles are these weird rock pillars, a desert full of them, that were formed by limestone deposits in the sand. When the sand eroded or blew away, there were these eerie-looking formations left behind. I can’t explain them any further than that, but you can see pictures. It was a bit creepy, but really cool to see.
Not much more exciting than that today. We bought crosswords to do in the car and have become addicted. I’m surprised I even took the time to write this today!
Oh, and it’s Remembrance Day in Australia. And it’s Veteran’s Day in America. Happy Veteran’s Day America! And I know a few people with birthdays today. Happy Birthday!
Kilometer count: 255,487
November 10th…..Another country????.....
YAY!!!! We woke up and went swimming for hours! We swam 35 laps for some exercise and then had a little fun. I love pools! And I love that it was warm enough for us to do that! After we had enough swimming, well enough sun really, we started driving again.
Our purpose of coming back to Kalbarri was to go to a place called Hutt River Province which is technically another country within Australia…a principality. They pride themselves on being the second biggest country on this continent. The prince was sick, but we got the official country tour from Princess Shirley. We exchanged some money since they have their own currency, sent come postcards from their post office and even got our passports stamped. Somehow this family who owned this province found some loopholes in the laws and were able to become their own entity. They even went to war with Australia and won! I can’t even begin to explain how all this happened, but I am pretty sure you can look it up if you are that interested. I don’t want to bore anyone with the technical details. Just know that I have been to a new country! 3 since I left America. Well, 4 really. Woah.
We kept driving down the long, dirt roads and went back to Geraldton because I wanted Subway for dinner. As always. We also wanted to see a movie in the theater since it’s been so long. We got to the small theater and realized just how far out of touch we’ve been because we hadn’t even heard of any of them. We had to have the guy tell us what they were about and decided to just see the comedy. We saw ‘How to Lose Friends and Alienate People’. Please, please, please don’t waste your money. It was so stupid. However, it was pretty good to just hang out in the air conditioning.
Then we got back on the road just to get a bit further. We ended up in Port Denison pretty late and just went to bed. No mice tonight!!!!
Our purpose of coming back to Kalbarri was to go to a place called Hutt River Province which is technically another country within Australia…a principality. They pride themselves on being the second biggest country on this continent. The prince was sick, but we got the official country tour from Princess Shirley. We exchanged some money since they have their own currency, sent come postcards from their post office and even got our passports stamped. Somehow this family who owned this province found some loopholes in the laws and were able to become their own entity. They even went to war with Australia and won! I can’t even begin to explain how all this happened, but I am pretty sure you can look it up if you are that interested. I don’t want to bore anyone with the technical details. Just know that I have been to a new country! 3 since I left America. Well, 4 really. Woah.
We kept driving down the long, dirt roads and went back to Geraldton because I wanted Subway for dinner. As always. We also wanted to see a movie in the theater since it’s been so long. We got to the small theater and realized just how far out of touch we’ve been because we hadn’t even heard of any of them. We had to have the guy tell us what they were about and decided to just see the comedy. We saw ‘How to Lose Friends and Alienate People’. Please, please, please don’t waste your money. It was so stupid. However, it was pretty good to just hang out in the air conditioning.
Then we got back on the road just to get a bit further. We ended up in Port Denison pretty late and just went to bed. No mice tonight!!!!
November 9th……Officially headed back….
All good things must come to an end. We tossed around the idea of traveling a bit further north, but really didn’t like the idea of more money and more hours of driving. You can only handle so much of life stuck in a small van, ya know? Plus, heading north would just mean more snorkeling, and we have a great place in mind for that a bit south of here…Rottnest Island. So, we took off. We spent the day following the World Heritage Trail back to the West Coastal Highway. The whole area of Shark Bay is a World Heritage area that they compare to the likes of the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls and the Great Barrier Reef. There is a lot of crazy wildlife everywhere and plenty of beautiful country to surround. There are even stromatolites which are supposedly the most ancient form of oxygen on the planet. It was pretty incredible to see. We also went to a beach called Shell Beach where the shells are so deep, they cut into the earth and make bricks of them. I can’t explain, but I will put up pictures. The beach was awesome and we saw a lot of sharks and rays. We went to a place called Ocean Park, which is a zoo of sorts, with all the living marine animals from the area. There was a wide variety of species, including marine turtles, sea snakes and sharks. We went to a place called Eagle Buff, which was a lookout over a place with heaps of sharks and dugongs and rays. It was a bit high up, but we saw a lot of life down in the water. Again, pictures are the only explanation I really have.
We drove back into Kalbarri, where we were originally, to stay a night and get some cell phone service since we haven’t had any for days! We wanted to have wine and cheese and olives and crackers on the beach to watch the sunset, so we hopped on our bikes and rode to a lookout. We quickly realized that the clouds were too thick to see the sun, so we headed back to the caravan park and made dinner and hung out in the cool weather for a bit. It’s nice to be cold again, but it also brings back the bugs, so it’s a toss up.
Anyway, the phone calls are coming! Hope you’re all awake by now!!!!!!!!!
Animals killed: Bird count up to 5+, 1 snake, 1 kangaroo, 2 mice
Uncle Eric, if you’re reading this, you have to attest to the difficulties of driving in this country without killing animals. I swear, I am not doing any of this on purpose, but when these animals only see one car an hour, they’re not really adjusted to dodging them….rather, they fly/hop/run right into them. I mean it! Don’t think for a second that I don’t bawl my eyes out every time it happens….
We drove back into Kalbarri, where we were originally, to stay a night and get some cell phone service since we haven’t had any for days! We wanted to have wine and cheese and olives and crackers on the beach to watch the sunset, so we hopped on our bikes and rode to a lookout. We quickly realized that the clouds were too thick to see the sun, so we headed back to the caravan park and made dinner and hung out in the cool weather for a bit. It’s nice to be cold again, but it also brings back the bugs, so it’s a toss up.
Anyway, the phone calls are coming! Hope you’re all awake by now!!!!!!!!!
Animals killed: Bird count up to 5+, 1 snake, 1 kangaroo, 2 mice
Uncle Eric, if you’re reading this, you have to attest to the difficulties of driving in this country without killing animals. I swear, I am not doing any of this on purpose, but when these animals only see one car an hour, they’re not really adjusted to dodging them….rather, they fly/hop/run right into them. I mean it! Don’t think for a second that I don’t bawl my eyes out every time it happens….
November 8th…..Exploring Monkey Mia….
We’re still in Monkey Mia for one more day. Today, being our last, we went on a long hike through the bush around the peninsula. We didn’t see much wildlife other than a plethora of birds, but saw a lot of crazy tracks, including a ton of snakes. I was pretty nervous to say the least. All I know about Australian snakes is that the country is home to the ten deadliest snakes in the world. One snake can kill a person in 15 seconds. Not my idea of a fun way to die.
Needless to say, the trip ended quickly back at the beach, but we were really far from the resort, so it was a long, deserted beach walk back. We chose the ankle-deep water route and ended up just a few feet away from about 30 sharks (all small enough to be in the shallows, don’t worry) and almost every different kind of ray there is. There was a small sand island just off where we were and there was about 300 birds chilling on it. Our noise scared them and we found ourselves in another National Geographic type moment as the swarm of birds flew just above our heads. The noise was incredible. It was so loud and windy. I got some awesome pictures…again.
The reason why there is so much wildlife is because of the concentration of all different species of sea grasses. They claim to have the most sea grass per area and the most variety in the world. It’s done a lot to the formation of the beaches and the snorkeling!
We were hot, and sunburned, when we finally made it back to the resort so we went for a swim in the pool. Then, to warm up since the pool was freezing, we went in the hot tub. Then got back in the pool and then back in the hot tub.
After that game, it was time for a shower and dinner. We had made reservations at the resort’s restaurant, so we got a bit dressed up for once and went all out for the evening. We had the seafood platter and a nice glass of red. We were nearly too full to move and vowed to never eat seafood again. We’ll see how long that lasts. I think I said that last time I ate seafood too. Ha.
Needless to say, the trip ended quickly back at the beach, but we were really far from the resort, so it was a long, deserted beach walk back. We chose the ankle-deep water route and ended up just a few feet away from about 30 sharks (all small enough to be in the shallows, don’t worry) and almost every different kind of ray there is. There was a small sand island just off where we were and there was about 300 birds chilling on it. Our noise scared them and we found ourselves in another National Geographic type moment as the swarm of birds flew just above our heads. The noise was incredible. It was so loud and windy. I got some awesome pictures…again.
The reason why there is so much wildlife is because of the concentration of all different species of sea grasses. They claim to have the most sea grass per area and the most variety in the world. It’s done a lot to the formation of the beaches and the snorkeling!
We were hot, and sunburned, when we finally made it back to the resort so we went for a swim in the pool. Then, to warm up since the pool was freezing, we went in the hot tub. Then got back in the pool and then back in the hot tub.
After that game, it was time for a shower and dinner. We had made reservations at the resort’s restaurant, so we got a bit dressed up for once and went all out for the evening. We had the seafood platter and a nice glass of red. We were nearly too full to move and vowed to never eat seafood again. We’ll see how long that lasts. I think I said that last time I ate seafood too. Ha.
November 7th…..Sundown Cruising…..
Today we woke up and were a bit late for the early morning dolphin feeding, so we caught the second one a bit later. We sat on the wharf and there were a couple of lively dolphins just off the end, so we got a good view of the action and got some really good pictures.
The reason for waking up late, which I nearly forgot to tell you, was because we had ANOTHER MOUSE!!!!!!!! I woke up to our pots and pans banging. I freaked out and laid there for a few minutes before I heard some mouse noises, screamed, woke Matt up and made him listen. It wasn’t 30 seconds later and we heard something run across the bed. Luckily it was dark or I might have jumped out the window. I made Matt get up and set the traps. About 5 minutes later we heard a snap and the thing was caught by the neck. I hate having them around, but I always feel guilty when I see them in the trap. Good thing this one went quickly and didn’t scream like the last one. MEE, MEE, MEE, MEE!!!! Hey, does anyone know if mice can tell that there has been another mouse in the same place before? It seems strange that we have had two and there are caravans everywhere around us all the time! We make a point not to leave any food out, so it can’t be that…
After that we went for a run. Matt has to do this beep test to train for the fire brigade, so I tried to do it with him…unsuccessfully. It’s a test that beeps at different intervals and you have to keep up with it in between this 20-meter span. It’s hard to explain and even harder to do. Then we played tennis and did some serious stretching before lounging on the beach for an hour or so.
