Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Ok so i didn't think i'd get chance to fill you in on any travel news before Xmas but thanks to Lisa i now have an opportunity. I figure my Xmas present to you all will be the shortest ever update...so i'd better get started!
As it stands we are in The Blue Mountains in Sydney now but you all know full well there are a few travel stories on the way. They start with leaving melbourne. Most of Melbourne's highlights were in the last journal and seen as we spent most of our time in Melbourne working to fund the next leg of the journey we really didn't do much of anything else. On the one day off we had off we explored areas of the city, Port Melbourne (great for fish and chips) the Italian quarter, The Chinese quarter, The Greek quarter...im guessing you have the picture now. We know Melbourne pretty well and both agree, apart from the weather it is a fab city. Most Friday nights were alcoholic of some sort with John and Josh, the last weekend being the worse thanks to new addition Wyn. I did try my best to keep up with boys drinking abilities but have to admit defeat, ending up usually on the living room floor as the bedroom was just too far! Also the boys had a very strange morning ritual of 'dive bombing' on our bed as early as possible to wake us, followed by a non so friendly wrestling match...again this was usually bearable until we met Wyn. Wyn added new moves which meant upturning the beds with me on them, leading to a slight case of concussion on the final weekend. Don't worry my head was fine (thanks for the beer Wyn) and we got the bond back in full-pheww! On a serious note-a great set of guys who im sure we'll meet back on mutual grounds-Josh/Wyn-Wales is in England isn't it??!
With Stanley all packed up and ready for travels again we decided to leave Melbourne a week early (11th December) and do a round trip through Victoria. Its amazing how staying in one place for 2 months means you collect a lot of new things, i had to do a lot of packing/unpacking to get everything in its usual place-Nath said it would never all fit, but never one to fail a challenge i got it all in, including our new addition of 3 Tennis Bats for which we have no idea if we'll ever use them (thanks again John!). First stop on our round trip-The Great Ocean Road. After seeing so many other travelers photos and hearing of places to go i had our itinery pretty much covered. The first stop Torquay-home of Ripcurl/Quicksilver and worth investigating for surf dude/chick cheaper items. We left an hour or so later having purchased 2 new body board straps ready for the waves over Xmas. Next stop Bells Beach, made famous by its waves, all the surfing competitions are held here. Unfortunately we didn't get to see much of anything as the wind was pretty strong on this day. Typical really as it had been 38 degrees over the weekend in St Kilda to which we'd spent most of it indoors with a celebratory leaving do hangover. Still at least we were'nt at work. Just remembered our leaving presents. Even though nath had only been at Emrak's a few week they decided to give him a cash xmas bonus of $150, i wasn't so lucky with the cash but did get the pick of the shop....i struggled with my conscience for a split of a second, then realised i hadn't broken any promises as i didn't bring them out to Australia...yes you guessed it, i picked the hair strengtheners. What a relief to see my hair straight after 5 and half months- for one night only i looked half decent lol.
We drove on through Lorne stopping at Apollo Bay for fish and chips and a paddle. the drive leaves the coastline here and heads through Otoway National Park, about 17km past Apollo Bay we reached Maits Rainforest Board Walk-it took us only 20 minutes so hardly worth getting rigged up in our walking boots, but well needed in order to remind us we had left the city life behind. We ventured down to cape Otoway where the Lonely Planet guide insist we can see Koalas in the wild. It didn't lie, and there were hundreds of them up close and personal right beside the edge of the road. Of course we went mad on the photos but later cut them down by half. After figuring we'd never actually see a koala in the wild it was pretty amazing to be proved wrong...traveling just gets better. Realising it was too early to set up camp (daylight hours are now in progress) we drove onto Port campbell National Park-back on the coastal route. We reached Gibson's Steps, walked down onto the very blustery beach and for the first time by ourselves could see 2 of the 12 Apostles. (Did you know there are only 7 Apostles to be seen and no one ever knows if there were ever 12?) Maybe the fact that we were seeing one of Australia's national icons, or the realisation of where we were, whatever it was we were absolutely awestruck. It really takes your breath away, sounds corny i know, but it was better than any photo-just truly fantastic.
