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Hey, its the 19th of march today and I thought I'd write about me and sarahs great ocean road daytour that we did yesterday. It was one of the best days weve had as we saw loads of new stuff- the bus we were on had abot 23 people, good sized group, and our driver was the usual good driver- he said 'youre welcome to bring your MP3s up to play some music, but if you bring u any woosy boy band stuff, or girls aloud or some s***, I will laugh in your face and throw you off the bus'. We had good music all day.
We went from melbourne, over the big bridge (around 6km long) and to Torquay, which os a very nice town- huge surfers shops here and mansions, as its where Bells beach is, the world famous beach with amazing surfing. The first surf competition was held here, the Ripcurl Pro. In winter the waves get enourmous because the Bass strait funnels the storms here. We parked along the road, in the carpark that was furhter from the beach as the other one was packed, and our driver said we could have a quick wander then have tea and cookies. I wanted to actually go onto bells beach not just see it, so I went through the scrub with sarah and a couple of people from our group. We got to a wire fence and I climbed through, the others didnt want to. I went dpwn the path asap as I knew we didnt have long, and it was actually pretty far to the beach, I had to run back and missed the tea lol. It was really nice though, was a bit worried about snakes but the path was pretty open so no probs. When we got bk on the bus, our driver said he would prefer it if none of us went climbing through fences or wandering off the paths, esp alone, as today was the wamrest day in about a week and the snakes would be very active. That started him rambling on and on about all the deadly animals in oz, and how it has 11 out of 15 of the worlds most venemous snakes, includ the top 3- inland taipan, common bprnw snake and tigersnake (these were all on fraser island, we'd heard all this before). Then he went on about jellyfish, sharks, etc etc. Some bits were funny though. He played a song which weve heard on buses before- its a comedy song about how tourists get killed in oz alot lol. Weve heard it so many times!
We then went along the twisty, spectactular great ocean road, the weather was perfect for us. I cant believe how lucky me and sarah are with the weather. We stopped at a sanctuary by a river, where you can see koalas in the wild (saw plenty as the bus pulled in and parked). Me and sarah werent too fussed about seeing even more koalas, but as soon as we got off the bus there was a group of parrots in nearby low branches, so we went to see them instead. Our driver had a load of bird seed and it turns out he lets us feed them, so me and sarah spent the whole time standing there feeding wild parrots (King parrots and also the very colourful Crimson Rosella parrot). They were amazing- loads of times I had two on me, one on my shoulder and one feeding from the palm of my hand, or one on each hand. They would fight sometimes and swap places alot, flying all around you. Most of the time I had a couple of king parrots that calmly sat there looking at me and feeding a bit. One of them stayed on me long after all the food had gone and we had to leave. So cool. Sarah loved it- she had one on her head at one point, and one on each hand! It was nie for us because it was something new, weve seen so much wildlife and theres still more to see. We joked that all we hadnt seen of australias wildlife was an echidna and a wombat (in the wild we mean, seen them in the zoo). Reluctantly we got bk on the bus, though our arms were covered ins cratches from all the birds, and we drove to Apollo bay and had lunch.
We then went to the Otwell national reserve and saw very old rainforest, and we did a rainforest walk here. Our driver said they have ants here called jumping jacks that are really venemous, and theres no antivenom lol. He also went on about spiders again. The walk we did was brilliant- the trees were amazing, they have the second largest tree in the world here- the tazmanian blue gum tree, massive. We saw plenty of rainforest- love the ferns especially, makes it seem ancient, and then we got bk on the bus and went to the famous 12 apostles in the sea. We also went to Loch Ard gorge, where me and sarah spotted four bandicoots, small mammals. Loads of swifts flying around here too, and a couple of caves to see on a small beach down in the gorge. Looked so cool, nice views from down there across the ocean between the cliffs.
The last place we stopped at was a bit funny...its called London bridge, and its actually where there used to be a bridge of land between the land and a headland bit, but it collapsed (luckily nobody was killed, only 2 tourists were trapped on the new island bit out at sea). The media got involved and flew a helicopter over to film them trapped, and they offered them a ride to safety in exchange for their story, but they refused. Turns out they were a couple, but she was his mistress- both had a wife/husband at home, busted!!
We then drove bk to melbourne, stopping off for dinner. Got back at about 10pm, just after.
LAST DAY IN OZ- MELBOURNE
Our next day was our last day in OZ- we just walked round melbourne botanical gardens all day! It was absolutely brilliant, a really nice chill day and we saw loads of different gardens, and some nice buildings. They were the best botanical gardens weve seen so far, had enormous trees and parkland bits with lakes and ponds. Oh and we went to the Anzac memorial building- cant believe its so big, like a huge temple, and inside was designed to show pictures of the wall and north africa for the war. The guy who worked there simulated what happened on memorial day- a light comes through a hole high up in the wall, and shines upon the word love in the passage 'greater love hath no man'. In reference to a man dying to save his comrades, and also his countrymen at home.
They had a crypt under the building with posters of war scenes, paintings, and poems describing the war. I took photos of so many of them, some of them told amazing stories.
At the end of our day we sent a postcard to our friend jenny at home, and took the tram back to st.kilda (it had a power cut on the way and stopped for a bit lol, all sat in the dark). We went to a shop to buy some fruit, and then went to some gardens in st.kilda to find some more wild possums! And this time we had food LOL. Turns out that if you sit still long enough and feed them, they get nice and tame! I had one that sat on my lap! She even stood up on her back legs and stared at my face lol, grabbing at my hands for more apple. Me and sarah both picked a tree each and sat at the bottom of them, feeding the possums. I think there was a family group in each tree. They only got shy and disappeared for a bit when other people walked through the park, then came back down and surrounded us again. I even fed a tiny baby possum that came up right at the end when I had my last piece of apple (gave them 2 apples lol, had no brekkie the next day). So so cute.
We then went to bed cus we had our early shuttle bus to the airport the next day to head for auckland, New Zealand!! We were going to miss OZ, think the fact that we didnt st.kilda helped us to get on our plane lol. Rest of OZ was amazing!!
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