At about 6, we went on a sunset cruise on the same boat we went on yesterday. It was free with the purchase of yesterday’s cruise. It was quite pleasant really, and we saw some more wildlife.
When we got back, we had an hour to have dinner before we had to meet up to do an astronomy tour. The main skipper of the boat we went on has been sailing for nearly 40 years and is a self-taught cosmologist. It’s pretty cool to learn about the stars and the universe from someone who only knows it because of the need for direction on the high seas. It beats someone learning it in school, I’d say. He was full of information, but made it understandable for all of us. We were provided with binoculars and could see all the craters on the moon and all of Jupiter’s moons. It was a pretty nerdy night, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
That finished at about ten and now we’re going to bed!!!! It’s way past my bedtime!
The reason for waking up late, which I nearly forgot to tell you, was because we had ANOTHER MOUSE!!!!!!!! I woke up to our pots and pans banging. I freaked out and laid there for a few minutes before I heard some mouse noises, screamed, woke Matt up and made him listen. It wasn’t 30 seconds later and we heard something run across the bed. Luckily it was dark or I might have jumped out the window. I made Matt get up and set the traps. About 5 minutes later we heard a snap and the thing was caught by the neck. I hate having them around, but I always feel guilty when I see them in the trap. Good thing this one went quickly and didn’t scream like the last one. MEE, MEE, MEE, MEE!!!! Hey, does anyone know if mice can tell that there has been another mouse in the same place before? It seems strange that we have had two and there are caravans everywhere around us all the time! We make a point not to leave any food out, so it can’t be that…
After that we went for a run. Matt has to do this beep test to train for the fire brigade, so I tried to do it with him…unsuccessfully. It’s a test that beeps at different intervals and you have to keep up with it in between this 20-meter span. It’s hard to explain and even harder to do. Then we played tennis and did some serious stretching before lounging on the beach for an hour or so.
At about 6, we went on a sunset cruise on the same boat we went on yesterday. It was free with the purchase of yesterday’s cruise. It was quite pleasant really, and we saw some more wildlife.
When we got back, we had an hour to have dinner before we had to meet up to do an astronomy tour. The main skipper of the boat we went on has been sailing for nearly 40 years and is a self-taught cosmologist. It’s pretty cool to learn about the stars and the universe from someone who only knows it because of the need for direction on the high seas. It beats someone learning it in school, I’d say. He was full of information, but made it understandable for all of us. We were provided with binoculars and could see all the craters on the moon and all of Jupiter’s moons. It was a pretty nerdy night, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
That finished at about ten and now we’re going to bed!!!! It’s way past my bedtime!
November 6th…..Dolphins and Dugongs….
Today WAS a good day. We started the morning playing with dolphins. Who really gets to do that?!?!?! I feel so lucky. The dolphins are wild animals, but they come right up to the knee deep water and rub up against legs, do tricks (tricks to us, a way to feed and breathe and play to them). I never thought I’d get the opportunity to be that close to the beautiful creatures. You aren’t allowed to touch them or reach out to them because they want to keep them wild, but they really do come right up to you and it seems they know just when to pose for the best pictures. They are so entertaining.
We then went to the booking counter and booked in for a catamaran ride (two for the price of one) and for a thing called Awestronomy which is a chance to learn how the stars help sailors navigate.
Since we had the afternoon to explore before we went on the boat, we headed in to the main town in the area, called Denham. We did a bit of shopping there because Matt needed some boardies and I wanted to get a sun hat. On our way back we went to a place called Little Lagoon which is an ocean-made lake that is real shallow and full of life. You could nearly drive all the way around it on the beach…luckily I was driving!!!!
Shortly after we got back, we hopped on the boat and braved the nasty weather to see some of the area’s wildlife. The skipper said that it was the worst weather he’d seen in a long time and we were all freezing and the sails were going everywhere! It was exciting. We ended up seeing dugongs, turtles, dolphins and sea snakes. I found out that dugongs and manatees are actually two different creatures, but are cousins. They look nearly identical, but dugongs are a bit smaller and brown instead of gray. Oh, and they live only in salt water, where manatees enjoy the inlets that are a mixture of salt and fresh waters.
On the boat, I was chosen to crank up the sail with another girl named Julie, from Canada. We hit it off and became pretty good friends for the next couple of days before she left. Her travels put mine to shame so we had a lot to talk about.
I enjoyed most of the ride on the net that hung over the water, looking below the boat at the wildlife just underneath. It was a cool view, but I ended up pretty wet.
When the boat ride was over, we were freezing, so the hot tub was priority. It was good to warm up our bones before dinner and relaxation started.
We’ve been on a Seinfeld kick, mostly because that’s really all we brought on DVD, so we spend most of our nights away from the mosquitoes in our warm bed watching Seinfeld episodes. It’s a nice little piece of comfort that makes it feel like we really do have a bit of civilization in our bodies.
We then went to the booking counter and booked in for a catamaran ride (two for the price of one) and for a thing called Awestronomy which is a chance to learn how the stars help sailors navigate.
Since we had the afternoon to explore before we went on the boat, we headed in to the main town in the area, called Denham. We did a bit of shopping there because Matt needed some boardies and I wanted to get a sun hat. On our way back we went to a place called Little Lagoon which is an ocean-made lake that is real shallow and full of life. You could nearly drive all the way around it on the beach…luckily I was driving!!!!
Shortly after we got back, we hopped on the boat and braved the nasty weather to see some of the area’s wildlife. The skipper said that it was the worst weather he’d seen in a long time and we were all freezing and the sails were going everywhere! It was exciting. We ended up seeing dugongs, turtles, dolphins and sea snakes. I found out that dugongs and manatees are actually two different creatures, but are cousins. They look nearly identical, but dugongs are a bit smaller and brown instead of gray. Oh, and they live only in salt water, where manatees enjoy the inlets that are a mixture of salt and fresh waters.
On the boat, I was chosen to crank up the sail with another girl named Julie, from Canada. We hit it off and became pretty good friends for the next couple of days before she left. Her travels put mine to shame so we had a lot to talk about.
I enjoyed most of the ride on the net that hung over the water, looking below the boat at the wildlife just underneath. It was a cool view, but I ended up pretty wet.
When the boat ride was over, we were freezing, so the hot tub was priority. It was good to warm up our bones before dinner and relaxation started.
We’ve been on a Seinfeld kick, mostly because that’s really all we brought on DVD, so we spend most of our nights away from the mosquitoes in our warm bed watching Seinfeld episodes. It’s a nice little piece of comfort that makes it feel like we really do have a bit of civilization in our bodies.
November 5th….America Votes while I submerse myself deep in rural Australia….
First thought upon waking up today: “TV, TV, TV, TV….gotta watch the elections!” Nope. Not a chance. We woke up and I tried calling every single person whose number I knew in America, but no one answered. I FINALLY talked to my mom about an hour later and she barely had any news, so we went to the beach to watch a pelican feeding. It was pretty funny to see such large birds interact with humans.
Since we didn’t want to go the pub at 9 in the morning (it was the only place in town with a public TV), we got on the road to see if we couldn’t make it to the next destination before the decision was made. We are only traveling this way once, so of course we had some stops to make along the way.
Through the procrastination and since the new destination, Monkey Mia, was so far away, we missed every bit of it. I caught about the last 2 minutes of Obama’s acceptance speech on a very static-filled radio station just as we were pulling into town. I lost all cell phone reception and radio for over 4 hours. Not the best of my days, I must say….
We got to Shark Bay though, and by far this is the best place we’ve been. It’s heaven, really. The water is aquamarine just like the crayon! There are dolphins all over the place and whales and sharks and turtles and manatees (which they call dugongs…HA!). We drove through some cool towns and made it to Monkey Mia where the dolphins come to shore and play with the humans every morning. Should be a good morning tomorrow!
We spent the afternoon relaxing and exploring the resort, had some dinner and watched the sunset on the beach. We watched the dolphins playing just out from where we were sitting and there must’ve been 20 of them. I swear I cannot explain how cool this place is. I guess I will have to put up a bunch of pictures….are you guys even looking at them? Does anyone even read this?!?!?!
Going to bed now….tomorrow will be good.
Oh, and Obama wins! Way to go America!!!! I believe today was the biggest day of my life. I am anxious to see what the next 4 years bring!!!! I am pretty impressed with both speeches made…at least the last 2 minutes of Obama’s and all of McCain’s. And Indiana?!?!?! WOAH! Ok, this isn’t a political platform….good night.
Since we didn’t want to go the pub at 9 in the morning (it was the only place in town with a public TV), we got on the road to see if we couldn’t make it to the next destination before the decision was made. We are only traveling this way once, so of course we had some stops to make along the way.
Through the procrastination and since the new destination, Monkey Mia, was so far away, we missed every bit of it. I caught about the last 2 minutes of Obama’s acceptance speech on a very static-filled radio station just as we were pulling into town. I lost all cell phone reception and radio for over 4 hours. Not the best of my days, I must say….
We got to Shark Bay though, and by far this is the best place we’ve been. It’s heaven, really. The water is aquamarine just like the crayon! There are dolphins all over the place and whales and sharks and turtles and manatees (which they call dugongs…HA!). We drove through some cool towns and made it to Monkey Mia where the dolphins come to shore and play with the humans every morning. Should be a good morning tomorrow!
We spent the afternoon relaxing and exploring the resort, had some dinner and watched the sunset on the beach. We watched the dolphins playing just out from where we were sitting and there must’ve been 20 of them. I swear I cannot explain how cool this place is. I guess I will have to put up a bunch of pictures….are you guys even looking at them? Does anyone even read this?!?!?!
Going to bed now….tomorrow will be good.
Oh, and Obama wins! Way to go America!!!! I believe today was the biggest day of my life. I am anxious to see what the next 4 years bring!!!! I am pretty impressed with both speeches made…at least the last 2 minutes of Obama’s and all of McCain’s. And Indiana?!?!?! WOAH! Ok, this isn’t a political platform….good night.
November 4th…The race that stops the nation….
Today is the Melbourne Cup. I guess it’s a pretty big horse race and the entire nation gets in to it. There are dress-up parties where the women wear the fancy dresses with the big hats. Everyone goes to the pub for the day decked out in their best clothes. The race only lasts a minute or so, but it truly is called ‘the race that stops the nation.’
We were driving for it. All day, in fact. It was raining and cold and, well, we live in a van and don’t own anything that fancy, so we just kept driving. We left Fremantle, went up through Perth, had lunch in Geraldton and ended up in Kalbarri, a small beach town (aren’t they all?) that has a whole bunch of stuff to do. We explored for a while, drove by the pub to see all the fancy ladies and then went back to our van and had dinner at the caravan park. The race didn’t stop us!