It was now nearing 7pm so we decided to set up camp for the night. A quick bite at the local Italian and we were ready for bed. After the luxuries of a bed for 2 months it hit us hard, especially the ground, camping again. By 7.30am the next day we were showered and packed, the next day had begun! Did we ever tell you about our case of bed bugs?? Well i did promise a quick journal entry so i'll give you a quick rundown. We'd heard many stories of bedbugs in hostels so little did we expect to find them nestled into our bed at Burnett street. After a few weeks into our stay Nath had been bit a few times, then they moved onto me. Keen to ignore the obvious we assumed it was Mozzies in the night. It soon reached a point when i came face to face with the blood sucking fiends that we had to call the landlord. We were told to clear out the room ready for it being fumigated, which was when we discovered we'd been sleeping on a rather large community of the little terrors! We were not happy to say the least and i think Patrick the landlord realised this. But this is all i shall say on the matter as i have only just managed to sleep soundly without waking every 10 minutes to check if anything is tucking into my ankles....but let it be known that i shall share the full story with extra highlights to a selected few of you! Walking around Lord Ard Gorge at 7.30am was very peaceful. Lord Ard gorge is famous for its rugged edges and it soon became clear as to why there had been so many shipwrecks-they are truly unique in shape. We walked for quite a while viewing the Thunder Cave, Blow hole and Broken Heads on the Sherbrooke Track. The formations much alike their names were unforgettable. This again goes for our next few stops. London Bridge (now only one arch as the second had collapsed in 1999), The Grotto, Bay of Martyrs, Bay of Islands and finally reaching Logan's Beach. Logan's beach is famous for its whale viewing season, but seen as we'd missed this season all we could spot were large mounds of seaweed, which in all fairness from a distance looked like a whale-or so i thought!
Making good time again we walked around the rim of the sunken volcano at Tower Hill. Now famous for its wildlife that's habits in the emptiness we didn't see too much of anything as i was far too busy huffing/puffing/focusing on getting to the top. I made it...just! We headed on to our final destination of the day-The Grampians National Park. We realised we'd managed to cover a fair distance in a few days as Victoria is not so spread out as Queensland which only meant we could now figure a new route back to NSW. Besides the realisation of how peaceful things had become, the sighting of our first Echidna (i'm sure its spelt wrong but kind of looks like a hedgehog with a long nose), and the beauty of the open land and cliff edges that now surrounded us, one of the first thing Nath noticed while driving through The Grampians was how black the trees were. Once arriving at Halls Gap (the small town in the very centre of the National Park) we learnt that bushfires had hit the area from 20th January 2006 to 2nd February 2006 destroying 130,000 hectares of land, 47% of which was Grampians NP. It came very close to halls gap and was quite terrifying to think how they must have felt at the time as evacuation plans had been put into process. Halls gap is absolutely beautiful, one of those places you'd dream of retiring to. We made the most of our time by doing a small walk called the Venus Bath Loop which at one point we imagined would have been a good spot on a hot day but due to drought was little more than a rock pool. still we searched for the familiar sounds of Cockatoos and Gallars and enjoyed the surrounds. Nath finished the day with a swim in the Public Baths while i chilled at the side. it was our first trip to a Public swimming pool and reminded me of 'Home n Away'.
After another sleepless night (this time due to how cold the mountains get at night) we were up early again. this time we got to see 2 young joeys in a boxing match outside our tent which we have to admit was pretty hilarious and passed more time than it should have. With a good breakfast inside us we headed on to Bendigo. The drive to bendigo was not as expected. Victoria at the moment is suffering with bushfires, and while we'd planned our route accordingly to avoid this there is little we can do to assist the direction of the wind, which at this point in time had decided to blow all the smog in the direction of bendigo. This made driving a little scary as being 'Pommies' we had no idea how much of an everyday occurrence this is for some people. While id picked up a 'what to do in a bushfire emergency' leaflet at Halls Gap i quickly re-read it,informed Nathan (who by now couldn't see his hand in front of him, never mind the road) that we needed to turn off the the air vents, get a blanket and shut the windows. we drove in silence for a bout a mile then reached a small town only to fins people getting on with everyday life, shopping, hanging washing out etc...perhaps we had been a little cautious...but when you see the photos you'll realise that for a first time sighting this was a tad unusual. Luckily we made it to bendigo-famous for its Goldmines, which of course we joined a tour- The Central Deborah Goldmine. The tour itself proved historically interesting, but Bendigo itself didn't impress us too much, small towns are either very modern or very not so modern, Bendigo has tried to mix the both which kind of took away the thrill of being in the middle of nowhere....and after being ripped of for lunch we decided we'd push on to our next stop, Echuca, with the hope that we'd leave the smoke behind also. We did leave the smoke behind but unfortunately attracted the heat which made the journey unbearable, we had to stop at least every hour just to unglue ourselves from the chairs but thankfully Echuca was much alike the small towns we've come to love. After setting up camp for the last time on our trip we headed off to the local bar for cheap drinks and a bite to eat. Keen to keep to our time plan we had a walk around the town in the morning, made the most of the photo opportunity with the old-fashioned paddle steam boats on the Murray River and prepared ourselves for the final leg of this road trip. This wasn't before Nathan decided to have a wheel alignment priced up at the local garage as we'd figured if we could see a problem arising with stanley we'd get to it first. A quote of $500 for things that needed and a stern telling that 'this car will never get you to sydney' we decided to ignore any advice given, after all what does he know, he's only a mechanic, and head on. don't worry i wont keep you in suspense, we arrived at Sydney just fine...he really didn't know anything!
