Monday 15th December

We left Adelaide at 6.30 am on a new bus and with a new leader, Tilly. Most of the morning was spent driving out of Adelaide with a brief breakfast stop at a small place called Border Town. As the name suggests, this is located on the border of South Australia and Victoria. During the 1853 gold rush in New South Wales and Victoria, everyone came from all over the world to make their fortunes. At the time it was illegal for South Australians to take their gold back across the border. However, an intelligent policeman, being an exception to the law as a member of the law enforcement sector, purchased a horse and cart and transported people's gold across the border for them at a cost. This way the South Australians could enjoy their new-found wealth back at home. For lunch we stopped at Horsham, a small town of about 14,000, which claims to produce the finest wool in the world, possesses numerous prizes for sheep-shearing and also farms wheat. After lunch we entered the Grampians National Park, a spectacular area of rock formations and different species of wildlife. In 1836, a Scot, named Thomas Mitchell, was the first to climb the Grampians and to name their mountains. He called one such mound Mt. Zero because it was close to freezing at the top and another Mt. Hollow because of all the holes that its rock contains. We did a 2.2 km walk up this second hill and were rewarded with some stunning views. It only took about an hour all together but the rocks were a bit treacherous, especially on the descent. The views were, however, amazing and from the highest point you could sit on the rock's edge and gaze for miles in all directions. Before we made our way to our hostel at Halls Gap, we made a visit to the McKenzie Falls. After a short walk down some steep steps, we were greeted by the sight of one of the most awesome waterfalls I have ever seen. What was especially beautiful was the rainbow that appeared behind the cascading water when the sunlight reflected onto it. On the return to the bus we also spotted a couple of kangaroos feeding on the grass...it was my first proper sighting! We arrived at our accomodation at Halls Gap at around 7pm and, after settling in, I went for a bit of a wander and came across a mob of kangaroos feeding in the twilight. It was pretty cool just to watch them for a while going about their business, seemingly unaware that they had a visitor. After some dinner, we all headed early to bed, ready for the following morning's activities.

Tuesday 16th December

The weather was freezing as we awoke early this morning, much more similar to an English summer than the typical idea of Australia at this time of year. We were intending to hike up the Pinnacle in the Wonderland Range this morning but it began to rain as we started out and the rocks became dangerously slippery in an instant. We wouldn't have been able to see much from the summit anyway because of the dense fog that was lying over the valley. Instead of doing this walk therefore, we had a brief coffee in Halls Gap before making a trip to the Bambruk Cultural Centre, shaped like the wings of a Bambruk (a cockatoo). The centre is run by 5 Koorie communities and educates tourists on many aboriginal tales and art forms. We were soon on our way to the Great Ocean Road and, a couple of hours into our journey, we stopped at Warrnambool for lunch. We also paid a visit to Cheeseworld as this town is known as one of the dairy centres of Australia. Despite the free cheese-tasting, this wasn't very exciting as recent laws meant that the dairy viewpoint has been shut off due to risk of libel. This was also the beginning of our trip down the Great Ocean Road, a massive 243 km long. The stretch of coast we were travelling down today, stretching from Port Fairy to Cape Otway, is known as Shipwreck Coast. There have been 160 shipwrecks here in total, the most famous of which was the Loch Ard, a very rich boat from England. This vessel reached the Loch Ard gorge in 1878 when it hit difficulties amongst the high waves. Only 2 people survived, both 19 years old, and they climbed up the rocks of the gorge to get help. We made various stops at several spectacular lookouts along the Road. These included the Bay of Islands (several rocks sitting in the middle of the ocean) and the Bay of Martyrs. This is named after all the aboriginals who were massacred when the white Europeans settled in Victoria. So many natives were slaughtered that their population in the region is now virtually zero. We also passed through Port Campbell, renowned for having the highest number of lobby groups (52) in Australia, as well as having a photo stop at London Bridge. This arched rock form used to be joined to Australia's mainland but, due to severe weather eosion, collapsed and broke away from the shore in 1990. Base camp for the evening was in Princetown, a village of merely 15 people, named after Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh. Having settled into our hostel and eaten another BBQ, we headed out to the 12 Apostles to watch the sunset. Today, only 6 of the 12 remain standing, the rest having been eroded away. If it hadn't been so cold and cloudy, it would have been a beautiful sight, but luck wasn't on our side. After some quick photos, we made our way back to the bus to try and warm ourselves up. Back in princetown, some of the group had a quick game of pool in the pub before heading to bed after a very long day.

Wednesday 17th December

We were given a bit of a lie in this morning before we continued on our journey down the Great Ocean Road. A short distance from the hotel was the Otway Fly Tree Top Walk through the dense rainforest of the Great Otway National Park. This, as the name suggests, took us up over the trees, via some metal bridges, from where we were supposed to see various species of wildlife. However, all we got to see were leaves...I was a little unimpressed! Having rejoined the Great Ocean Road, we headed into Apollo Bay, a pretty seaside town, for lunch. This is named after the ship, Apollo, which entered the bay in the 1840s. As the bus rolled on towards Torquay, we made several stops along the way to go koala hunting and parrot feeding. Koalas are one of the marsupials native to Australia and their name is the Aboriginal for "no drink". This is because they never actually drink water, their only source is through the eucalyptus leaves that they eat (these contain about 50% water). Many of these eucalyptus/gum trees have been destroyed by these animals. We managed to spot a few, either sleeping or eating, and all I really wanted to do was to give one a cuddle. We also put seeds on our hands and some red and green King Parrots and Rosellas swooped down to feed. One of my friends put some on the top of my woollen hat so at one point I had on sitting, quite content, eating away at my hat. It made for a pretty cool photo! Before arriving in Torquay, we had a brief stop at the world famous Bells Beach. This is a recreation reserve, named after a Mr Bells, and has been host to the world's biggest surfing championship since 1973. Unfortunately the weather was miserable when we arrived, so we didn't stop for very long. Torquay, named after the English seaside town, is the surf city of Victoria. We spent almost an hour browsing throught the outlets of makes such as Billabong, Rip Curl and Quicksilver, sampling the latest styles of Australia's most famous brands. We entered Melbourne in the early evening, at peak traffic time, and spent almost 2 hours visiting various hostels to drop off group members. Melbourne is Victoria's second largest city and is named after the British Prime Minister with the same name. It was originally a settlement of tents and huts, but after the gold rush came in 1835, the population increased to almost 1 million, with an especially huge influx of Chinese who retain a strong cultural current within the city. Melbourne is also the arts and sports capital of Australia, hosting the Formula 1, PGA Tour, AFL Final and, probably most famously, the Australian Open. We were the last to be dropped off, staying at Base in St. kilda, on of the city's suburbs. I, needing to enjoy my own space for a while, having had a fairly intense past 10 days, made a visit to the local cinema for some quiet time, before heding, absolutely exhausted, to bed.