So, I have officially declared this summer the summer of bare feet. Pretty much nowhere in Australia requires shoes…grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, malls, aquariums, etc., etc., etc. I decided that since it’ll probably be the only time in my life that I will have this luxury, I am going to live it up! It’s quite liberating, but also a bit painful so far….I will keep you updated.
We were driving for it. All day, in fact. It was raining and cold and, well, we live in a van and don’t own anything that fancy, so we just kept driving. We left Fremantle, went up through Perth, had lunch in Geraldton and ended up in Kalbarri, a small beach town (aren’t they all?) that has a whole bunch of stuff to do. We explored for a while, drove by the pub to see all the fancy ladies and then went back to our van and had dinner at the caravan park. The race didn’t stop us!
So, I have officially declared this summer the summer of bare feet. Pretty much nowhere in Australia requires shoes…grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, malls, aquariums, etc., etc., etc. I decided that since it’ll probably be the only time in my life that I will have this luxury, I am going to live it up! It’s quite liberating, but also a bit painful so far….I will keep you updated.
November 3rd…..Exploring Fremantle….
We had to soak up a bit of the hotel, right? So we spent a few hours lounging around, catching up on the news, sleeping in and taking nice, long showers. We decided that since it wasn’t a very nice day, that we’d head to the AQWA…the Aquarium of Western Australia. It’s pretty good that we did, because it was really educational and had some pretty good displays, including an underwater moving tunnel with a tank full of sharks and massive rays. There was also a seal tank and a few touch tanks around. It was a good way to spend the day.
When we left the aquarium, the sun was finally coming out so we went to the most popular beach in Perth, Cottelsoe. It wasn’t warm enough for us to do any swimming or lying in the sun, so we didn’t stay long…just long enough to notice that the café and visitors center right on the water was called Indiana. I about lost it.
From there, we went to Fremantle, which I think is a lot better than Perth, with more culture and a more relaxed vibe. We went to the Little Creatures brewery and had a couple of beers and some really good food. Little Creatures is about the most American beer I can find, with a really tasty IPA.
The only problem with Fremantle is that it smells a bit like pee. We were so grossed out by it for hours, until we went down to the wharf and realized it was because a HUGE ship had pulled into port and it was full of livestock. The smell of the ship affected the entire city it was that big.
We did a bit more exploring and then ended up at the caravan park for the night. It’s cold!!!!
When we left the aquarium, the sun was finally coming out so we went to the most popular beach in Perth, Cottelsoe. It wasn’t warm enough for us to do any swimming or lying in the sun, so we didn’t stay long…just long enough to notice that the café and visitors center right on the water was called Indiana. I about lost it.
From there, we went to Fremantle, which I think is a lot better than Perth, with more culture and a more relaxed vibe. We went to the Little Creatures brewery and had a couple of beers and some really good food. Little Creatures is about the most American beer I can find, with a really tasty IPA.
The only problem with Fremantle is that it smells a bit like pee. We were so grossed out by it for hours, until we went down to the wharf and realized it was because a HUGE ship had pulled into port and it was full of livestock. The smell of the ship affected the entire city it was that big.
We did a bit more exploring and then ended up at the caravan park for the night. It’s cold!!!!
November 2nd…..Red Bull Air Race
It’s race day! We woke up and headed straight to the bus station to get to the other side of the river where the spectators are actually supposed to sit. We found a nice spot right on the beach, front row and center. The air show started and there were more incredible stunts and crazy things I’d never seen before, including a Qantas 737 fly-by. It was crazy to see such a massive plane flying so low that close to the city.
Right before the race started, some people sat right in front of us and made our great seats a bit worse, so we didn’t stick around too long after the initial race was over. It was way better to see the action from this side of the river, though; the planes were right in front of our faces! One guy, from Austria, became world champion just by qualifying the day before, so everyone had their hopes set on him, but he didn’t win.
Right before the final races, we HAD to get out of the sun because we forgot sunscreen and our skin was frying, so we headed back on the bus and back over to the hotel side to grab some lunch and finish watching the race in the shade.
Once we got back to the hotel room, I realized that I had the worst sunburn shorts I have ever seen! It was hilarious.
We explored the area a bit more, then spent some time in the hotel gym, followed by dinner and some TV (!!!!!). It’s been ages since I’ve seen cable…
Right before the race started, some people sat right in front of us and made our great seats a bit worse, so we didn’t stick around too long after the initial race was over. It was way better to see the action from this side of the river, though; the planes were right in front of our faces! One guy, from Austria, became world champion just by qualifying the day before, so everyone had their hopes set on him, but he didn’t win.
Right before the final races, we HAD to get out of the sun because we forgot sunscreen and our skin was frying, so we headed back on the bus and back over to the hotel side to grab some lunch and finish watching the race in the shade.
Once we got back to the hotel room, I realized that I had the worst sunburn shorts I have ever seen! It was hilarious.
We explored the area a bit more, then spent some time in the hotel gym, followed by dinner and some TV (!!!!!). It’s been ages since I’ve seen cable…
November 1st…..We made it to PERTH!!!
So, we got up pretty early and made it to Perth!!! Destination accomplished! I really never thought I’d see the day, and though it seems it hasn’t taken very long, it seems like forever ago if I think about all the things we’ve done. I am feeling very lucky today, to say the least.
I got to spend the drive up talking to two of my best friends back home, which was so, so, so good. It really helps me to keep going, ya know? Well, maybe you don’t, but to put it lightly, it’s a real boost of my mood to talk to my good friends and feel like we haven’t missed a beat. I always leave on these trips thinking that I will get back and things will be so different and everyone will have forgotten about me or moved on, which is obviously inevitable, but then I talk to people or get home and it seems nothing has really changed much. We are all different people doing different things, but we can still be best friends and still laugh and get real with each other again. Maybe I’m getting too deep here….enough. Just know that I am happy.
We made it to Perth. What a beautiful city! We checked in to our 5-star hotel (yeah, we get to live it up for one weekend!) and enjoyed a couple quick showers in real bathrooms then headed down to the river to watch a bit of the qualifications. Our hotel is right on the river and we can see the course from our room, but we decided to be outside and enjoy the beautiful day. There is only a park between the two and they turned that into the airstrip, so we have an incredible view of the planes.
The Air Race isn’t really very long. It’s a full weekend of events, but the actual racing takes an hour total probably. In the meantime there is an awesome air show and we got to see a bunch of planes do some really cool tricks. It’s been years since I’ve been to an air show…I forgot how exciting they were! The Air Race qualifications were way cool too. It’s so much better to see in person than on TV. They fly so stinking low to the ground and everyone is gasping and cheering the whole time. It was pretty entertaining.
After the race we decided to do some civilized things and go explore the city a bit. We kept reading about this part of the city called Subiaco. It’s meant to be the trendy part of the city with all the shopping, cafes and pubs. We had a pretty bogus map that we must’ve read wrong, so it took us about 10 times longer to get there than it should have. Luckily there were a lot of places to see along the way and we didn’t realize we walked nearly 3 miles! HA! It only should’ve been about one. Pretty good navigators, we are. We walked through a place called King’s Park and I swear it was the town of limos. We must’ve counted about 25 just in this park. There were all types too….Jeeps and old-fashioned ones, an MG one and a Cadillac one, a Mercedes one and a few regular ones. We felt like we were in a movie! Oh, and there were weddings everywhere!!!! I think it must be the day to get married and drive a limo. For real.
Once we got to Subiaco we were shocked at the ghost town in which we found ourselves. There was no one around at all!!!!! We must’ve passed a total of 4 people on the whole street, until we got to the very end and found one open pub that was full of really uppity people too rich for our blood. We walked in, sweaty and exhausted, with backpacks on our backs and flip-flops on our feet. The place was full of girls who looked like they were about to go to prom, with their hair done so perfectly and their high heels to the ceiling and guys who matched the scene. So we grabbed a beer and headed outside on the patio where no one was sitting, except these two older guys who were more our style than this pub’s and we started chatting with them. They were full of questions about America and we had a pretty entertaining conversation with them. We all hit it off really well making fun of the scene we found ourselves in, so they took us down the street a bit to this Irish pub and bought us Black and Tans. We ended up playing pool for about an hour with them and then they had to leave. We finished our beer and followed suit. On our way out, we realized the pub was right next to a Mexican restaurant so, of course, we had dinner.
Then we caught a taxi back to the hotel. On the way, we asked the driver where everyone was and where the nightlife was in Perth. He told us about a festival on this weekend in Northbridge, so we had him turn around and take us there. It was pretty full, but still not what we thought, though we had fun watching the characters and the random funny things going on in the streets. It was a bit like Bourbon St. in New Orleans, if you’ve been there. There was even a silent disco in the streets, which is brilliant and something we need more of in America. It’s basically a nightclub in silence, with everyone wearing headphones and the DJ’s music only going into the ears of the people who purchase them. So, on the outside, it’s just a bunch of people dancing to nothing, all to the same beat. We got a good laugh.
Then it was back to the hotel and straight to bed. What a long day!
I got to spend the drive up talking to two of my best friends back home, which was so, so, so good. It really helps me to keep going, ya know? Well, maybe you don’t, but to put it lightly, it’s a real boost of my mood to talk to my good friends and feel like we haven’t missed a beat. I always leave on these trips thinking that I will get back and things will be so different and everyone will have forgotten about me or moved on, which is obviously inevitable, but then I talk to people or get home and it seems nothing has really changed much. We are all different people doing different things, but we can still be best friends and still laugh and get real with each other again. Maybe I’m getting too deep here….enough. Just know that I am happy.
We made it to Perth. What a beautiful city! We checked in to our 5-star hotel (yeah, we get to live it up for one weekend!) and enjoyed a couple quick showers in real bathrooms then headed down to the river to watch a bit of the qualifications. Our hotel is right on the river and we can see the course from our room, but we decided to be outside and enjoy the beautiful day. There is only a park between the two and they turned that into the airstrip, so we have an incredible view of the planes.
The Air Race isn’t really very long. It’s a full weekend of events, but the actual racing takes an hour total probably. In the meantime there is an awesome air show and we got to see a bunch of planes do some really cool tricks. It’s been years since I’ve been to an air show…I forgot how exciting they were! The Air Race qualifications were way cool too. It’s so much better to see in person than on TV. They fly so stinking low to the ground and everyone is gasping and cheering the whole time. It was pretty entertaining.