We couldn't decide on a route to the Blue Mountains as we knew we'd need a stop on the way so we decided, against the advice of many fellow travelers, and Australians alike, that we'd drive to Canberra, Australia's capital. Surely it isn't that bad?? But oh boy it was. Again not helped by the heat this time we'd planned it well and stopped at Woomargama for a beer, and Holbrook for a steak lunch. We stopped to view lake Mulwala which was quite unique in that it looked like a swamp with trees growing in it, but it was clear water that went on for miles. As we arrived at canberra nothing could prepare us for what we viewed. We were presented with what looked like Westcliff estate for you Scunthorpians, and the rough end of Norfolk Park for the Sheffield mob... and after trying in vain to find a hostel with parking and failing miserably we ended up paying the most yet-$95 for a motel room at the Golf Club! We were not so impressed but granted it was a nice room. Along with this we had the advantage of realising that the motel towels were very similar to the ones you'd given us Lenore all those months back. we figured seen as the towels we had were a little worn they wouldn't mind too much if we swapped them over. i guess we'll never know if they did mind seen as were up next morning and heading for Parliament house. What can we say here, except it is a very nice building, exceptional design work inside, but the toilets weren't to my liking-very dull!
A drive around canberra proved our worst nightmare-that it really isn't a place you need to stay long at, but at least now we can agree with fellow Canberra dis-likers. So around lunch we'd reached the end of our road trip and set sail.....errr drove on to the Blue Mountains. The drive to the Blue Mountains was much cooler due to the fact it was raining...in December...in Australia's summer...it was raining, can you believe it. Of course the only thing that could erase this fact was a pie stop at Thirlmere...it was a nice pie! After just ticking the 10,000 km counter on the car we finally reached Warrimoo in the Blue Mountains-and what a fantastically remote place it is. It is here that i am reunited with my Aussie receptionist friend, Lisa, and the O'Brien family. It was worth it - they'd gone all out with a traditional BBQ tea-mhhhh. Mind you the abuse we suffered re 'The ashes' was not so welcome-but we took it in good jest...for now!! Followed by a birthday party for Lisa i made history by being the first to go to bed...Nath will tell you i passed out but im sure i wasn't that bad....then again the hangover the next day says different. With lots to do around the blue mountains we have been careful to not do things twice, we'll save some fun for when you get here mum, dad and Rach, but needless to say we have done a few walks, and the fact that the word mountain is in the name place only gives you an inkling of how difficult this bush walking lark can be! A train ride into Sydney to re introduce ourselves to the bars and preparation for Andy and kelly arriving means we've been kept very busy since our arrival. Not to mention the fact that we have actually spent $500 on Stanley since arriving-maybe the 'mechanic' at Echuca did have a point....still we've come to expect a payout for Stanley on every road trip and granted we have traveled 10,000 km's so its hardly unreasonable to assume we'd worn the brake pads down...oops!
So here it is that i shall end this journal, see i told you it wouldn't be so long. But i wont go without a big hello to to Edwin and June in Picton. Most people know some distant relative in Aussie land but i got the opportunity to meet mine and work out some more family history. We had a lovely lunch at the bowling club and thoroughly enjoyed the tour of Picton, i have no doubt we will keep in touch.
A very big Merry Xmas and a Happy new Year 2007 to everyone. While we are having a fantastic time we still think about you, and occasionally miss you all, so maybe a quick message on our webpage would be great to see, and Don't forget we have now reached the 6 month mark of our travels, its flown by for us so im sure the next 6 months will do the same. But with the journeys we have planned it can only mean more travel journal entry's to keep you updated and laughing along with us. You'll have to hold off till the beginning of feb as we have just booked our 5 week trip to New Zealand which we are now counting down till-we fly New years Day!
Take care, love to all, Lindsay and Nathan xx
- comments