After the race we decided to do some civilized things and go explore the city a bit. We kept reading about this part of the city called Subiaco. It’s meant to be the trendy part of the city with all the shopping, cafes and pubs. We had a pretty bogus map that we must’ve read wrong, so it took us about 10 times longer to get there than it should have. Luckily there were a lot of places to see along the way and we didn’t realize we walked nearly 3 miles! HA! It only should’ve been about one. Pretty good navigators, we are. We walked through a place called King’s Park and I swear it was the town of limos. We must’ve counted about 25 just in this park. There were all types too….Jeeps and old-fashioned ones, an MG one and a Cadillac one, a Mercedes one and a few regular ones. We felt like we were in a movie! Oh, and there were weddings everywhere!!!! I think it must be the day to get married and drive a limo. For real.
Once we got to Subiaco we were shocked at the ghost town in which we found ourselves. There was no one around at all!!!!! We must’ve passed a total of 4 people on the whole street, until we got to the very end and found one open pub that was full of really uppity people too rich for our blood. We walked in, sweaty and exhausted, with backpacks on our backs and flip-flops on our feet. The place was full of girls who looked like they were about to go to prom, with their hair done so perfectly and their high heels to the ceiling and guys who matched the scene. So we grabbed a beer and headed outside on the patio where no one was sitting, except these two older guys who were more our style than this pub’s and we started chatting with them. They were full of questions about America and we had a pretty entertaining conversation with them. We all hit it off really well making fun of the scene we found ourselves in, so they took us down the street a bit to this Irish pub and bought us Black and Tans. We ended up playing pool for about an hour with them and then they had to leave. We finished our beer and followed suit. On our way out, we realized the pub was right next to a Mexican restaurant so, of course, we had dinner.
Then we caught a taxi back to the hotel. On the way, we asked the driver where everyone was and where the nightlife was in Perth. He told us about a festival on this weekend in Northbridge, so we had him turn around and take us there. It was pretty full, but still not what we thought, though we had fun watching the characters and the random funny things going on in the streets. It was a bit like Bourbon St. in New Orleans, if you’ve been there. There was even a silent disco in the streets, which is brilliant and something we need more of in America. It’s basically a nightclub in silence, with everyone wearing headphones and the DJ’s music only going into the ears of the people who purchase them. So, on the outside, it’s just a bunch of people dancing to nothing, all to the same beat. We got a good laugh.
Then it was back to the hotel and straight to bed. What a long day!
October 31st! Happy Halloween!!!!
Australia doesn’t celebrate Halloween, which I think is pretty boring. There are the random parties and the few trick-or-treaters, but nothing close to what America does. Plus, it’s getting really warm and summer-like, so it doesn’t seem like Halloween anyway. So, to celebrate, I hung a Frankenstein in the window of the car. Pretty classy….
We woke up in Margaret River and decided to head a bit closer to Perth so we could get up early tomorrow and check in to the hotel and watch the Air Race as soon as we get there. On the way up from Margaret River, we did a bit of a brewery tour and visited 3 breweries to taste their selections. We found some pretty tasty ones and felt a bit more knowledgeable than we do at the wineries, so it was a fun time.
Oh, and we caught the MOUSE!!!!! I went to the bathroom to get ready for the day and while I was gone Matt set the trap. As soon as I got back, which apparently was only about a minute after the trap was set, I heard this bang in the front of the van and then the most horrid noise (out of such a small animal) like ‘mee, mee, mee, mee, mee, mee, mee, mee, mee.’ He was screaming for help, but the poor little guy’s back was broken, so Matt had to flick it in the head (he loves killing animals…ha) and then threw it in the rubbish bin. So sad, but such a relief too. Now we won’t wake up with mouse poo all over our bodies!
We ended up at a campsite about an hour and a half outside of Perth in some National Park that I forget the name of... It’s about 2 miles off the main road down dirt roads, which I have become accustomed to in this country. As usual, there are kangaroos everywhere and so many flies you can hardly breath. It’s funny the things you get used to….
We woke up in Margaret River and decided to head a bit closer to Perth so we could get up early tomorrow and check in to the hotel and watch the Air Race as soon as we get there. On the way up from Margaret River, we did a bit of a brewery tour and visited 3 breweries to taste their selections. We found some pretty tasty ones and felt a bit more knowledgeable than we do at the wineries, so it was a fun time.
Oh, and we caught the MOUSE!!!!! I went to the bathroom to get ready for the day and while I was gone Matt set the trap. As soon as I got back, which apparently was only about a minute after the trap was set, I heard this bang in the front of the van and then the most horrid noise (out of such a small animal) like ‘mee, mee, mee, mee, mee, mee, mee, mee, mee.’ He was screaming for help, but the poor little guy’s back was broken, so Matt had to flick it in the head (he loves killing animals…ha) and then threw it in the rubbish bin. So sad, but such a relief too. Now we won’t wake up with mouse poo all over our bodies!
We ended up at a campsite about an hour and a half outside of Perth in some National Park that I forget the name of... It’s about 2 miles off the main road down dirt roads, which I have become accustomed to in this country. As usual, there are kangaroos everywhere and so many flies you can hardly breath. It’s funny the things you get used to….
Thursday, October 30, 2008
October 30th, Shannon to Margaret River.
The cheese was gone. The traps were still set. We had no mouse. Gross.
We took the scenic route to Augusta and saw the lighthouse, which was supposed to be incredible but they wanted us to pay $5 to walk close to it. So, in order to protest the charges of fencing in an area of land, we didn't go up close. It was right at the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean and has a sign saying 'If you're on this side, it's the Indian Ocean and if you're on the other side of the sign it's the Southern'. Well that was a long sign, you know what I mean though. We also saw an old water wheel that has since been fossilized and is now a big rock in the shape of a wagon wheel. It was a bit weird, but cool to see...and FREE!
Then we took the other scenic route back to a town that starts with a 'P' that I forget the name of. We got a bit lost and ended up way out in the middle of nowhere, but we made it to the P town and there was a 61 meter tree called the Bicentennial Tree that used to be an old fire lookout. The pegs and platforms are still there, so you can climb up it. There aren't any nets or anything to strap yourself into...it's a bit silly really. BUT we did it. I only made it to the first platform which was about 40 meters in the air, but Matt did the whole thing. It was wild. My heart was racing and my hands were shaking. There weren't even warning signs around or anything. It was almost as if they wanted people to fall and press charges....really! I can't imagine why they would have it so set up for tourists, but keep it that dangerous. Not in America, I'd say.
We took Cave Road to Margaret River and wanted to see some caves, but they wanted $19 to go in. So we protested again (We're on a budget here....) and went on our way. We got to Margaret River, parked the van and cruised around town for the evening. It's a cute little town, with a lot more to do than we've seen in quite some time.
Back to the caravan park and the mouse was caught in the trap! Just by his tail, thank God, so we rescued him and dropped him in the garbage bin, thinking he'd be a fat and happy little guy in there. We'll see if he comes back....YUCK!
We took the scenic route to Augusta and saw the lighthouse, which was supposed to be incredible but they wanted us to pay $5 to walk close to it. So, in order to protest the charges of fencing in an area of land, we didn't go up close. It was right at the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean and has a sign saying 'If you're on this side, it's the Indian Ocean and if you're on the other side of the sign it's the Southern'. Well that was a long sign, you know what I mean though. We also saw an old water wheel that has since been fossilized and is now a big rock in the shape of a wagon wheel. It was a bit weird, but cool to see...and FREE!
Then we took the other scenic route back to a town that starts with a 'P' that I forget the name of. We got a bit lost and ended up way out in the middle of nowhere, but we made it to the P town and there was a 61 meter tree called the Bicentennial Tree that used to be an old fire lookout. The pegs and platforms are still there, so you can climb up it. There aren't any nets or anything to strap yourself into...it's a bit silly really. BUT we did it. I only made it to the first platform which was about 40 meters in the air, but Matt did the whole thing. It was wild. My heart was racing and my hands were shaking. There weren't even warning signs around or anything. It was almost as if they wanted people to fall and press charges....really! I can't imagine why they would have it so set up for tourists, but keep it that dangerous. Not in America, I'd say.
We took Cave Road to Margaret River and wanted to see some caves, but they wanted $19 to go in. So we protested again (We're on a budget here....) and went on our way. We got to Margaret River, parked the van and cruised around town for the evening. It's a cute little town, with a lot more to do than we've seen in quite some time.
Back to the caravan park and the mouse was caught in the trap! Just by his tail, thank God, so we rescued him and dropped him in the garbage bin, thinking he'd be a fat and happy little guy in there. We'll see if he comes back....YUCK!
October 29th, A Mouse in our House...
We woke up in a very wet and freezing cold day, so we decided to make it a driving day and not stick around Denmark like we wanted to. I spent all last night listening to the storm, wide awake because I swore there was an animal in the van going through our trash bin. I woke up Matt a few different times to make him listen, but he was sound asleep and not able to stay awake for the few minutes it took for the 'animal' to start at it again. He told me it was just the rain and wind and to go back to sleep. HA. A few minutes later it started again. I thought it was funny how every time I moved or said something, the noise would stop....surely it was an animal, so I woke Matt back up. He asked what I thought it was, I said an animal in the car, he laughed really loudly, rolled over and went back to sleep. Meanwhile, I was awake all night listening, until I finally convinced myself it was just the wind and rain and fell asleep for a little bit before Matt woke up at 7 like he usually does and the day began.
I took a shower and was in the bathroom getting ready for a bit while Matt was organizing and cleaning the van. I got back to it and he had a geeky smile on his face and told me he had bad news....he found a mouse in our glove compartment! WE HAVE A MOUSE LIVING IN OUR VAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was freaked out, but convinced that he surely wasn't going to be there while we were driving and that he just needed a safe place from the rain, so on we went.
The guy at the caravan park gave us a map of the area and told us about the things we should do on our way out of town. So we hit up the tourist road and did the touristy things that he told us....the Mead Winery, the Toffee Factory and the Tree Top Walk. We saw the mouse again while we were at the Winery. His tail was sticking out of a crack Matt thought it was a string and pulled it. So gross. So, unfortunately we didn't rid ourselves of the little guy and had to go buy traps. The Tree Top Walk was incredible. It was this suspension bridge built in the canopy of 400-year-old, 60-meter-high Tingle trees. The forrest was so ancient and magical. It was awesome to have a bird's-eye view of the place. It was a bit scary, but so worth it. Then we went on a short hike underneath, on the forrest floor, and got to climb through the base of some of the trees and see them from a human perspective, which was equally as awesome.
We made our way to Shannon NP to stay the night in the forrest and it was a much-needed change of scenery from the usual beach-front spots we have been camping. Ha. OK, it wasn't that needed, but it was really good and refreshing! We had a glass of Western Australia wine and watched Walk Hard (see it, it's funny) then played with the bugs all over our van. Pretty entertaining....
I took a shower and was in the bathroom getting ready for a bit while Matt was organizing and cleaning the van. I got back to it and he had a geeky smile on his face and told me he had bad news....he found a mouse in our glove compartment! WE HAVE A MOUSE LIVING IN OUR VAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was freaked out, but convinced that he surely wasn't going to be there while we were driving and that he just needed a safe place from the rain, so on we went.
The guy at the caravan park gave us a map of the area and told us about the things we should do on our way out of town. So we hit up the tourist road and did the touristy things that he told us....the Mead Winery, the Toffee Factory and the Tree Top Walk. We saw the mouse again while we were at the Winery. His tail was sticking out of a crack Matt thought it was a string and pulled it. So gross. So, unfortunately we didn't rid ourselves of the little guy and had to go buy traps. The Tree Top Walk was incredible. It was this suspension bridge built in the canopy of 400-year-old, 60-meter-high Tingle trees. The forrest was so ancient and magical. It was awesome to have a bird's-eye view of the place. It was a bit scary, but so worth it. Then we went on a short hike underneath, on the forrest floor, and got to climb through the base of some of the trees and see them from a human perspective, which was equally as awesome.
We made our way to Shannon NP to stay the night in the forrest and it was a much-needed change of scenery from the usual beach-front spots we have been camping. Ha. OK, it wasn't that needed, but it was really good and refreshing! We had a glass of Western Australia wine and watched Walk Hard (see it, it's funny) then played with the bugs all over our van. Pretty entertaining....
October 28th, When It Rains....
We left the beauty of Lucky Bay because it was nasty weather…full of clouds, rain and treacherous wind. We thought it’d be nice to have a day full of relaxation with a few movies, a bit of reading and overall catching up on some much-needed R and R. We looked at a map and chose Albany so we started driving. A few miles out of town, we busted out the GPS and realized that Albany was a good 4 hours away. Ha. We ended up driving a bit, thinking that we’d sort of stop when we got tired and ready to relax, but the rainy day made it seem all right for driving through the desert and we finally decided on a town about 50 kilometers further than Albany, called Denmark. It was in one of the books we are living by and said that it was the place to be “hip with the hippies.”
The town is pretty cool, though we didn’t get to do much because of the weather. Tomorrow will be a day of exploration I think. But Denmark is the town you’re probably imagining, with the natural food stores on every corner and the massage therapists on every other. It’s quite nice really. You know I like this sort of thing…..
The town is pretty cool, though we didn’t get to do much because of the weather. Tomorrow will be a day of exploration I think. But Denmark is the town you’re probably imagining, with the natural food stores on every corner and the massage therapists on every other. It’s quite nice really. You know I like this sort of thing…..
October 27th, It's your Lucky Bay!!!!
We left Norseman after a bit of time driving around and running some errands. I met an English guy who ran the local roadhouse (truck stop) who asked me if he were 45 years younger would I take him traveling with me. He was cute and full of information for us. We also did some work on the car and spent some time at the visitor’s center where we collected our certificates that they give you if you make it across the Nullarbor. Pretty funny. Really funny actually. I love being a tourist.
From Norseman we decided to stay at a place called Lucky Bay, which is just east of Esperance. We are so close to Perth and it doesn’t even seem like we left that long ago!
Lucky Bay ended up being the most amazing place so far. Really. The sand was as white as snow and the water as clear as glass. Even the deep parts of the bay were so blue you could nearly see to the bottom. We also went to Thistle Bay, which was just next to it, and it was so pristine I felt like I was imaging it. Really, you couldn’t even imagine it. You know when you see pictures of places and you just know the photographer is a fan of Photoshop…well, yeah, I still got better pictures. (If only I could put them up here!!!!!!!) We set up camp and went for a walk along the long beach. The wind was starting to pick up, so we didn’t get to swim, but we played around for a bit. It was so freaking nice. I can’t even explain. I hope we make it back on the way back east.
From Norseman we decided to stay at a place called Lucky Bay, which is just east of Esperance. We are so close to Perth and it doesn’t even seem like we left that long ago!
Lucky Bay ended up being the most amazing place so far. Really. The sand was as white as snow and the water as clear as glass. Even the deep parts of the bay were so blue you could nearly see to the bottom. We also went to Thistle Bay, which was just next to it, and it was so pristine I felt like I was imaging it. Really, you couldn’t even imagine it. You know when you see pictures of places and you just know the photographer is a fan of Photoshop…well, yeah, I still got better pictures. (If only I could put them up here!!!!!!!) We set up camp and went for a walk along the long beach. The wind was starting to pick up, so we didn’t get to swim, but we played around for a bit. It was so freaking nice. I can’t even explain. I hope we make it back on the way back east.
October 26th, We tackled the Nullarbor today....
The Nullarbor is meant to be a huge feat for the few thousand people who attempt it a year. Apparently it’s treacherous, life-taking and downright dangerous to travel. The sun is hot, the road is straight and the desert is mind-boggling. Or so we heard. Every time I told someone we were driving to Perth, they’d shake their head and ask if I knew anything about the Nullarbor Plain. I heard horror story after horror story….’take plenty of water’, ‘carry as much extra fuel as you can’, ‘make sure you have enough food for a few days and enough extra car parts to get you to the next service station.’ HA! I really was nervous the night before we left and nearly talked Matt out of going. We had a conversation about leaving the car and flying to Perth just so we didn’t have to cross the big desert. It was supposed to take 3 days we were told.
Well, we did it in one. That’s right, one measly day. And it was so easy and we had the whole 5 gallons of water left and we only used one extra can of fuel and that was only because we wanted to use it up. We didn’t need any extra car parts, except a bit of oil, and we didn’t go insane….well not really. We did find ourselves bored enough to come up with some pretty wacko ways to pass the time. Every car that passed us would wave, so we had fun making up new ways to say hello to the passing cars….we went through peace signs, one finger, two fingers, three fingers, an exaggerated whole-hand wave and, finally, we decided to put on hats and tip them at every car that passed. We got a big kick out of it, even if we have no idea if anyone even saw it. It seemed to help the 90 kilometer stretch of straight road.
The Nullarbor Plain is called the ‘treeless plain’ and stretches about 800 miles from South Australia to Western Australia. There truly is nothing to do or look at, except a few hours in, we got to stop and see the Southern Right whales play just off some cliffs on the beginning stretch. There was a massive mother whale and she was clearly teaching her calf the things it needed to know to make the long journey to Antarctica. The small calf was mocking her every move, as it was breaching, splashing its tail and swimming on its back. It seemed like we were at Sea World, as Matt and I were the only two there and the whales were giving us a private show. I swear there was a trainer just out of sight from where we were sitting. The whales were just off the shore, too, so it was extra incredible.
The only glitch in the day was when a ‘road train’ (a semi pulling up to 8 trailers) in front of us hit a kangaroo and we witnessed the whole thing. We pulled over, because the kangaroo was injured, but not dead. The poor, poor animal was run over and both of its back legs were broken. It was either going to lie there in the middle of the road and do major damage to the next car that would surely hit it, or it was going to suffer to death. So, unfortunately, we had to find something to knock it out with and move it away. Who am I kidding, I obviously had nothing to do with it and was actually in a ball in the car about to puke everywhere, crying and screaming curse words at Matt, calling him a kangaroo killer and all sorts of nasty things. Now, though, I am sure he did the right thing, though a tire iron and a 30 second ordeal are not quite the way I pictured the kangaroo needing to be killed, but nonetheless, Matt was the Australian they all are and did the ‘manly’ thing while I bawled like a baby. Ha.
So the Nullarbor was a bit of a learning experience. It was only done in a day because we realized it was Sunday and the road trains have to pay an extra tariff on high traffic days and also it was pretty overcast and not hot at all. I am sure the ride back through will not be as pleasant…..
Well, we did it in one. That’s right, one measly day. And it was so easy and we had the whole 5 gallons of water left and we only used one extra can of fuel and that was only because we wanted to use it up. We didn’t need any extra car parts, except a bit of oil, and we didn’t go insane….well not really. We did find ourselves bored enough to come up with some pretty wacko ways to pass the time. Every car that passed us would wave, so we had fun making up new ways to say hello to the passing cars….we went through peace signs, one finger, two fingers, three fingers, an exaggerated whole-hand wave and, finally, we decided to put on hats and tip them at every car that passed. We got a big kick out of it, even if we have no idea if anyone even saw it. It seemed to help the 90 kilometer stretch of straight road.
The Nullarbor Plain is called the ‘treeless plain’ and stretches about 800 miles from South Australia to Western Australia. There truly is nothing to do or look at, except a few hours in, we got to stop and see the Southern Right whales play just off some cliffs on the beginning stretch. There was a massive mother whale and she was clearly teaching her calf the things it needed to know to make the long journey to Antarctica. The small calf was mocking her every move, as it was breaching, splashing its tail and swimming on its back. It seemed like we were at Sea World, as Matt and I were the only two there and the whales were giving us a private show. I swear there was a trainer just out of sight from where we were sitting. The whales were just off the shore, too, so it was extra incredible.
The only glitch in the day was when a ‘road train’ (a semi pulling up to 8 trailers) in front of us hit a kangaroo and we witnessed the whole thing. We pulled over, because the kangaroo was injured, but not dead. The poor, poor animal was run over and both of its back legs were broken. It was either going to lie there in the middle of the road and do major damage to the next car that would surely hit it, or it was going to suffer to death. So, unfortunately, we had to find something to knock it out with and move it away. Who am I kidding, I obviously had nothing to do with it and was actually in a ball in the car about to puke everywhere, crying and screaming curse words at Matt, calling him a kangaroo killer and all sorts of nasty things. Now, though, I am sure he did the right thing, though a tire iron and a 30 second ordeal are not quite the way I pictured the kangaroo needing to be killed, but nonetheless, Matt was the Australian they all are and did the ‘manly’ thing while I bawled like a baby. Ha.
So the Nullarbor was a bit of a learning experience. It was only done in a day because we realized it was Sunday and the road trains have to pay an extra tariff on high traffic days and also it was pretty overcast and not hot at all. I am sure the ride back through will not be as pleasant…..
Friday, October 24, 2008
October 25th, Sea Lions, but no sharks.
We decided to stay another day in the area, so we could soak up a bit of civilization before we hit the long and treacherous Nullarbor Plain. I guess it's a right of passage to cross it and we're doing it twice! Seriously, they give away certificates at the end. No joke.
We drove down to Point LaBatt where a massive sea lion colony is and sat with the sea lions for a few hours. They are the funniest animals. We were cracking up all day. It was quite the trip back to the conservation park, all dirt roads in the middle of nowhere....back to Australia being really desolate. It was well worth it though.
After we left, we decided to drive up to Ceduna, which is the official start to the Nullarbor. We are staying in the nicest caravan park yet. They have a private beach with access for guests only. It's called Shelly Beach, incase anyone is following on a map or something.
There are so many flies here! It's gross. I feel like I am really dirty all the time. You sort of just get used to the flies in your eyes and all over your face. Yeah, gross, I know.
Tonight we chill out and then tomorrow we start the real adventure! I will be out of commission for the next 3 days at least, so I will be in contact again mid-week.
Have a good one everyone! Thanks for reading...
love.
We drove down to Point LaBatt where a massive sea lion colony is and sat with the sea lions for a few hours. They are the funniest animals. We were cracking up all day. It was quite the trip back to the conservation park, all dirt roads in the middle of nowhere....back to Australia being really desolate. It was well worth it though.
After we left, we decided to drive up to Ceduna, which is the official start to the Nullarbor. We are staying in the nicest caravan park yet. They have a private beach with access for guests only. It's called Shelly Beach, incase anyone is following on a map or something.
There are so many flies here! It's gross. I feel like I am really dirty all the time. You sort of just get used to the flies in your eyes and all over your face. Yeah, gross, I know.
Tonight we chill out and then tomorrow we start the real adventure! I will be out of commission for the next 3 days at least, so I will be in contact again mid-week.
Have a good one everyone! Thanks for reading...
love.
October 24th, A whole lotta driving!
We left Barossa Valley with the intentions of ending in Port Augusta, which was about 3 hours away. We thought we'd stay there a night and see what happened then. We got there and realized it wasn't much more than a drive through town so we skipped in and decided on a place called Streaky Bay which was about another 4 hours away. Good to get some driving under the belt, as we have a very long trip ahead of us...
So, I drove the 4 hours from Port Augusta to Streaky Bay. It was so BORING!!!!!!!!!! There were about 2 small towns on the way there. Neither of which was really on the highway, so we didn't see much. We stopped at one, called Kimba, which was the exact halfway mark from East to West. Pretty cool. It was marked with a GIANT Galah which is an Australian bird. It was pretty impressive to say the least. 8 meters high! So funny.
On the drive we nearly lost our voices because, out of boredom, we were having screaming contests to see who could scream the loudest and who could scream like the opposite sex the best. I won both. It was awesome, but didn't leave many vocal chord action for the rest of the trip.
Finally we got to Streaky Bay and stayed at a caravan park right on the beach. It was low tide, so we walked about 70 meters out into the middle of the bay and it was only up to our knees still. It was so cool. We saw a stingray just beyond where we were, so we didn't go out much further. There were the tiniest crabs everywhere too. We also saw heaps of fish and different birds. It was like our own private wildlife preserve. Unfortunately, again, we didn't have our cameras.
Oh, speaking of, I am trying to put pictures on this site, but it's not being very cooperative, so I have linked my facebook album at the top of the page. You can see them there. I will try to keep putting some up there when I can. Go now. They're beautiful.
OK, so we stayed on the beach. There were a whole lot of bugs and it was really hot. But it was all really good.
So, I drove the 4 hours from Port Augusta to Streaky Bay. It was so BORING!!!!!!!!!! There were about 2 small towns on the way there. Neither of which was really on the highway, so we didn't see much. We stopped at one, called Kimba, which was the exact halfway mark from East to West. Pretty cool. It was marked with a GIANT Galah which is an Australian bird. It was pretty impressive to say the least. 8 meters high! So funny.
On the drive we nearly lost our voices because, out of boredom, we were having screaming contests to see who could scream the loudest and who could scream like the opposite sex the best. I won both. It was awesome, but didn't leave many vocal chord action for the rest of the trip.
Finally we got to Streaky Bay and stayed at a caravan park right on the beach. It was low tide, so we walked about 70 meters out into the middle of the bay and it was only up to our knees still. It was so cool. We saw a stingray just beyond where we were, so we didn't go out much further. There were the tiniest crabs everywhere too. We also saw heaps of fish and different birds. It was like our own private wildlife preserve. Unfortunately, again, we didn't have our cameras.
Oh, speaking of, I am trying to put pictures on this site, but it's not being very cooperative, so I have linked my facebook album at the top of the page. You can see them there. I will try to keep putting some up there when I can. Go now. They're beautiful.
OK, so we stayed on the beach. There were a whole lot of bugs and it was really hot. But it was all really good.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
October 23rd, The most posh day of my life...I'm nearly too good for you.
In wine country there really isn't much to do but drink wine, right? I mean, that's why people come here. So, when in Rome....
We toured the wine chateaus for the day. Yeah, I said chateaus. We spent the day sipping some of the best wines in Australia, I'd dare say the world, and eating cheese platters and playing croquet. yeah, I played croquet on the lawn of chateaus with the regions best wines in hand. Do you like me more now? I would if I were you!!! :)
We bought a few bottles, because, well, ya do that, don't you? We walked a lot. Sweated a lot, took a lot of pictures, ate some homemade gelati and sipped some sweet, sweet (expensive!) wines.
My heaven. Except I lost at croquet.....
We toured the wine chateaus for the day. Yeah, I said chateaus. We spent the day sipping some of the best wines in Australia, I'd dare say the world, and eating cheese platters and playing croquet. yeah, I played croquet on the lawn of chateaus with the regions best wines in hand. Do you like me more now? I would if I were you!!! :)
We bought a few bottles, because, well, ya do that, don't you? We walked a lot. Sweated a lot, took a lot of pictures, ate some homemade gelati and sipped some sweet, sweet (expensive!) wines.
My heaven. Except I lost at croquet.....
October 22nd, Happy Birthday Dad! and a really boring city.
Today we drove from Bordertown to Adelaide. We had plans to stay a few days in Adelaide, but were really unimpressed, so we skipped town after a quick drive-through of the city center. We went out to Port Adelaide which was supposed to be the cool spot, but wasn't really that much better. The books (again) advertised a dolphin tour with 8 different dolphin 'hot spots' but, after cruising around to all of them, we saw none. BORING! It also said there was a ship graveyard with several ships from different shipwrecks in the area. It proved itself to be pretty boring too, so we didn't even stop.
We decided to keep moving. We ended up in Barossa Valley which is where most of the nice wines from Australia come from. It's in South Australia. Yet another state I can mark on my list of places I've been! The Barossa Valley is beautiful, as I'm sure you can imagine. We got in about 6:30 and everything in Tanunda (the central town) was closed, so we ended up having dinner at a pub....unimpressed again.
I'm getting pretty used to these caravan parks!
We decided to keep moving. We ended up in Barossa Valley which is where most of the nice wines from Australia come from. It's in South Australia. Yet another state I can mark on my list of places I've been! The Barossa Valley is beautiful, as I'm sure you can imagine. We got in about 6:30 and everything in Tanunda (the central town) was closed, so we ended up having dinner at a pub....unimpressed again.
I'm getting pretty used to these caravan parks!
October 21st, The Travel Books Are Lying!
We drove from Penshurst through the Grampians National Park, the Little Desert National Park and into Bordertown, South Australia. The Grampians was beautiful! It was a really cultural place where the Aboriginals lived. There was a cultural center/museum and we learned to paint boomerangs in the proper way. Aboriginal art is so beautiful.
We stopped at a few lookout points in the park and took some cool photos, then decided to follow our guidebook that told us to go to the Little Desert NP. It claimed there were beautiful wildflowers everywhere. It lied. We saw one little patch. So boring. So we kept driving, into Bordertown. It was nearly dark so we just set up at the caravan park and went to sleep. Not much excitement today....
We stopped at a few lookout points in the park and took some cool photos, then decided to follow our guidebook that told us to go to the Little Desert NP. It claimed there were beautiful wildflowers everywhere. It lied. We saw one little patch. So boring. So we kept driving, into Bordertown. It was nearly dark so we just set up at the caravan park and went to sleep. Not much excitement today....
October 20th, Shipwrecked!
We woke up at the caravan park in Warrnambool. We went around town running errands, fixing the car and sending letters home. Then we went to the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum where we learned about the 80+ shipwrecks that have occurred in this area known as the Shipwreck Coast. The museum has lots of artifacts saved from the wrecks including a statue of a peacock valued at over $2 million, making it Australia's most expensive piece of maritime history.
Then we drove around trying to find somewhere to use the internet. We ended up at a backpackers where we wrote this entire blog up until now and accidentally deleted it all. I wasn't mad at all..........
Then we had dinner. After dinner we went back to Flagstaff Hill for the night time Shipwrecked light and laser show. For the show we pretended it was 1878 and carried lanterns through a replica town from that area to the waterfront theatre to watch the show. The light and laser show told the history of the ship, the Loch Ard.
After the show we decided to keep moving so we drove out of town until we needed sleep and found ourselves in the middle of nowhere in a town called Penshurst. It was dark. We saw nothing. We slept. The End. Seriously.
Then we drove around trying to find somewhere to use the internet. We ended up at a backpackers where we wrote this entire blog up until now and accidentally deleted it all. I wasn't mad at all..........
Then we had dinner. After dinner we went back to Flagstaff Hill for the night time Shipwrecked light and laser show. For the show we pretended it was 1878 and carried lanterns through a replica town from that area to the waterfront theatre to watch the show. The light and laser show told the history of the ship, the Loch Ard.
After the show we decided to keep moving so we drove out of town until we needed sleep and found ourselves in the middle of nowhere in a town called Penshurst. It was dark. We saw nothing. We slept. The End. Seriously.
Monday, October 20, 2008
October 19th, This is Great Ocean Road
We woke up pretty late this morning and freezing cold! It seemed it was going to be a pretty cloudy day all day, but it ended up clearing just when we needed it. We started our day off with a stretch on the beach near our campsite then headed out of the park and back on the Great Ocean Road. We saw a few more koalas on the way out. They are such funny creatures. They’re so lazy. Just out of the park, and for a while on the GOR, we drove through Australia’s version of rainforests. The trees were massive and a lot greener than I’ve seen out here so far. It looked like Jurassic Park.
We finally made it to the 12 Apostles!!!! I’d only heard about them and seen them in pictures, but I never imagined they’d be so majestic. We walked part way down the Gibson Steps to see the first one. The rest of the steps were closed for some reason. I think the sea has been too rough lately or something. I’m pretty sure they don’t want just any random tourist making their way to the tiny, private beach at the bottom. It was way too cold and windy anyway, so we got back in the car and drove to the next lookout spot. There was a trail running under the highway and out onto a cliff ledge. The view of the rest of the Apostles was spectacular. You should look up the 12 Apostles…they’re basically just massive rock formations out in the ocean. Pretty cool.
Another thing you should look up is the Loch Ard tragedy. It was a shipwreck in 1878 (I think) that hit on Muttonbird Island, which is the area where we spent the next few hours. 52 people died and only 2 survived and only 4 bodies were recovered. It’s a pretty amazing story, but I don’t have the patience now to explain it all. Google is good…
We hiked around the cliff-edge trails for a bit, seeing the shipwreck site, the beach where some of the bodies were washed up and the cemetery where the 4 bodies were buried. It was the best part I think…so interesting! On our hike we saw an ocean blowhole that went back into the land about 150 meters. It was all underneath us in a cave. There were signs everywhere warning hikers to be cautious of the fact that the caves and arches we were climbing along could basically collapse at any point in time. It was kind of nerve-wracking, but also well worth the beautiful sights. We also followed along another guided trail that was a self-guided geology tour, full of geological formations with obvious markings from millions of years ago.
So, back to the car and prepared to complete the GOR, we drove quickly by the Arch, the London Bridge, the Bay of Martyrs and the Bay of Islands. All were equally as incredible and full of history. Oh, so this portion of the GOR is called the Shipwreck Trail. Something like 80+ wrecks happened in that area. It’s at the beginning of the Bass Straight, so it used to be a highly traveled spot. It’s all on the Net. Ha!
It was getting dark and cloudy again, so we decided to call it a night and look for a caravan park to plug-in to for the evening. All of our cameras and computers and things were about dead, so we needed a bit of electricity. I’m also pretty stoked for a shower by now. We made it to Warrnambool, the official end of the Great Ocean Road. It really was great…not to be cheesy, but I’ve never seen anything like it. I hope you get at least of a bit of the sensation out of the pictures that we got out of it in real life. Pictures never seem to do justice.
I’ve learned that I can hardly stand not having contact with my family for more than a day. I lost cell phone reception for two days and literally broke down in tears this afternoon. Pretty pathetic, I know. I really could not be any further from home, but today it really felt like it. We’re staying in this town for a couple of days, so I should be good again…
Tomorrow I will write with clean clothes on and with a body that doesn’t stink. Yay!
We finally made it to the 12 Apostles!!!! I’d only heard about them and seen them in pictures, but I never imagined they’d be so majestic. We walked part way down the Gibson Steps to see the first one. The rest of the steps were closed for some reason. I think the sea has been too rough lately or something. I’m pretty sure they don’t want just any random tourist making their way to the tiny, private beach at the bottom. It was way too cold and windy anyway, so we got back in the car and drove to the next lookout spot. There was a trail running under the highway and out onto a cliff ledge. The view of the rest of the Apostles was spectacular. You should look up the 12 Apostles…they’re basically just massive rock formations out in the ocean. Pretty cool.
Another thing you should look up is the Loch Ard tragedy. It was a shipwreck in 1878 (I think) that hit on Muttonbird Island, which is the area where we spent the next few hours. 52 people died and only 2 survived and only 4 bodies were recovered. It’s a pretty amazing story, but I don’t have the patience now to explain it all. Google is good…
We hiked around the cliff-edge trails for a bit, seeing the shipwreck site, the beach where some of the bodies were washed up and the cemetery where the 4 bodies were buried. It was the best part I think…so interesting! On our hike we saw an ocean blowhole that went back into the land about 150 meters. It was all underneath us in a cave. There were signs everywhere warning hikers to be cautious of the fact that the caves and arches we were climbing along could basically collapse at any point in time. It was kind of nerve-wracking, but also well worth the beautiful sights. We also followed along another guided trail that was a self-guided geology tour, full of geological formations with obvious markings from millions of years ago.
So, back to the car and prepared to complete the GOR, we drove quickly by the Arch, the London Bridge, the Bay of Martyrs and the Bay of Islands. All were equally as incredible and full of history. Oh, so this portion of the GOR is called the Shipwreck Trail. Something like 80+ wrecks happened in that area. It’s at the beginning of the Bass Straight, so it used to be a highly traveled spot. It’s all on the Net. Ha!
It was getting dark and cloudy again, so we decided to call it a night and look for a caravan park to plug-in to for the evening. All of our cameras and computers and things were about dead, so we needed a bit of electricity. I’m also pretty stoked for a shower by now. We made it to Warrnambool, the official end of the Great Ocean Road. It really was great…not to be cheesy, but I’ve never seen anything like it. I hope you get at least of a bit of the sensation out of the pictures that we got out of it in real life. Pictures never seem to do justice.
I’ve learned that I can hardly stand not having contact with my family for more than a day. I lost cell phone reception for two days and literally broke down in tears this afternoon. Pretty pathetic, I know. I really could not be any further from home, but today it really felt like it. We’re staying in this town for a couple of days, so I should be good again…
Tomorrow I will write with clean clothes on and with a body that doesn’t stink. Yay!
October 18th, Drive Left in Australia
We left Melbourne today. We drove through Geelong into Anglesea where we met two more of my mates from Utah, Tristan and Millie. It was equally as good to see them. We had lunch and then headed out again.
We stopped by Bell's Beach, which is the most famous surfing beach in Australia. Then we headed onto the Great Ocean Road.
On our way, we stopped at a trail to hike back and see a cool waterfall. The road was winding around the cliff edges all along the ocean. It was incredible. Towards the end of the day I spotted a koala high in a tree above the road. We stopped to take some pictures and realized they were everywhere! I guess it's pretty big because most everyone I know has never seen a koala in the wild!
We stayed the night at Otway NP. On our way in, we saw about 30 more koalas. We even saw a mama koala, with a baby on its back, get in a fight with another one. Again, National Geographic.
We went back, way off the main road, through a closed gate and onto a beach, where we set up camp and stayed the night. It was called Blanket Bay and it was such a good spot. I hope to make it back there again.
We stopped by Bell's Beach, which is the most famous surfing beach in Australia. Then we headed onto the Great Ocean Road.
On our way, we stopped at a trail to hike back and see a cool waterfall. The road was winding around the cliff edges all along the ocean. It was incredible. Towards the end of the day I spotted a koala high in a tree above the road. We stopped to take some pictures and realized they were everywhere! I guess it's pretty big because most everyone I know has never seen a koala in the wild!
We stayed the night at Otway NP. On our way in, we saw about 30 more koalas. We even saw a mama koala, with a baby on its back, get in a fight with another one. Again, National Geographic.
We went back, way off the main road, through a closed gate and onto a beach, where we set up camp and stayed the night. It was called Blanket Bay and it was such a good spot. I hope to make it back there again.
October 17th, Playing the Typical Tourist
Still in Melbourne.
We walked from Port Melbourne (Matt's place) to the city and decided to climb the Eureka Tower. It was 88 stories high and from the top you could see EVERYTHING! It was an amazing view from up there. It was the highest public viewing point in the southern hemisphere. So cool.
When we came down, we went to St. Paul's cathedral in the city and spent a bit of time in there. It was such a beautiful church. It made me reallllllly miss my Grandpa, so we didn't stay too long.
After that we caught the city circle tram to the Queen Victoria markets where we walked around a bit and decided to save our money. So we got back on the tram and went to the Docklands. There we went to the James Squire brewery, which is a pretty big brewery in Australia. We stayed for one and then went back to Fitzroy to meet up with our friends again. We found them in an alley outside our friend's apartment, so we hung out there for a bit.
My friend who I met in Utah lives near there, so he came and hung out for a while. It was great to see him!
Then we had to say goodbye to everyone and catch a cab back to Matt's where we sat in the backyard for a bit and then went to bed.
The end.
We walked from Port Melbourne (Matt's place) to the city and decided to climb the Eureka Tower. It was 88 stories high and from the top you could see EVERYTHING! It was an amazing view from up there. It was the highest public viewing point in the southern hemisphere. So cool.
When we came down, we went to St. Paul's cathedral in the city and spent a bit of time in there. It was such a beautiful church. It made me reallllllly miss my Grandpa, so we didn't stay too long.
After that we caught the city circle tram to the Queen Victoria markets where we walked around a bit and decided to save our money. So we got back on the tram and went to the Docklands. There we went to the James Squire brewery, which is a pretty big brewery in Australia. We stayed for one and then went back to Fitzroy to meet up with our friends again. We found them in an alley outside our friend's apartment, so we hung out there for a bit.
My friend who I met in Utah lives near there, so he came and hung out for a while. It was great to see him!
Then we had to say goodbye to everyone and catch a cab back to Matt's where we sat in the backyard for a bit and then went to bed.
The end.
October 16th, I Want to Ride My Bicycle
Today we rode bikes through the city. We rode into St Kilda and went out on St Kilda pier, followed by lunch in Ackland Street. Then we went and sat in hammocks and drank a beer on the St Kilda foreshore while we waited for Matt's friends. I got some more peace and quite when the guys showed up and rode BMX for a bit.
We cruised around the city some more then returned to the pier for sunset as we heard earlier that penguins live there. As the sun went down and the fishermen reeled in their catches, we were fortunate enough to catch a sight of a few fairy penguins. Who would of thought you could see penguins in Melbourne?!?!?!
After this it was of for some Mexican food, which I've been craving!!!! I ran into another American the other day who said the two things he missed most were his family and Mexican food. It seems I'm not the only one. Then we road along the water back to Port Melbourne where we stayed the night.
We cruised around the city some more then returned to the pier for sunset as we heard earlier that penguins live there. As the sun went down and the fishermen reeled in their catches, we were fortunate enough to catch a sight of a few fairy penguins. Who would of thought you could see penguins in Melbourne?!?!?!
After this it was of for some Mexican food, which I've been craving!!!! I ran into another American the other day who said the two things he missed most were his family and Mexican food. It seems I'm not the only one. Then we road along the water back to Port Melbourne where we stayed the night.
October 15th, New City, New Adventures
We are in Melbourne! YAY! I LOVE this city! We took off this morning from Josh and Liz's and made our way to a place I've wanted to go since I stepped foot in this country. There is so much culture and diversity, I just love it.
We got to Matt's house (Jess' brother who lives here) and settled in a bit. We walked through the city, through South Bank and to Fitzroy where we met a few of Matt's friends named Travis and Jen. We sat on the corner for a bit, watching the characters go by. It was pretty funny. We had dinner at this really cool vegetarian restaurant. It was more jam-packed with people than any other restaurant in the city I'd say....for all you meat-eaters out there. :)
We were pretty tired, so it wasn't a very big night. We just hung out at Matt's in the backyard for a bit and then went to bed.
We got to Matt's house (Jess' brother who lives here) and settled in a bit. We walked through the city, through South Bank and to Fitzroy where we met a few of Matt's friends named Travis and Jen. We sat on the corner for a bit, watching the characters go by. It was pretty funny. We had dinner at this really cool vegetarian restaurant. It was more jam-packed with people than any other restaurant in the city I'd say....for all you meat-eaters out there. :)
We were pretty tired, so it wasn't a very big night. We just hung out at Matt's in the backyard for a bit and then went to bed.
October 14th, Shock Me Like an Electric Eel
We woke up. I stayed in the most comfortable bed ever! It beats the van by far!!!! We had a really nice breakfast and I Josh went to work and Matt and Liz went into town to hang out and run some errands. I FINALLY got a day to myself. I haven't been able to be alone since my grandpa passed, so it was good to have a day to myself and finish my tears and do some reflecting. I wrote some letters home and did some reading. It was so nice.
When everyone got back, we loaded the boat trailer on the car and put their boat in the nearby lake. We spent the rest of the day, and into the night, on the boat, exploring some islands and doing a bit of fishing. We weren't having much luck and the sun started to go down, so we went back in and took the boat out of the water and did a bit of fishing off the pier there. It was way better. I ended up catching two Brims, Liz caught 3, Josh caught one and Matt caught an eel. It was a pretty fun excursion.
We went back to the house, had dinner and went to bed again. Same as it ever was....ha.
When everyone got back, we loaded the boat trailer on the car and put their boat in the nearby lake. We spent the rest of the day, and into the night, on the boat, exploring some islands and doing a bit of fishing. We weren't having much luck and the sun started to go down, so we went back in and took the boat out of the water and did a bit of fishing off the pier there. It was way better. I ended up catching two Brims, Liz caught 3, Josh caught one and Matt caught an eel. It was a pretty fun excursion.
We went back to the house, had dinner and went to bed again. Same as it ever was....ha.
October 13th, A Great Start
WOW!!!!! WHAT A DAY!!!!!!!!!
I cannot even begin to explain the magic that today was. I won't do any justice! Nor will any pictures, but here goes...
We woke up EARLY (with the sun) to get to the boat on time to see some whales. We cooked a bit of breakfast (baked beans on toast....yeah, i know, weird) and took it down to the beach. When we got to the opening of the trail, we saw kangaroos all over the beach, which I guess is pretty special. We were the only ones on the whole massive beach and the sun was just rising, so the sky was bright orange and fresh to a new day. You know how early mornings feel....
Just off the beach, in the water straight ahead of where we were, there was a pod of dolphins playing in the surf. We were watching them for ages and then we looked a bit further out and there were two whales playing just out from them!!! It was just like National Geographic style. I was speechless. You really couldn't ask for a more dreamy scene. I mean it.
Unfortunately we had to run. We ended up a bit late to the boat, but luckily it was still there....though the engines were running and we got some nasty looks as we climbed aboard. Nonetheless, we had an amazing time. We saw about ten whales total. There were some mamas with their calves and some massive males who were lunge feeding. It's sort of a weird thing...they jump up, open their mouths and skim across the top of the water to eat. Not sure...just going by the guide's terms.
After we got off the boat, we drove to Matt's friends, Josh's. I was driving and Matt was asleep, but his last words were that I could stop anywhere I wanted to and do anything I felt fit for the duration of my drive. So I followed some signs to a very touristy publicized place. It seemed like the thing to do, but I ended up way off the highway and in a town where the only way out was the way you came in. Not good. It didn't even end up being that cool of a place, so Matt wasn't thrilled when I woke him up, told him we were nearly out of gas and that we were about 40 kilometers off track. Ha. So, no more driving for me (THANKFULLY!). We decided that something needed to be done in this tiny town called Malacoota, so we had a cartwheel race. It was fun.
Then we headed out. We ended up at Josh's and his girlfriend, Liz the chef, made us a nice dinner on the barbie and we hung out and talked and played with their dog, Zipper.
Josh and Liz live on this big farm in Bairnsdale and it is so cool. They are nearly completely self-sustainable with their own water collection, huge garden and solar panels. They also have a pet pig and 2 goats. Their names are Miss Piggy, Benny and Kenny.
That's it.
I cannot even begin to explain the magic that today was. I won't do any justice! Nor will any pictures, but here goes...
We woke up EARLY (with the sun) to get to the boat on time to see some whales. We cooked a bit of breakfast (baked beans on toast....yeah, i know, weird) and took it down to the beach. When we got to the opening of the trail, we saw kangaroos all over the beach, which I guess is pretty special. We were the only ones on the whole massive beach and the sun was just rising, so the sky was bright orange and fresh to a new day. You know how early mornings feel....
Just off the beach, in the water straight ahead of where we were, there was a pod of dolphins playing in the surf. We were watching them for ages and then we looked a bit further out and there were two whales playing just out from them!!! It was just like National Geographic style. I was speechless. You really couldn't ask for a more dreamy scene. I mean it.
Unfortunately we had to run. We ended up a bit late to the boat, but luckily it was still there....though the engines were running and we got some nasty looks as we climbed aboard. Nonetheless, we had an amazing time. We saw about ten whales total. There were some mamas with their calves and some massive males who were lunge feeding. It's sort of a weird thing...they jump up, open their mouths and skim across the top of the water to eat. Not sure...just going by the guide's terms.
After we got off the boat, we drove to Matt's friends, Josh's. I was driving and Matt was asleep, but his last words were that I could stop anywhere I wanted to and do anything I felt fit for the duration of my drive. So I followed some signs to a very touristy publicized place. It seemed like the thing to do, but I ended up way off the highway and in a town where the only way out was the way you came in. Not good. It didn't even end up being that cool of a place, so Matt wasn't thrilled when I woke him up, told him we were nearly out of gas and that we were about 40 kilometers off track. Ha. So, no more driving for me (THANKFULLY!). We decided that something needed to be done in this tiny town called Malacoota, so we had a cartwheel race. It was fun.
Then we headed out. We ended up at Josh's and his girlfriend, Liz the chef, made us a nice dinner on the barbie and we hung out and talked and played with their dog, Zipper.
Josh and Liz live on this big farm in Bairnsdale and it is so cool. They are nearly completely self-sustainable with their own water collection, huge garden and solar panels. They also have a pet pig and 2 goats. Their names are Miss Piggy, Benny and Kenny.
That's it.
October 12th, Slowly But Surely
So, we finally left today! We didn't get out of town until nearly 5 because we procrastinated our way through the weekend and had a lot to do at the last minute. Plus a lot of friends were in and out to say goodbye.
Jess Jones, my best Australian friend, and her brother Matt were around throughout the day, which was great. Jess works at the local bakery and brought us a care package for our trip, full of veggie sandwiches and lots and lots of treats. It was awesome because it saved us from having to go to the grocery tonight.
So we left! We drove just a few hours to the coast to stay the night at this incredible spot nearly right on the beach in Tathra. Tomorrow we are going whale watching so we wanted to find a cool place near where the boat would launch.
We pulled back into our spot off a bunch of dirt roads and there were kangaroos everywhere! I haven't been that close to kangaroos so it was really good. We pulled in and sat quietly with the doors open, so they were coming about 2 feet from where we were. It felt like the zoo.
Just for your info...the speedometer read 247,078 when we left. That's kilometers. We're keep track, so this might be interesting later, I promise.
First night in the van! It's been pretty good so far. Not that we've really used it much, but I am definitely excited for the next few weeks and really wish that everyone could be here to experience this with me!
Jess Jones, my best Australian friend, and her brother Matt were around throughout the day, which was great. Jess works at the local bakery and brought us a care package for our trip, full of veggie sandwiches and lots and lots of treats. It was awesome because it saved us from having to go to the grocery tonight.
So we left! We drove just a few hours to the coast to stay the night at this incredible spot nearly right on the beach in Tathra. Tomorrow we are going whale watching so we wanted to find a cool place near where the boat would launch.
We pulled back into our spot off a bunch of dirt roads and there were kangaroos everywhere! I haven't been that close to kangaroos so it was really good. We pulled in and sat quietly with the doors open, so they were coming about 2 feet from where we were. It felt like the zoo.
Just for your info...the speedometer read 247,078 when we left. That's kilometers. We're keep track, so this might be interesting later, I promise.
First night in the van! It's been pretty good so far. Not that we've really used it much, but I am definitely excited for the next few weeks and really wish that everyone could be here to experience this with me!
October 11th, Not Quite There
We got back from the Central Coast and Sydney where we spent some good, quality time with friends and my Australian family, the Maynes. It was great to catch up.
We were supposed to leave yesterday and today, but decided to go to our friend's birthday party instead. It was a Simpson's theme party. In Australia they call costume parties "fancy dress", which really makes me laugh because I used to always think that people had parties where everyone would fully dress in formal get-up. I just couldn't understand why there were so many of these parties at people's houses. It's created quite a few funny conversations and a lot of laughs. They really love their costume parties here. There seems to be one every weekend or so and everyone goes ALL out. They just don't party like that in America....
So the party was really fun. I didn't stay for long, as it's not my scene these days, but the costumes were ridiculous and I only included this post so that I could put up some pictures of my friends. So there.
Maybe we'll leave tomorrow....
We were supposed to leave yesterday and today, but decided to go to our friend's birthday party instead. It was a Simpson's theme party. In Australia they call costume parties "fancy dress", which really makes me laugh because I used to always think that people had parties where everyone would fully dress in formal get-up. I just couldn't understand why there were so many of these parties at people's houses. It's created quite a few funny conversations and a lot of laughs. They really love their costume parties here. There seems to be one every weekend or so and everyone goes ALL out. They just don't party like that in America....
So the party was really fun. I didn't stay for long, as it's not my scene these days, but the costumes were ridiculous and I only included this post so that I could put up some pictures of my friends. So there.
Maybe we'll leave tomorrow....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)